Hard Drugs Should be Legalized

[Scott Hartnell's Mane]

Sorry I should be more clear I meant but the direct definition: A substance that has a physiological effect when ingested or otherwise introduced into the body, in particular. Which would include in it things like water, air, food, herbs, supplements, medicine, bacteria, viruses, parasites etc, etc, etc... anything that goes into the human body is going to have physiological effect on it therefore marijuana would most certainly fall under this definition of drug.

[aGENT]

I'm not so sure about that, if it was completely legal, I may actually find myself curious enough to try something like opium or cocaine (especially if by being government regulated I knew it was what it said it was) Otherwise I have zero interest in it at all.

[Aladeen]

Using this definition caffeine is also a drug...and overdoing it with caffeine has caused deaths from heart attacks...over all poor health, astronomical levels of sodium, high cholesterol, heart disease on and on...I don't think humankind has any frame of reference to be outlawing nature in the first place...especially when the synthetic crap the pharmacies are doling out is 100 times worse.

[Aladeen]

Yet data from places like Portugal supports the opposite conclusion. That drug use in fact goes down and those that still decide to continue using are far less of a drain on society (they commit less crime, actually hold down jobs etc).

[Scott Hartnell's Mane]

Preaching to the Choir.... sugar, tobacco, food additives and perservatives, trans-fat (though getting better about this), enviromental pollutants including heavy metals, diseased animal flesh we call food, GMO soy - corn - wheat etc, hormones and antibiotics in dairy and livestock, are just a short list of things that are actually drugs which should be focused in on long before marijuana.

Its the same as Doda tea, when the government cracked down on people selling it, the realeased a statement about it because most people had no idea what it was: "A tea which gives the drinker a sense of calm and well being" - wth? why would we ever want people to experience a sense of calm and well being lol better arrest anyone who has some!!!

Sometimes with things being so backwards we just have to look to picard's wisdom , if we can laugh and facepalm about it the only other option is to cry.

[Aladeen]

Feels like Wonderland after a little while...you got the White Rabbit types, scurrying every which way on the roads...always late late late...then you have the Caterpillar types like me...who just want to sit on top of a mushroom with our hookah and be left alone...then you have Tweedledum and Tweedledee types...a lot of this type inhabits this board...a lot of talking...not a lot said...(I also call them the Dumb and Dumber types) Then of course you have the catty White Queen types...both the men and the women...who feel that all the others should kowtow to them and cater to them and give them special treatment.....You have the Walrus and Carpenter types stuffing their faces at the steakhouses and barbecue joints until they can barely fit back through the door they entered through...then you have the Alices...who are innocent, pure...and unadulterated...staring at us all with a gaze of childlike wonder...trying to get through life with illusions of safety and security all the while completely oblivious to what the ones in power...which are the Mock Turtles/Red Queen types...men and women who give a damn less about anyone else but their own selfish gains and live in ivory towers and on top of Capitol hills....with their ears boxed like 5 year olds screaming "la la al alalaalala i can't hear you"....it's no wonder this world is so screwy...and it's no wonder so many people turn to drugs to deal with it all.

[Scott Hartnell's Mane]

Haha... that really is a great analogy to the different types of people. The trick for people who have enough Intellegence (maybe the wrong word here I think everyone posesses enough intellegence - maybe sense is better?) to see how things really are - is not to become a Mad Hatter

[aGENT]

Hey I agree war on drugs does not work! I'm just saying for me... if it was all legal... I would try some of it at least once, and I think if people honestly ask themselves they would find that with no consequences they would at least try it.. much like tobacco or alcohol.

I mean how come people do "hard drugs" in the first place? Its not like they have great advertising, or the salespeople have a great rapport with their customers. The truth of the matter is "hard drugs" do instantly what most people want - it eliminates pain and gives pleasure.

This is not a bad thing, the abuse of (to the detriment of an individual's health), the potential for addiction (where its no longer their choice to have it or not), the crime associated with, are the bad things about drugs. These things do have the potential to be minimized if it was something controlled and regulated by the government.

[Aladeen]

You might, you might not. The current FACTS we have out of Portugal show that less people use. If you have something that shows the opposite of that besides what you think you "may do"....

[aGENT]

"Probably"

[Aladeen]

"Probably"

[MillerGenuineDraft]

Marijuana is a drug! under the definition of a drug, however the definition is vague enough to include vegetables under it.

I think the 2 unfortunate situations are:

1. Drugs illegal - More people in prison, more people doing crime to acquire drugs, money goes to cartels, taxpayer money spent on something people will do anyways, blah blah blah

2. Drugs legal - People will be more apt to try drugs, maybe easier access to drugs, yadda yadda yadda

[Aladeen]

Sweety, it's a plant. Grown like any other plant, it's a plant.

Your views are very conservative and sound like what anyone who is brainwashed by media, especially the old folks, would say.

Edit: Don't be afraid of change. It's not always a bad thing.

[aGENT]

Lol so you've never tried alchol? You've never tried tobacco or caffiene, well if not you are in the minority and I guarantee if these things were illegal, punishble under the same laws of cocaine and heroine a lot less people would have tried or "used" these substances.

So here's your back at you for just looking for stuff to argue about... Portugal using less does not necessarily mean their laws are what is responsible for that, you have not shown how the laws are the causitive factor which leads to decreased use.

[Aladeen]

Never said I didn't. My eye rolling is due to your "probably's", "may do's" and "sentiments" in place of any sort of data or facts.

You're doing exactly what we're this thread argues against. Making assumptions based on your emotional sentiment rather than actual fact based logic. It's the same brand of wrongheaded thinking as "drugs are bad, drugs should be illegal!" It's knee-jerk and mentally lazy.

http://www.time.com/...1893946,00.html

[Aladeen]

Never said I didn't. My eye rolling is due to your "probably's", "may do's" and "sentiments" in place of any sort of data or facts.

You're doing exactly what we're this thread argues against. Making assumptions based on your emotional sentiment rather than actual fact based logic. It's the same brand of wrongheaded thinking as "drugs are bad, drugs should be illegal!" It's knee-jerk and mentally lazy.

http://www.time.com/...1893946,00.html

[aGENT]

"LIFETIME USE"

Learn to read or stop wasting my time - never did I say it was bad to legalize drugs, never did I say I was against it, never did I say it being illegal was better, never did I say anything you think that I said!!!!

ALL I SAID WAS - IF IT WAS LEGAL MORE PEOPLE WOULD BE INCLINED TO TRY IT!!!!

[Kryten]

What is getting missed in this discussion is that hard drugs are currently legal. They are just being sold at ridiculous prices by the manufacturers (who are sovereign nations unto themselves much like banks) who have a monopoly to protect. They protect it by putting out the message that all of these meds are dangerous and will kill you so you have to see a doctor and a pharmacist before you will get your meds. Hell the FDA was telling Americans that Canadian and Mexican medications were as likely to kill you as any illicit drugs so they could protect their profit margin in America (where the same med anywhere else was marked up by an average of 80%!!). The fact is, for drugs like Lipitor, it is made in bulk in Ireland and then is shipped to whatever country for packaging. It is no different than any other meds, narcotics or OTC's. People who can't afford the drug prices turn to street drugs to self-medicate. Who could blame them? The drug war will rage as long as these companies have a profit to protect.

[Aladeen]

I know exactly what you said. And you're welcome for supplying you some actual information to support that it decreased lifetime use. FWIW that doesn't mean that casual use increased. You can fee free to find that information (one way or the other) to confirm or deny your sentiment yourself.

I'm not "arguing" with you because I disagree with what you're saying. I'm "arguing" with you because you're being mentally lazy and making assumptions without any thought, logic or data to support it. It's that attitude that has us in this problem in the first place.

[aGENT]

Lifetime use DOES NOT equal USE so me thanking you for data that is of no value to what we are talking about is not going to happen there buddy. Talk about mentally lazy