SURVEY: Should drugs be legalized?

[faraday]

And if they are legalized, do the drug cartels then have legitimate businesses?

 

The Class A drugs should not be made legal, but certainly decriminalised. 

 

First of all though, what's needed is accessible treatment & more education.

 

 

[jvs]

3 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

I never took any illegal drugs and I know they are harmful

Do you take legal drugs?Do you drink alcohol?Alcohol is very dangerous also but       only when abused.

My brother lives in a country where it is very easy to buy any kind of drug you can imagine.

He has 3 kids,the oldest one is 14 now.

He is planning to introduce her to drugs at home because that is the only way to control what they are taking.

It is not a matter of if they take it but when and him and his wife are totally aware of that.

I think it is a good idea to do this,i know ........but not any crazier then other things.

[animalmagic]

51 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

The evidence coming in from countries such as Portugal and Sweden, who have decriminalised drug use, is that crime statistics are significantly down. The cost of production of the various materials used in drugs is very small, it's only their illegality which inflates their price on the street. There's also the benefit of the drugs not being adulterated with unknown materials in search of higher profits. Many overdoses are caused by the varying quality of what is sold.

Most senior police will tell you drugs are impossible to control, and they would be relieved to have the issue off their hands. The legal drug alcohol gives them enough of a problem to handle all by itself. I've never heard of stoners doing anything but lie around and giggle a lot.

The only caveat I have in terms of legalising drugs is any user committing a crime or screwing up somehow gets exactly the same treatment by the law or an employer as they would if they were stone cold sober. Their choice to inject, ingest or inhale.

Agree with most of what you say but feel that crimes committed while under the influence should attract heavier penalties; as you say, their choice.

Put the drugs on prescription so that legally registered users can get their drug of choice and administer it safely without fear of being poisoned.

Young people usually get their first drugs for free; it's after they are hooked that they really start to pay.  Take the profit away from the criminal gangs and let the police concentrate on law and order.

 

[dluek]

"but only those considered not to be highly addictive, like heroin & Meth."

 

Uhhhhhhh..... Who thinks heroin and meth are not highly addictive? Nothing is more addictive than heroin. 

[Bender Rodriguez]

small amounts of cannabis = ok

 

dealer amounts of meth = DEATH

[teacherclaire]

I voted yes and wanted to point out what the legal drug alcohol does to people. I've never heard of people dying because they're using recreational drugs.

 

Alcohol destroys marriages, friendships, causes homeless people, criminals and it's causing stupidity. 

 

An overdose of hashish is only theoretically possible, if one would smoke 1 kg of hand rolled Afghani in ten minutes. 

   

 

  Worldwide, 3 million deaths every year result from harmful use of alcohol, this represent 5.3 % of all deaths. The harmful use of alcohol is a causal factor in more than 200 disease and injury conditions.Sep 21, 2018   

 

 https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/alcohol#:~:text=Worldwide%2C 3 million deaths every,200 disease and injury conditions.

 

What is the lethal dose of marijuana?

 

According to which US Government authority you want to believe, the lethal dose of marijuana is either about one-third your body weight, or about 1,500 pounds, consumed all at once.

 

http://www.druglibrary.org/Schaffer/library/mj_overdose.htm

[fdsa]

43 minutes ago, 2 is 1 said:

If you dont know how use knife , you cut your self! So ban knife from everybody! 

alcohol and knife often go together ????

[teacherclaire]

2 minutes ago, fdsa said:

alcohol and knife often go together ????

Drunk people believe that they see things that aren't there.

 

And I've seen my daddy on Delirium Tremens, thank you. One of the strangest experiences of my life so far. 

 

    Most families suffer when one is an alcoholic. 

 

   

  

[rwill]

People with drug problems should not be made into criminals.  It just keeps them from seeking help.  Those selling though should be dealt with harshly.

[seajae]

as per many people I smoked weed when I was in my late teens as well as hash, hash oil and dropped acid/dots but got off it after a few years, still had flash backs for a few years too under certain conditions, was a bit hairy really.  Went many eyars not touching any of it then I actually made trim  cookies to help me get off the opoids(when I was in my 50's) I was on for almost 20 years due to a major back injury, cut taking them right back by myself but needed help to drop them completely and the cookies really helped but as I did when younger I stopped once I no longer needed them. I also know several people that due to smoking too much weed etc have major problems, my younger brother amongst them, extreme paranoia, cant hold any concentration for more than a few minutes, forget what they are talking about, cant hold down any jobs, cant function unless they have a choof during the day although the paranoia seems to be a big part of most people that smkoe regularly, many people I associated with in Australia suffered from it in some form. Problem appears to be that many that do use them dont see what it does to them/effects them and deny it does anything to them  other than the high they get. Legalizing it is a hard one, will it encourage more to over use or will being able to buy legally stop over use, it may well stop a lot of the criminal element but even that cant be predicted with any certainty either. There would have to be limits on it, stopping people growing their own/making their own will never happen either so I cant see how it could be controlled, personally I think if it was legal you would see a lot of over use and more people using as well so I would have to sit on the fence on legalizing

[Lacessit]

59 minutes ago, dluek said:

"but only those considered not to be highly addictive, like heroin & Meth."

 

Uhhhhhhh..... Who thinks heroin and meth are not highly addictive? Nothing is more addictive than heroin. 

 I understand oral demerol is about ten times more addictive than heroin

[OneMoreFarang]

1 hour ago, jvs said:

Do you take legal drugs?Do you drink alcohol?Alcohol is very dangerous also but       only when abused.

My brother lives in a country where it is very easy to buy any kind of drug you can imagine.

He has 3 kids,the oldest one is 14 now.

He is planning to introduce her to drugs at home because that is the only way to control what they are taking.

It is not a matter of if they take it but when and him and his wife are totally aware of that.

I think it is a good idea to do this,i know ........but not any crazier then other things.

Luckily I have no kids and don't have that problem.

I am sure it's difficult to be a parent - in many ways.

[pacovl46]

Right now the only people who really profit from illegal drugs are criminals, amongst them drug syndicates and terror organizations like Al Quadea and ISIS. There’s lots of turf wars going on in countries like the USA and in all countries in which drugs are illegal you have procurement crimes. Prisons are filled due to drug related crimes and the judicial system is completely overloaded. A lot of addicts have to resort to procurement crimes or prostitution to make ends meet and therefore become social outcasts because the money they would be making with a job isn’t enough to feed the monkey! On top of that no one knows exactly how many drug addicts there are and which diseases are spreading amongst the users. 
 

If it was up to me, I’d legalize all drugs, have the government produce them, tax them and sell them so cheaply through pharmacies to anyone who is 18+ years of age, that essentially anyone with a regular job could afford to get hooked and still be a productive member of society, which right now clearly is not the case! I would also couple each sale with an anonymous form that needs to be filled in and a mandatory health check once a year.

 

This would’ve the following effects:

 

1. None of the criminal entities would profit from the drug trade anymore because why would one buy the cut up stuff on the streets when they can get the real deal for a lot less in a pharmacy.

 

2. Since the drug gangs aren’t making any money on the streets anymore there’s no reason for turf wars, therefore drug street crime would be reduced to zero essentially over night. This would also alleviate the rampant overcrowding issues in prisons and the overload drug crimes put on the judicial system.

 

3. Since the drugs could be afforded by essentially anyone with a job, procurement crime would go way down as well.

 

4. The government wouldn’t have to spend outrageous amounts of tax money on the war on drugs that simply can’t be won. The US have been trying for decades and they didn’t even put a dent in it and the staff that’s busy fighting drugs could be doing much more important things, like policing the streets or national security.

 

5. Instead of spending money on a war that can’t be won, the state would actually make money through taxes which could then be spend on large scale anti drug seminars in every classroom in every school once a year, starting from primary 1! And I would make those as disgusting as possible, take the stinky heroin junkie or meth head with no teeth from the street straight into the classroom and show them what those type of drugs do to you.

 

6. The anonymous form in the pharmacy will also produce real numbers in terms of which gender of what age group buys which drug in what amounts and the health checks will show which diseases spread or don’t spread amongst users, instead of the guesstimates we have right now! 
 

Now, a lot of people have a problem with a country selling and profiting from drug sales because they think it’s immoral. To that I say, what about alcohol and nicotine?! If I wanted to become a drunkard, I could do so legally and with every bottle I buy the state makes money, with every visit to the doctor I need because I’m an alcoholic the state makes money, if I then decide to go into rehab the state makes money and with every medication I need the state makes money because everything is taxed and the same goes for cigarettes and cancer treatments caused by smoking amongst numerous other health issues, so where’s the morality then?

 

The other argument is that a lot of people seem to think that if drugs get legalized that everyone will get hooked. To that I say again alcohol and cigarettes. If that was the case then everyone would be an alcoholic smoker, but that’s clearly not the case! So that argument doesn’t hold any water at all. Clear evidence for that is Portugal! They decriminalized small amounts of all drugs because they had a massive heroin problem in the late 90s. The effect of decriminalization was overwhelmingly positive. If you’re interested in that then please google it because it’s way too much information for this post.

 

The reality is, there have always been people who want to take drugs and there always will be people who want to take drugs and as long as that demand is there, there will always be people who will satisfy it because there’s huge amounts of money to be made with it and there’s nothing at all a country can do to stop it! Desperate times require desperate measures and legalization is clearly the way lesser evil then what is going on right now! As a matter of fact, it’s the ONLY way that actually makes sense! 

[cyril sneer]

7 hours ago, BritManToo said:

You should be allowed to consume anything you like.

Even rat poison.

 

All medications should be freely available without a 'doctor tax'.

If they make it, you should be allowed to buy it.

 

The war on drugs is not only pointless but extremely dangerous.

It creates hugely wealthy criminal gangs with the power to topple governments.

the other issue is that these gangs would turn to more violent crime instead if they couldn't make their money through selling drugs illegally, especially among the people of colour

[checkered flag]

5 hours ago, PatOngo said:

Any particular rat poison you'd recommend? Yes, the ongoing war on drugs is an epic fail! 

Rat poison is commonly used as a blood thinner (dose dependent).

[fondue zoo]

6 hours ago, Cats4ever said:

Ah history rolls on. Cocaine was available at chemist shops in Australia until the late 1920's. Heroin was the drug administered for childbirth in Australia until the early 1950's ( US pressure put an end to that). Queen Victoria used to drink laudanum which contained opium or heroin before bed. Britain went to war with China because they would not exchange their tea for opium and wanted silver (hello Hong Kong) I don't have an all encompassing answer but plainly the prohibition is not working, just as alchohol prohibition in the US only succeeded in making organised crime fantastically wealthy. I personally think grass or hash should be available to those over a certain age (16?). Not familiar enough with the others to give a considered opinion, although I have had a line of coke and can see the attraction, and had a stumbling attempt at smoking in an opium den.

 

The thing to note is that behind the back and forth of policy it has mostly been commercial interests. Someone's wallet is going to get lighter and it's all "reefer madness", someone stands to make a hefty profit and it's "hey, it's medicine again".  

 

 

[Lacessit]

1 hour ago, cyril sneer said:

the other issue is that these gangs would turn to more violent crime instead if they couldn't make their money through selling drugs illegally, especially among the people of colour

That's a hypothesis without any evidence to support it.

So tell me, what would this more violent crime entail?

[oompie69]

9 hours ago, BritManToo said:

You should be allowed to consume anything you like.

Even rat poison.

 

All medications should be freely available without a 'doctor tax'.

If they make it, you should be allowed to buy it.

 

The war on drugs is not only pointless but extremely dangerous.

It creates hugely wealthy criminal gangs with the power to topple governments.

Regarding your last sentence, that's what it is all about. 

Somebody once told me that Economics is "the art of managing scarcity". So, making sure that demand always outstrips supply ensures that those that control the availability of a product get richer and richer.  The presence of wealthy criminal gangs is  largely due to the fact that governments aid and abet them in ensuring scarcity. 

Millions and millions of dollars are expended yearly in the USA alone on curbing the supply inside the USA and countless more on prosecuting and incarcerating offenders. This money would be far better spent on uplifting the socio-economic conditions of the main target market of the drug traders.

And isn't the criminal justice system in the USA already overloaded enough without petty cases filling up court rosters. Decriminalisation of drugs will go a long way to easing this, as I am sure, would be the case on other countries, as well.  

[Alex80]

12 hours ago, PJPom said:

Legalise all so called recreational drugs, BUT refuse treatment for overdoses, all rehabilitation at user’s expense, accept the death rate and classify it as suicide, 
Result will be drying up of supply, decreasing profits for distributors, reduction of burglaries by addicts, less Police time wasted on taking addicts and suppliers to Court where they receive laughable sentences.

Looking at the results of the survey I seem to be in the minority with these  views...

The treatments could be easely paid with taxes on the product, not even talking about the save on police, prison and courts. It don't seems to me that we charge fat people for treatments inherent to their condition, nor drivers treated for accidents when proven guilty, and so on...

 

[Destiny1990]

Yes government dope so we get a steady and reliable quality eh sorry i mean they Ofcourse ????

[Don Chance]

Unfortunately humans are weak. Drugs are not an answer to life. Drug addiction is not an answer to life. So drug laws are a way of communicating this. However putting people in jail because they are addicts is not the way either.

The solution is keep drugs illegal but turn a blind eye to it. Be soft on drug user, tough on dealers.  Canada has legalized marijuana and there even more people addicted to it. They have normalized marijuana addiction so to get tax revenues. Now that's immoral.

[canopy]

11 minutes ago, Don Chance said:

So drug laws are a way of communicating this

I think we can safely debunk this claim by seeing that the two very worst drugs alcohol and tobacco that cause untold addiction, death, health and many other problems remain legal. Hemp was made illegal in the US less than 100 years ago because some wealthy folks didn't want a cheaper, better product competing with their nylon.

 

[bobbin]

1 hour ago, Don Chance said:

Unfortunately humans are weak. Drugs are not an answer to life. Drug addiction is not an answer to life. So drug laws are a way of communicating this. However putting people in jail because they are addicts is not the way either.

The solution is keep drugs illegal but turn a blind eye to it. Be soft on drug user, tough on dealers.  Canada has legalized marijuana and there even more people addicted to it. They have normalized marijuana addiction so to get tax revenues. Now that's immoral.

 

Your solution is a demonstrably failed policy..

 

Yes, Canada legalized recreational use of marijuana two years ago. The government addressed concern that young people would have easy access by pointing out that they already had easy, unregulated access to the "black" market. More people probably are using it. There was a large percentage afraid of legal penalties. No longer.

 

After the US elections, where 4 more states have recreational pot use on the ballot, there will be 100,000,000 Americans with a legal marketplace.

 

In these Covid and post Covid times, more and more Governments will see the economic imperative to generate tax revenue from legalization. The other recreational drugs should be decriminalized so as to stop throwing money to law enforcement and prison systems, which incur more damage to society that the "ills" they claim to be suppressing.

[nausea]

Too many vested interests if you ask me, on both sides. Criminalization never works, as proved by "Prohibition". Just creates a criminal underclass. Personally, I'm happy with nicotine, caffeine, and alcohol. Tried the dreamy stuff in my youth, yeah, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. Would recommend everyone try it at least once. Talk about weird, Alice in Wonderland stuff, made real. Leads nowhere, but an interesting experience, if you're into life as something to be experienced rather than built up. Now my brother, he's the polar opposite to me, so many grandkids. Still, they all carry some of my genes, I was always a great delegator.

[robblok]

18 hours ago, fdsa said:

P.S. Should alcohol be criminalized?
— Yes, as alcohol is a highly addictive drug and a major health threat - apply the same laws to alcohol that is used with drugs.

 

Indeed if pot/weed is illigal with far less health dangers and violence then alcohol. Then apply the same rules to alcohol as to other drugs. That will teach those oldies that voted that drugs should stay illigal. They only say so as their drug of choice is legally available.

 

https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/addiction/news/20101101/alcohol-more-harmful-than-crack-or-heroin#1

[steven100]

nonsense ....  this topic has nothing to do with alcohol but the drug advocates always bring drinking into the argument, well guess what, drinking beer or spirits is legal and has been as long as I can remember. 

As for drugs, they tried a methadone program in Australia and hence opened up several or many I gather, injecting rooms or shops for the drug users ....  and low and behold it's a big failure. Folks living nearby especially in Sydney & Melbourne complained about addicts sleeping outside, spitting everywhere and generally making the area unsafe for children which I could easily agree with. That's like giving a reformed smoker a tin of tobacco every week .... absolutely stupid. Drug addicts had a choice to go down the right path or take the wrong path when they started, they chose the wrong.  

anyway .... that's my2 cents worth.

 

 

[CraigInBangkok]

13 minutes ago, steven100 said:

nonsense ....  this topic has nothing to do with alcohol but the drug advocates always bring drinking into the argument, well guess what, drinking beer or spirits is legal and has been as long as I can remember. 

As for drugs, they tried a methadone program in Australia and hence opened up several or many I gather, injecting rooms or shops for the drug users ....  and low and behold it's a big failure. Folks living nearby especially in Sydney & Melbourne complained about addicts sleeping outside, spitting everywhere and generally making the area unsafe for children which I could easily agree with. That's like giving a reformed smoker a tin of tobacco every week .... absolutely stupid. Drug addicts had a choice to go down the right path or take the wrong path when they started, they chose the wrong.  

anyway .... that's my2 cents worth.

 

 

"A drug is any substance that causes a change in an organism's physiology or psychology when consumed" 

The reason why alcohol is always brought into the argument is because it is a drug and on a list of dangerous drugs alcohol would be near the top. 

While "injecting rooms" may not be desirable, I have seen far more p!ssheads on the streets causing problems/trouble.

Your choice as an alcoholic(you pretty much told us your an all day, everyday drinker) is far more dangerous than a potheads choice to smoke pot. So is your path right ? Or is it just that governments chose to make this one drug socially acceptable ?  

[Amusements]

My view is that, all drugs should be decriminalized. If it is a natural product it should be 100% legal. If it is a man made/doctored product it should be regulated.

[jvs]

1 hour ago, steven100 said:

methadone program

This program in Holland has been very succesful,many addicts got their lives back because they

no longer had the need to find money to buy their drugs.

A lot of them are working again and have become a full member of society again.

These programs work!!!

[mrwebb8825]

22 hours ago, BritManToo said:

You should be allowed to consume anything you like.

Even rat poison.

 

All medications should be freely available without a 'doctor tax'.

If they make it, you should be allowed to buy it.

 

The war on drugs is not only pointless but extremely dangerous.

It creates hugely wealthy criminal gangs with the power to topple governments.

Well stated. My only add is that 99% of all drugs ARE legal already, just in different forms and manufactured by the rich. Drugs only kill the user. The need to pay HUGE amounts of money to GET drugs is causing most of the crime. It's obvious that drugs like coke and meth can be made with minimal effort and cost so the government should regulate them and hand them out on city street corners. Won't take more than a couple of years to kill off the weak and save billions on rehab centers.