Illegal Drugs

blah its a drug topic, so I'm a post machine

looking at the chart more, there are some additional things that need saying.

The "War on Drugs", as opposed to just prohibition, was in main effect in the mid-late 70s, early 80s, not to mention there was a democrat in the whitehouse between 77-81 and 92-...2000ish. This does seem to illustrate that the policy of enforcement has some effect, but conservative enforcement is also associated most with the negative consequences of prohibition.

The period of Clinton's reign also coincides with the adoption of "three-strikes" laws around the states, so it would be hard to categorize those years as being more tolerant of drug use. Also, going by this explanation, one would need to explain how the simple election of GW Bush (who, as far as I know did very little on the drug front) caused the largest drop in LSD use ever recorded.

Further, when looking at other nations, it does appear that draconian penalties for use can curb it, though it took the Taliban boiling users in oil for them to eliminate the marijuana trade.

Just sort of looking at all this, it makes more sense to me that drug use is driven primarily by social forces rather than legal forces. I think dadudemon is the only person I've ever heard of who doesn't use a substance specifically because it is illegal, and it generally holds that for most people that the law is not the most important deciding factor in their choice to use or not.

Originally posted by King Kandy
Yeah, but your logic of "people would still do it" as a reason not to ban can be applied to anything from stealing pencils to murder.

I thought that was pretty obvious, too, since obviously "if we make laws people will break them, therefore we shouldn't make laws" is an extremely silly argument, which was nowhere even remotely implied by me.

Originally posted by King Kandy
Well by that logic you might as well not ban anything ever.

Ban murder, ban things that infringe upon the lives of others.

You can't/shouldn't ban someone from destroying their own body if it makes them happy, or if they want to.

If they ask for help, then they can get help. If they infringe on others in a negative and directly harmful way by breaking the law, then call them a criminal.

Until they do any of this, it's literally none of your business. If I'm sitting on a wall in public, injecting heroin into my cock, I should be arrested for indecent exposure before any kind of drug use. As long as I'm not jabbing anyone with the needle, what's the problem?

-AC

Originally posted by Alpha Centauri
Ban murder, ban things that infringe upon the lives of others.

We should ban laws. Especially ones that infringe on my right to bash open the head of anyone too weak to stop me.

Originally posted by Alpha Centauri
Ban murder, ban things that infringe upon the lives of others.

You can't/shouldn't ban someone from destroying their own body if it makes them happy, or if they want to.

If they ask for help, then they can get help. If they infringe on others in a negative and directly harmful way by breaking the law, then call them a criminal.

Until they do any of this, it's literally none of your business. If I'm sitting on a wall in public, injecting heroin into my cock, I should be arrested for indecent exposure before any kind of drug use. As long as I'm not jabbing anyone with the needle, what's the problem?

-AC

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanning_addiction

"addiction" would be a terrible line upon which to allow the state to ban things

[edit] nevermind

Originally posted by King Kandy
The problem is when you're addicted to something, whether you "want to" or not is a very blurry boundary.

If you don't want to become addicted to heroin, you wouldn't inject it. It's not something you casually try.

By the time you've decided "I want to inject this.", that's your decision. Everyone knows how addictive heroin is.

Whether or not you end up enjoying the addiction is another matter, but that's consequences we have to let people deal with.

-AC

Originally posted by Alpha Centauri
Ban murder, ban things that infringe upon the lives of others.

You can't/shouldn't ban someone from destroying their own body if it makes them happy, or if they want to.

If they ask for help, then they can get help. If they infringe on others in a negative and directly harmful way by breaking the law, then call them a criminal.

Until they do any of this, it's literally none of your business. If I'm sitting on a wall in public, injecting heroin into my cock, I should be arrested for indecent exposure before any kind of drug use. As long as I'm not jabbing anyone with the needle, what's the problem?

-AC

Imagine no murdering signs.

Ban drug use is actually for those who need it. Of course the whole idea of banning things is ridiculous, even for murder and rape.

For the courtesy of others, don't rape them.
These are anti-violence premises.
Paedophilia. Just say no.

legalize it