End the War on Drugs

[Lemons]

Ironically science and history disagree with you. Look at Portuguese drug rates before and after they legalized everything.

the didn't legalize it...they "decriminalized" it:

"Portugal's move to decriminalize does not mean people can carry around, use, and sell drugs free from police interference. That would be legalization. Rather, all drugs are "decriminalized," meaning drug possession, distribution, and use is still illegal. While distribution and trafficking is still a criminal offense, possession and use is moved out of criminal courts and into a special court where each offender's unique situation is judged by legal experts, psychologists, and social workers. Treatment and further action is decided in these courts, where addicts and drug use is treated as a public health service rather than referring it to the justice system (like the U.S.)"

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/portu...#ixzz2CMrHDHzi

So in other words anyone trying to hold up Portugal as an example of what happens when you "legalize everything" just doesn't have their facts straight. Portugal is what you get when you take a kinder approach to penalizing drug abusers. Instead of tossing them in jail they try to get them medical help.

[Howard Moon]

maybe not all.... stuff like LSD should still be illegal

Awwwww party pooper.

[ita]

Thing is, ita, that legalizing it and controlling it a la alcohol wouldn't make much of a difference. Many people drink occasionally. Some people drink a little every day - a glass of wine with dinner, a nightcap before sleep, whatever. Many more people drink on special occasions and otherwise never touch the stuff. Some people don't drink at all.

Drugs wouldn't be any different. Alcohol is a highly addictive substance - maybe not quite on the level of, say, heroin, but it's addictive and has a physical component to that. And just like there are Alcoholics Anonymous groups and rehabilitation, so would there be for drugs. The thing is, not a whole lot would change from legalization after things even out, except you'd be taking away a major income (and therefore, power) source from criminal groups.

Alcohol is not addictive at all. Just recently, I was drunk every night for 2 weeks in a row during the summer vacation in college and I feel no craving for it. In fact, even the smell of alcohol made me a bit nauseous after that. But for example with tobacco, it's much much worse. I tried it when I was 14 or so because of friends and after a week, it was already hard to stop. Luckily I never smoked more than a few cigarettes a day so quitting was actually not that hard. But it still took years.

Now if a drug with the addictiveness of tobacco that actually gets you "high" (lets face it, smoking really doesnt do anything after you get used to it) would be readily available..

[obdigore]

Alcohol is not addictive at all. Just recently, I was drunk every night for 2 weeks in a row during the summer vacation in college and I feel no craving for it. In fact, even the smell of alcohol made me a bit nauseous after that. But for example with tobacco, it's much much worse. I tried it when I was 14 or so because of friends and after a week, it was already hard to stop. Luckily I never smoked more than a few cigarettes a day so quitting was actually not that hard. But it still took years.

Now if a drug with the addictiveness of tobacco that actually gets you "high" (lets face it, smoking really doesnt do anything after you get used to it) would be readily available..

Again, what you say is not what science or studies have said. Alcohol is quite addictive. In fact it is considered a disease.

Meanwhile, Tobacco itself isn't really addictive, the additional nicotine additives are, however.

[Slammin Shaman]

In the UK they have heroin partially legalized. There are clinics set up by the government to give people their heroin dose, and once they get their dose for the day they are put in their system saying they had their dose and can't get another one for 24 hours. The process from start to finish is done by the government and is regulated. Plus it does make jobs for a lot of people. They also have a system set up for if you decide you want to quit using heroin. They ween you off the stuff and you see a counselor the whole course.

You could do that with a multitude of drugs.

[ita]

Again, what you say is not what science or studies have said. Alcohol is quite addictive. In fact it is considered a disease.

Meanwhile, Tobacco itself isn't addictive, the nicotine additives are, however.

To be honest, it doesn't even matter is it was addictive. Maybe it's personal and some people just dont get addicted but the point is that you can't ban alcohol anyway. If they did, people would still make it in their homes because all you need for it is something with sugar or starch content. It would start to ferment even if you dont add yeast to it because of natural yeast flying around everywhere.

[obdigore]

To be honest, it doesn't even matter is it was addictive. Maybe it's personal and some people just dont get addicted but the point is that you can't ban alcohol anyway. If they did, people would still make it in their homes because all you need for it is something with sugar or starch content. It would start to ferment even if you dont add yeast to it because of natural yeast flying around everywhere.

I guess you can't ban weed either because you can grow pot in your closet? Oh wait...

[jmacphee9]

It only works if the list is torn up and tossed out, leave 1 drug illegal and there will be a criminal network selling it on the streets in hours.

how could the government legitimately sell and tax alot of these drugs though? meth? heroine? it is just insane...decriminalizing it maybe but selling this to your own people seems insane.

[ita]

I guess you can't ban weed either because you can grow pot in your closet? Oh wait...

Thats different. Marihuana comes from only one plant and you can ban that. But you could make alcohol from your tea with sugar too.. or anything really. My parents made wine from apples when I was little for example. You just can't control that unless they start randomly searching peoples houses.

[obdigore]

Thats different. Marihuana comes from only one plant and you can ban that. But you could make alcohol from your tea with sugar too.. or anything really. My parents made wine from apples when I was little for example. You just can't control that unless they start randomly searching peoples houses.

You can make alcohol out of tea? I did not know that. I thought it needed a grain or fruit base.

You can ban the plant marijuana (like they did), but to think that seeds and cuttings wouldn't get through customs (although it was here already, so... you can't think you would eliminate it all). You can't find most of it without searching peoples houses either.

I agree alcohol can be made from more things, but banning plants is hard, unless you go the way of NZ and have very strict in/out procedures to prevent the problems australia is having with wildlife/plants from other parts of the world.

[Itisamuh]

I would rather keep things as they are. There is no reason to change things, people are just wanting their little high. Get over it.

[PizzaSHARK]

To be honest, it doesn't even matter is it was addictive. Maybe it's personal and some people just dont get addicted but the point is that you can't ban alcohol anyway. If they did, people would still make it in their homes because all you need for it is something with sugar or starch content. It would start to ferment even if you dont add yeast to it because of natural yeast flying around everywhere.

And you can grow cannabis and poppies in your back yard, and methamphetamine can be synthesized from fairly common household items. Getting enough to create batches large enough to sale is pretty difficult these days, but I don't think it'd be hard to get enough stuff to make a batch for your own personal use.

I'm not sure what your point is, man.

[ita]

You can make alcohol out of tea? I did not know that. I thought it needed a grain or fruit base.

Yea, you can make it from pretty much anything. Ive even heard they made it from manure in World War 2 but not sure if I believe that. Still, pretty much anything organic ferments, even water with sugar in it can be made into alcohol if you add yeast to it.

Growing pot is a lot harder though. You'd need a greenhouse or a lot of place, special lights set up etc. to grow it and it's usually pretty noticeable. Still even illegal, a lot of people do it and it's fine. They want to use it and know what they're getting into. But I still support keeping it illegal, just decriminalized to reduce people accidentally or on a whim getting introduced to it and possibly getting addicted.

[obdigore]

Yea, you can make it from pretty much anything. Ive even heard they made it from manure in World War 2 but not sure if I believe that. Still, pretty much anything organic ferments, even water with sugar in it can be made into alcohol if you add yeast to it.

Growing pot is a lot harder though. You'd need a greenhouse or a lot of place, special lights set up etc. to grow it and it's usually pretty noticeable. Still even illegal, a lot of people do it and it's fine. They want to use it and know what they're getting into. But I still support keeping it illegal, just decriminalized to reduce people accidentally or on a whim getting introduced to it and possibly getting addicted.

Weed isn't addictive. Not even like Alcohol is. You just need a fenced in backyard or a grow light in your closet to grow weed.

Why do you support keeping it illegal? It is already readily available, is less addictive than Alcohol (see: Alcoholism), and makes cartels tons of money purely because it is illegal. What benefits are there for keeping it illegal?

[ita]

Weed isn't addictive. Not even like Alcohol is. You just need a fenced in backyard or a grow light in your closet to grow weed.

Why do you support keeping it illegal? It is already readily available, is less addictive than Alcohol (see: Alcoholism), and makes cartels tons of money purely because it is illegal. What benefits are there for keeping it illegal?

Well, take alcohol or tobacco for example. It's being sold in every supermarket. Every time I go there I notice it and sometimes buy alcohol, especially if there's some campaign and they sell some for very low price. If weed was sold like that, a lot of people who otherwise wouldn't would buy it. It would end up in a lot of homes, become much more readily available for teens and even children. Just no..

I dont support throwing people in jail for possession but making it legal is completely different matter.

[obdigore]

Well, take alcohol or tobacco for example. It's being sold in every supermarket. Every time I go there I notice it and sometimes buy alcohol, especially if there's some campaign and they sell some for very low price. If weed was sold like that, a lot of people who otherwise wouldn't would buy it. It would end up in a lot of homes, become much more readily available for teens and even children. Just no..

I dont support throwing people in jail for possession but making it legal is completely different matter.

So how is weed worse for teens and small children than Tobacco or Alcohol?

[noxatron]

This is such a ridiculous notion and it's hilarious how there's still only one signature haha

[ita]

So how is weed worse for teens and small children than Tobacco or Alcohol?

Doesn't matter if it's worse. It's not good. If tobacco would be illegal today, I would also support keeping it illegal but the cat is already out of the bag with that one and alcohol is just impossible to control.

One bad thing being legal doesn't justify another made so.

[obdigore]

Doesn't matter if it's worse. It's not good. If tobacco would be illegal today, I would also support keeping it illegal but the cat is already out of the bag with that one and alcohol is just impossible to control.

One bad thing being legal doesn't justify another made so.

Meh ok. I don't agree with you but I see where you are coming from.

[ita]

Meh ok. I don't agree with you but I see where you are coming from.

Yea, same here. I see why you think legalizing pot is ok too but this thread isn't really about pot. I dont know why we singled it out, its about all drugs and even if one can argue that marihuana isn't that bad and is healthier than tobacco, the rest of the drugs are certainly very bad for you and a lot of them kill you over 5-10 years once you start using them.