Why exactly are drugs illegal?

[belfpala]

Just wait until a family member of yours dies from some shady drug and let me know how you're feelings are towards drugs after that.

My overdosed and died from medicine (drugs) prescribed by a doctor. She misused them.

My response was to become more active about noticing the mental health of others. Not to demonize a substance she used as a result of her mental health issues.

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I knew 2 guys in school who died from MDPV because it was legal at the time, they wanted to score coke but the MPDV was legal. At the time there wasn't any information about the drug unlike coke so they didn't know what they were getting into. Experiences like this is what actually made me feel this way.

Also this, and add on that many accidental overdoses of illegal drugs are because they're impure (e.g., mdma cut with meth or other things); legalization and regulation could help both education and safety.

[Pantalaimon]

Because things like child abuse, drug induced/drug related domestic violence, drug overdose fatalities, etc etc would drastically increase? This seems like a no brainer. Not only would you have the typical scum bags that already negatively affect others lives when high and do so in the background while under the radar, but by allowing drugs to not be illegal you would simply see this population of low-lives increase by making it significantly easier to get a hold of drugs to then do irresponsible, even abhorrent, actions while high. You would merely have black market world of drug use/sales join those who would then be able to legally purchase any drug should everything suddenly be made legal.

Simply because there are an ever increasing number of similar types of drugs being introduced to society doesn't mean we should essentially be asking; "Why are we still keeping the other drugs illegal?" A better question might be; "Why aren't we being more proactive with what our modern drug markets are churning out?"

[Deleted]

Because things like child abuse, drug induced/drug related domestic violence, drug overdose fatalities, etc etc would drastically increase? "

Doubtful. There isn't any evidence to support that. In fact, any of the European countries who have legalized/ decriminalized drugs have not had any jumps in drug induced/related crimes.

[Ripster42]

Doubtful. There isn't any evidence to support that. In fact, any of the European countries who have legalized/ decriminalized drugs have not had any jumps in drug induced/related crimes.

Rates have actually decreased.

[belfpala]

Because things like child abuse, drug induced/drug related domestic violence, drug overdose fatalities, etc etc would drastically increase? This seems like a no brainer. Not only would you have the typical scum bags that already negatively affect others lives when high and do so in the background while under the radar, but by allowing drugs to not be illegal you would simply see this population of low-lives increase by making it significantly easier to get a hold of drugs to then do irresponsible, even abhorrent, actions while high. You would merely have black market world of drug use/sales join those who would then be able to legally purchase any drug should everything suddenly be made legal.

Simply because there are an ever increasing number of similar types of drugs being introduced to society doesn't mean we should essentially be asking; "Why are we still keeping the other drugs illegal?" A better question might be; "Why aren't we being more proactive with what our modern drug markets are churning out?"

There are so many assumptions, slippery slopes, and other fallacies built into this, I won't even attempt to untangle it.

So here, play with this: and good, otherwise law-abiding folks like me wouldn't have to deal with thugs and low lifes to get a preferred recreational substance, thereby reducing the chance those folks are drawn into the horrible things you slippery sloped for us. Hey.

[zephid]

Remember, portugal legalized drugs and has a lower use rate than the US because they get addicts treatment.

Comparing Portugal to the U.S. is pointless and doesn't tell us anything. What you should look at is the number of drug users in Portugal before and after legalization. Did the number of drug users in Portugal go up, down, or stayed the same, after they legalized it?

[Pantalaimon]

Doubtful. There isn't any evidence to support that. In fact, any of the European countries who have legalized/ decriminalized drugs have not had any jumps in drug induced/related crimes.

Sorry, but I don't buy the whole 'responsible drug user' argument, especially when you have vulnerable populations such as children involved. Substances such as meth amphetamines aren't going to prevent said individuals from getting extra slap happy with their children or sexually abusing them while the user is under the influence, especially if said individual already has a pre-existing mental illness or disposition that already makes them more likely to not handle situations such as family-related stress events very well. Suggesting that drug legalization would not further aggravate such social problems such as these is doing none other than trying to turn logic on its head.

[belfpala]

Of course outlawing drugs helps. It helps immensely. It acts as a front-line deterrent to stop the bulk of society from getting involved with them. What is the percentage of people that use meth in the US. Now what is the percentage of people that use meth in North Korea (meth is legal there)?

The counter to that is something like, alcohol is mostly legal in the US, and most people aren't alcoholics.

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Comparing Portugal with the U.S. is pointless and doesn't tell us anything. What you should do is look at the number of drug users in Portugal before and after legalization. Did the number of drug users in Portugal go up, down, or stayed the same, after they legalized it?

Here, we hand wave away numbers because we don't like the comparison. Ok.

[Seezer]

Because they can harm the social fabric immensely.

That's right. And alcohol contributes to that immensely. So why is alcohol legal?

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The counter to that is something like, alcohol is mostly legal in the US, and most people aren't alcoholics.

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Here, we hand wave away numbers because we don't like the comparison. Ok.

Most people aren't addicted to pot either. And before there are any conclusions drawn, I don't smoke weed. There is no rational argument for booze being legal and pot being illegal. People say "but it's a gateway drug". Having friends can be a gateway to heavy drugs. And alcohol is definitely a gateway drug as well. If you party enough you're going to get introduced to other things.

[zephid]

The counter to that is something like, alcohol is mostly legal in the US, and most people aren't alcoholics.

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Here, we hand wave away numbers because we don't like the comparison. Ok.

You can't just compare different countries to each other. Different countries have different cultures, values, etc. If you want to know if legalization had had a positive or negative effect you have to look at the same country, before and after legalization.

[belfpala]

I wouldn't quite put alcohol in the same category as crystal meth, heroine, cocaine, or crack.

Having used all five at some point, alcohol is worse. At least for me. /shrug.

Oh right, single data point.

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You can't just compare different countries to each other. Different countries have different cultures, values, etc. If you want to know if legalization have a positive or negative effect you have to look at the same country, before and after they legalized it.

We can't compare individuals to each other either (see my comment above). At some point, we have to compare data sets that are not identical in every way you would like.

We can look at countries that have legalized, see that it doesn't cause a massive spike in use, also see that it maybe becomes safer. Then we can ask if there are any significant differences between that population and another. In the instances of European vs. US population, the differences probably are not that great.

[Ripster42]

Comparing Portugal to the U.S. is pointless and doesn't tell us anything. What you should look at is the number of drug users in Portugal before and after legalization. Did the number of drug users in Portugal go up, down, or stayed the same, after they legalized it?

They went down. That's the whole point of bringing them up.

To clarify: the amount of people saying they've used a drug ever in their lives went up, the number of people who've used in the past year and month went down. In other words, fewer addicts, who are the actual problem.

[Seezer]

Sorry, but I don't buy the whole 'responsible drug user' argument, especially when you have vulnerable populations such as children involved. Substances such as meth amphetamines aren't going to prevent said individuals from getting extra slap happy with their children or sexually abusing them while the user is under the influence, especially if said individual already has a pre-existing mental illness or disposition that already makes them more likely to not handle situations such as family-related stress events very well. Suggesting that drug legalization would not further aggravate such social problems such as these is doing none other than trying to turn logic on its head.

If you're trying to say that alcohol doesn't cause people with problems to be "extra slap happy" then you're just not being honest. Alcohol aggravates those social problems. But it's legal.

[Ripster42]

You can't just compare different countries to each other. Different countries have different cultures, values, etc. If you want to know if legalization had had a positive or negative effect you have to look at the same country, before and after legalization.

Yes, do so. Then realize countries that have legalized drugs have fewer addicts.

[Berndorf]

to make money off of incarceration in private prisons, and also because it would be really awkward if the cia just started selling coke straight to consumers in america, instead of using a cartel as a go between.

Mostly this though I don't think most people would be ok with drugs like cocaine and heroin being completely legal.

[Fencers]

Because many are dangerous to individuals and society by extension. Pretty obvious we don't want a surgeon performing open heart surgery high on bath salts.

[Ripster42]

Mostly this though I don't think most people would be ok with drugs like cocaine and heroin being completely legal.

Yes, I know some people would rather be ideologically pure than do something good for society.

[belfpala]

I'm not even going to touch that. I stand by my previous comment.

Alcohol used excessively or improperly is incredibly destructive.

So are the drugs you mentioned.

Alcohol is extremely addictive for some people

So are the drugs you mentioned.

In those ways, it's perfectly acceptable to lump them together.

So, I stand by my comment. One is legal. Some people have a problem with it, most people don't. The others are illegal. Some people have a problem with them, most people don't.

[Mormolyce]

Narcotics laws were an outgrowth of the Prohibitionist era, we rolled back the alcohol version because of the popularity of alcohol, but not other narcotics.

[belfpala]

Because many are dangerous to individuals and society by extension. Pretty obvious we don't want a surgeon performing open heart surgery high on bath salts.

What if someone slipped him decaf coffee?