Originally posted by Ou Be Low hooNo actually, but it could be.
In this thread in reference to Ben Elton's book 'High Society'?
It was a refrance to my lecture on drugs and crime last year at University (actually the year before, seeing how the thread was made end of 2003).
Drugs are one of the top 3 trades in the world.
The other two include weapons and oil.
Should all drugs be legalised? Yes.
Drugs aren't the problem, the way they're dealt is the problem.
Anyone can grow marijuana and the government can make no profit off it as a result, it's no surprise it's illegal. Mushrooms also for that matter. Although they are both natural.
If people take drugs irresponsibly and die, that's their own choice, who are the government to force them to not take it? It's gonna happen anyway. Might aswell make it legal. The pros far outweigh the cons.
-AC
Originally posted by Alpha Centauri
Should all drugs be legalised? Yes.Drugs aren't the problem, the way they're dealt is the problem.
Anyone can grow marijuana and the government can make no profit off it as a result, it's no surprise it's illegal. Mushrooms also for that matter. Although they are both natural.
If people take drugs irresponsibly and die, that's their own choice, who are the government to force them to not take it? It's gonna happen anyway. Might aswell make it legal. The pros far outweigh the cons.
-AC
YES! I for one am sick of the gowernment limiting the # of ways I can hurt myself....
If all drugs were legalised then the criminal fraternites that currently control them would be put out of business. This in turn, it could be argued, would solve a great many societal problems on a larger scale. Indeed, it is a fact that most crimes in inner cities are drug related, either directly or indirectly. Be it someone selling contraband, someone mugging someone to fuel their habit - or 'hobbit' if they are a pusher to a mini-drug fiend - or some crack whore looking for her next high before turning some more numbers...
I personally don't know if it would work, but the ideology behind it certainly makes sense...although, then again, socialism at its core is beautiful, but in practice it lacks conviction due to that hamartia all humans suffer from...greed. Anyway, that's a different topic...back to the sheeba...
Many of the drugs that are currently illegal are more dangerous now, because no-one knows what they are cut and mixed with...If the government made them clean less people would die from bad drugs and just think of what the taxes could be used for...
People take drugs NOW...it doesn't matter that it's illegal...making it legal would just bring it under the government's control and off the street. I don't think someone who doesn't take drugs would suddenly decide to change if they were made legal...alcohol and tobacco are both legal but not everyone partakes in those two...
I've read some people say that drugs have no benefit and harm society, but what does tobacco do? I could get some marijuana right now if I wanted to, and coke or pills by the evening, so availabilty wouldn't turn everyone into addicts...
Maybe this thread is already discussed out, but I feel quite strongly about the issue at hand. This doesn't mean that I'm a 'wacked-out drug fiend' - I used to smoke a lot of weed, I've tried coke and I've had about 4 pills in total, but now I don't do any of them bar the occasional toke. This is not because I think they are bad, but I just came to the conclusion that I couldn't do the things I want to do in my life AND smoke, snort and pop. This is not say that someone else couldn't either...just that I have decided I don't want to. Please let me stress that I took 4 pills over the course of 5 years and only did coke during a 2 month period. As for weed - it ain't never been no drug and ain't never will be.
I have no idea whether it's true to say that drug-useage would increase if ALL drugs were made legal. I guess on one hand, the legitimisation of availabilty could lead more people to experimenting, but I think that's all it would be...more people would try it, then decide whether it was for them or not...
It's a valid fact that if drugs were controlled by the government then the chances of getting dodgy gear would severely decrease. It would also substantially decrease the power and wealth of organised crime syndicates who currently earn the vast majority of their income from the drug trade and its relatives...ie, prostitution, human trafficking and associated violence.
The belief that the free availabilty of drugs would put an unbearable strain on the health system is, I believe, a false one...
The amount of money the governments could add to their annual budgets would far surpass any defecit caused by the extra strain. Also, like I mentioned earlier, the free availabilty of alcohol and tobacco hasn't made the world a place full of drunks and heavy smokers...people continue to choose what they want to do and not do.
Things that a person can use, control and enjoy in moderation are what living is all about...wether it's working, studying, reading, watching movies, listening to music, enjoying a fine wine, relaxing with a smoke or a toke or indulging in some crazy fun with a pill, etc. I've never tried heroin and don't plan to...the common, public knowledge of it's effects make it an undesirable. A friend of mine tried Yaba or Shabu Shabu(similar to crack) at a beach party in Thailand...he said it was fun while it lasted, but the next day was low, so low...he said all he could think about was doing it again - this made him realise he should never do it again...too addictive. I think this is how most people would react to trying a hard, addictive drug. Sure, some weaker people may succumb to dependency, but if it wasn't crack then it would be something else like alcohol, etc...
As for marijuana...it's a natural plant, smoked in it's natural state. It doesn't make you violent like alcohol, it's not addictive and it's only problem is that too much can make you lethargic...I have to work 6 days a week, so I know I can't smoke and do my job...but come the occasional holiday, I'll be burning one down with friends as we listen to music and speak sh!t (which is different from bullsh!t!)...
Anyone, speaking crap about all these things being escapism from the real world...are you cRaZy?!? Is escapism a bad thing!?!?! What do you think reading a book, listening to music, watching a movie, going on the internet is? They are all forms of escapism from diurnal drudgery...
AND...If there were no drugs you'd be looking at blank walls in the Guggenhiem...staring at blank pages instead of reading Joyce, Karouac, Oscar Wilde, Scott Fitzgerald, Keats et al...listening to the buzz of your amps instead of the Beatles, Stones, Dylan, The Doors, Springsteen, Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, Beethoven, and pretty much anything of note...What kind of world is that? To me, THAT is a mad world, and not a world I would want to be part of...
Well, Im glad we see eye to eye about this OBLH.
Common myths of the hard drugs are that they are especially harmful because they are instantly addictive - when the reality is far less dramatic than this.
Most drug users who die do so because of the poor general health brought about with all the shit that is mixed in with the cocaine and heroin, coupled with the AIDS from the unsafe usage and needle sharing. The crime occurs when people have to prostitute themselves and/or steal to feed the habbit.
Make drugs legal and all of the underground business will be out of business.
Have we not learned ANYTHING from the alcohol prohibition in America?!
The truth is, heroin and cocaine in their purest form are not more harmful than alcohol and tobacco are. This ridiculous war on drugs has been going on for 100 years now and nothing has changed - there is still demand for drugs, and people are still taking them and getting them from all over the place - America is still pumping arms in Columbia, people are still dying, tons of money are being spent, and there is no improvement anyone can comment about.
Marijuana wasnt criminalised because it was a ''drug'' - it was criminalised because it was beginning to be a threat to paper business, cotton was threatend to be replaced, and the most important of them all, the marijuana oil with could be used....
Legalize the drugs - jails are overflown with drug users who need medical help, not a prison cell.
I dont anticipated such project working right away - there might be problems in the short term, but in the long term I believe it WILL benefit the society - besides, we have been waiting for so called 'War on Drugs' to make a differance for the past 100 years - the only differance it made is that had made drugs 3rd biggest trade alongside weapons and oil.
"I have a couple questions: Why is the drugs tzar of this country....well wait, first why do we HAVE a drug tzar? Second question, why is he a cop? Why isn't he someone who's had an alcohol and/or drug addiction and overcome it? Why do we put people who are on drugs, in jail? They're sick they're not criminals. See it makes no sense. If we EVOLVE ideas, the planet might be more COMPASSIONATE and something like Heaven might dawn."-Bill Hicks.
-AC
It's true...Technology evolves so quickly, yet ideas and beliefs barely change at all. Compare the technology of the 1960s with today and you can see a HUGE difference. Then, compare 1950s attitudes towards sex with the current attitudes prevailing in the US and you see very little difference. 'Abstinence'...'wait till you're married'...'gay people are bad, m'kay'...
As for the legalisation of drugs...It's unlikely to ever happen as no politician would be brave enough to do it. Case closed.
i like drugs. i don't steal, rob or mug people. i don't hurt, fight, threaten people either. neither do i act stupid or cause offence when high coz i'm in the privacy of my OWN HOME. if you met me you would find me a charming, intelligent and friendly kind of person. i wouldn't force you to take coke, swallow ecstasy or smoke weed. i don't do them to excess - i have will power and know my limitations. i am a better educator on the dangers (oh yes - they are DEFINATELY dangerous) of drugs than any leaflet or goverment agent. should i die?
*waits for the chorus of yes's. lol*
Anyone notice how some of the "legal" drugs that are on the market today have a list of side effects that would make a heroine addict cringe?
Side affects may include:
- dizziness
- nasuea
- cramping
- anal bleeding
- death
- severe rashing
- the plague
The best are the viagra-esque products:
Disclaimer: If erection lasts for longer than 6 hours...please consult a physician.