End the War on Drugs

[Shaoshi]

I'm not sure i can post links yet, but im gonna try anyway

http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/...69O3VI20101025

if it doesnt work, try searching switzerland drug use policy,
aside from whats described in the article, it should be noted that the government views drug use as a disease
this greatly reduces the view held often by younger illegal users that using drugs is "cool"
which i think stops a lot of people getting into it in the first place.

I'm from the netherlands myself and here cannabis in general is allowed, and the sales are being controlled by certified sellers (although small amounts may be homegrown at your own discretion), strangely enough, they're called coffee shops. so referring to ita, they wont be sold to minors easily. thats not to say they dont get their hands on it for sure, and there are still people who certainly get addicted to drugs, only not to cannabis. cannabis has scientifically been proven non-addictive.
fact is though, that families who are open minded often experience less difficulties with drug abuse, and a less strict policy and these types of thing usually result in people less interested in them.

a less conservative stance on drugs is, in my opinion, a safer way to deal with it.
this stuff is often used by people who have a hard time dealing with reality, and use it to escape from it for a certain while.
unforunately, this is somewhat of a self fulfilling prophecy in a country who considers these practices criminal, because that will result in more problems in your own life, means more stress means more need for drugs, kind of a vicious cycle empowering itself.
the root of this problem, is not the stance of the government, its the problems people are having and their need to escape. the stance a government takes is capable of either relieving the stress of a person, or increase it.

disclaimer; the views expressed in this reply are expressly my own, aside from the article from reuters, i have not double checked my facts and i may certainly be wrong.

[obdigore]

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.

Because it is easily one of the most widespread drugs (at least in the states) and has some of the least effects upon a person, and isn't addicting. I would argue the same for Shrooms and LSD, but drugs that are addicting should be kept decriminalized but still illegal.

[Kasierith]

What a load of complete bull. It's well known that the flashbacks can and do happen, especially when the person has done something like smoke pot or use another drug. They can be triggered by other things though. There are numerous cases of suicide from the use or after effects of the use of LSD.

Correlation vs causation. You can get flashbacks, sure, but they're no different from flashbacks that you can get from traumatic events outside of using LSD. Saying that flashbacks are "Caused" by LSD directly is pretty intellectually dishonest. Appeals to belief are meaningless to me if you can't back it up.

http://simson.net/ref/1970/LSD_Flashbacks.pdf

"The flashback is probably primarily psychological rather than chemical in nature, and may be related to traumatic events within the LSD intoxication itself. They are seen frequently after bad trips, many of which have been treated in a hospital setting, and although the bad trip appears to have etiological significance, its exact relationship has not been explored."

[Knight Gil]

See this article, Portugal did this in 2002.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain...f-in-portugal/

Except that you forgot to mention that we decriminalized drugs, not legalized them. If found in possession of drugs, they are still confiscated. Oh, and it's still a crime to trade them. Besides, the fact that drug abuse got lower means that we still got a "war on drugs" policy, since we're trying to lower their numbers.

That was the whole intention: Decriminalize drugs so that addicts can seek treatment without fear of legal repercussions , not legalize them so you can do them and trade them as much as you want

[Gothicshark]

At the present state the economy is in if the "war" stopped all of a sudden then who would replace those decent paying jobs in the marketplace? If you can come up with a good answer then you'll be the first person I've seen to do it.

You didn't clarify what you where saying, but I think you are speculating that Prison Guards and police officers might loose jobs if the War on drugs ended, look at prohibition, the temporary federal task force to end the Mafia became the FBI, there will always be plenty of crime to justify a police force in the US. They just need to be focused on violence and real crime, drug use is a personal choice.

Also cops make ok money but it's not the best.

[mindbomb]

Because many of our prisons are like fucking hotels with cable TV, computers, internet, etc.

Cut them down to bread and water. Put their asses to work as well.

Yeah, so if you remove most of drug related, non-violent offenders there wouldn't be that many prisoners. So the privatized jail industry that sprung up quickly after mandatory minimums wouldn't be making "jail condos" in the first place.

The war on drugs is just more fuel for the biggest drug of them all, wealth. Same with mindless political campaigns fueling marketing and broadcast revenues. ...or wars with other various industries.

[Gothicshark]

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.

We live in a Capitalistic society, the government wouldn't sell a thing. We have a pharmaceutical industry, and a tobacco industry. These industries would take over the importation purification and quality controls set to Government standards for safety, the system is already in place did you know that Coca-cola brings in more Coca plant extract than any drug dealer on the planet, they remove the active ingredient but keep the flavor.

Someone has pointed out that the Tobacco industry is already prepared to package and sell Marijuana.

Remember the Majority of people who do drugs are looking for a pleasant buzz, or an escape from a boring life. They would rather not deal with crimanals and would except a weaker safer version of their drug if it was legal.

[Rukentuts]

This thread just reaffirms my belief that there needs to be mandatory drug tests to receive any form of welfare assistance.

[beastmorph]

This thread just reaffirms my belief that there needs to be mandatory drug tests to receive any form of welfare assistance.

Agreed. 10chars


Infracted.

Try and post relevant stuff to the thread, please.