your opinion: the war on drugs vs legalization

[Bertha Venation]

Please vote and offer your comments.

If I'd had more space I would have made these options more specific:

No. 2: "marijuana should be legalized, regulated by the FDA, and taxed & sold like cigarettes, but all other drugs must remain illegal"

No. 3: "marijuana and heroin should be legalized, regulated by the FDA, and taxed & sold like cigarettes, but all other drugs must remain illegal"

No. 4: "marijuana, heroin, cocoaine, et al should be legalized, regulated by the FDA, and taxed like everything else, and the war on drugs ended"

[edit] Thanks to Pete's windshield for the inspiration.

 

[Sharon]

They can legalize drugs when it's legal for me to shoot the idiot that tries to steal my stuff to support their habit.

 

[Sharon]

Originally posted by cariblue
Where is the line drawn on protecting one's property?

It depends on which state you live in, as to what you can do about it.

 

[Sharon]

Originally posted by cariblue
As a resident of MD, should I own a baseball bat?

Yes, hand it to the criminal then use your gun to shoot him dead. Make sure you tell the cops he threatened to kill you before you shoot, and that he came after you.

 

[Bertha Venation]

Originally posted by Sharon
They can legalize drugs when it's legal for me to shoot the idiot that tries to steal my stuff to support their habit.

Consider: Legalize drugs, and the drive (in their eyes, the "necessity") to steal will be greatly reduced.

 

[Sharon]

Originally posted by Bertha Venation
Consider: Legalize drugs, and the drive (in their eyes, the "necessity") to steal will be greatly reduced.

Consider this: When people can openly and freely do all the drugs they want, they'll still need to find a way to support a sky-rocketing habit.

 

[Bertha Venation]

Originally posted by Sharon
Consider this: When people can openly and freely do all the drugs they want, they'll still need to find a way to support a sky-rocketing habit.

That's a valid point. So is mine.

IMO, it's not for me to say what one can or can't put into his body. I care if someone wants to destroy his lungs or his liver, but I don't have the right to say "you may not!"

The Volstead Act doesn't seem to have taught us much. The war on drugs is a tremendous waste of manpower, resources, administrative hours, paper, etc., and lives.

 

[Sharon]

I don't care what others do to or put in their bodies. I'm not against the medical use of marijuana (or even the occasional recreational user).

I've known many people who used hard drugs. I've never seen anything good come out of it. The only happy endings are those that ended up in rehab and quit for life. Many hit rock bottom, lost their job, their kids, got divorced, went to jail, and a few are dead. Some still use and I avoid them like the plague.

Illegal or legal, there'll always be people who use. Some people stay away because of the laws, why make it easier for them to ruin their life and those around them. Nobody ever plans on spending their entire paycheck on drugs when they first start. Pretty soon they're pawning possessions, then they want to borrow from you.

 

[Bertha Venation]

Originally posted by Sharon
I don't care what others do to or put in their bodies. I'm not against the medical use of marijuana (or even the occasional recreational user).

I've known many people who used hard drugs. I've never seen anything good come out of it. The only happy endings are those that ended up in rehab and quit for life. Many hit rock bottom, lost their job, their kids, got divorced, went to jail, and a few are dead. Some still use and I avoid them like the plague.

Illegal or legal, there'll always be people who use. Some people stay away because of the laws, why make it easier for them to ruin their life and those around them. Nobody ever plans on spending their entire paycheck on drugs when they first start. Pretty soon they're pawning possessions, then they want to borrow from you.

As you said, you've nothing to do w/ users. They can't hit you up.

I can't argue with what you say.

What's your view on the war on drugs, Sharon? I posit that the country would be better off without it. Legalize drugs and rechannel the astounding resources from the "war."

 

[Sharon]

Originally posted by Bertha Venation
As you said, you've nothing to do w/ users. They can't hit you up.

At least friends can't.

Two complete strangers stuck a gun to my head (DC-July'83) and took my purse. I doubt they needed the money to pay bills.

I can't speak much about the WOD, the people involved are criminals, they knew it was illegal when they got into it. Stop selling/buying and you ain't got the problem. I just can't see any good coming from making every drug legal and unleashing more problems onto society in general.

 

[Bruzilla]

I find it amazing that people are even considering legalizing drugs. And I find it even more amazing that most of the supporters of legalization justify their position by saying "well booze and cigarettes are legal, and they are drugs!" These are two items that would be a blessing if they could be removed from the face of the Earth, yet some want to greatly compound the problems of alcohol and tobacco addiction by making drugs that are as bad or worse easier to get?

Who of you who support legalization want to pick up the accountability (and the tab) for the outcomes of this action? If you think second-hand tobacco smoke is bad, how about having to deal with a bunch of stoned a-holes hanging out at the mall or other public place? If you thought that losing about 18,000 people a year to drunk drivers was bad, how about boosting the body count by having a bunch of stones drivers out there. Hey, who's going to be responsible for all these low-rents that blow most of their kids' food and clothes money (and the rent) on smokes and beers, and who now have a new outlet for their kids' money? Yeah... life in the US of A isn't messed up enough by drunks and smokers... let's really mess it up by radically increasing the number of drug abusers.

Yeah, there are lots and lots of people who abuse illegal drugs to one level or another, but there are a great deal more who do not abuse drugs because they are illegal and expensive. If you make them legal and cheap you're going to open the floodgates and turn a trickle into a river. Legal tobacco and alchohol are not a good thing. They are a major detriment to society, and shouldn't be used as a justification to make more problems.

 

[vraiblonde]

Larry's a legalization guy. I'm strongly against it. I made headway with him when I said, "Picture one of our girls injecting heroin into her veins. Why not? It's legal."

When you legalize something, you're giving tacit approval. This means more people will do it because the penalty is removed. People are stupid enough - let's not bring legalized drugs into the mix.

 

[jlabsher]

Remember history?

Alcohol Prohibition= rise of gangs & crime. Legalization = Decline of crime.

If drugs are legal and cheaper, not as much need to steal to support a habit. Tax dollars from the sale can be earmarked to rehab programs.

Addictive personalities will always find a way to satisfy their craving, spending hundreds of billions of dollars on the war on drugs with no visible outcome is not the answer.

 

[SamSpade]

We keep lots of things out of public hands, for the public safety. We control certain drugs, chemicals and hazardous substances - you just can't keep canisters of nerve gas, plutonium or other deadly wastes in your home. This is because for the normal every day person, there is no real need and a potential DEADLY public threat. You contain this threat by stopping it from getting into the hands of the general public.

There is NO question in my mind that legalizing drugs would open a Pandora's box of drug use that no amount of policing would ever be able to contain. It's already illegal to drive drunk, and it's an epidemic on our roadways, with innocent, NON-drinking persons at risk. Now add a bunch of druggies to the mix. A bad thing made worse.

Think clearing the dockets for those accused of drug possession or casual use will stop the crime? Try ADDING to the dockets those doing dangerous things *because* they're on drugs at the time. See, it will no longer be illegal for your neighbor to do drugs, but it STILL will be illegal for him to drive your kids to school while stoned.

BTW - legalization did NOT lower crime, except for the crime of "drinking alcohol". Violent crime was actually at its highest during that time period. By that logic we should legalize theft and murder to reduce crime.

I shudder to think what the nation would be like if drugs were freely available to everyone.

 

[vraiblonde]

Give people drugs and take away their guns - sounds like a great idea to me. Turn on a few porno movies, then you'll never have to worry about people thinking about their government too much.

 

[SurfaceTension]

Kinda depends if you're willing to adopt a consistant policy towards all social issues; that is, treat people like adults and let them make or break on their own. If you legalize them while continuing to subsidize poor/irresponsible behavior, you're just asking for more trouble and a larger long-term dependency class.

 

[vraiblonde]

Originally posted by SurfaceTension
a larger long-term dependency class.

Don't you get it? That's EXACTLY what they're after.

Gimme your guns.
Here, have some drugs - they'll make ya feel reeeeeeeeeal good.
Here's the clicker - what's on the tube?
Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.


Power power power. The dumber and more defenseless we are, the more powerful they are.

 

[SurfaceTension]

Originally posted by vraiblonde
Don't you get it?

I got it!!! I got it!!!

 

[Bruzilla]

How far out on the fringes of reality do you need to be to think a statement like "If drugs are legal and cheaper, not as much need to steal to support a habit. Tax dollars from the sale can be earmarked to rehab programs" makes sense?

Let me get this straight... we should encourage more people to use drugs, and those who currently use drugs to use more, in order to better fund rehab efforts to get them off drugs??? And making the drugs cheaper will make having a "habit" more cost effective and will result in less people stealing to support their habit, Maybe it's just me, but I thought the core idea was to eliminate habits as much as possible, not promote cheaper ones.

By the way, for all you folks who think that counter-narcotics efforts have been fruitless should thin about what this country would be like if no effort had been made. We would have cheap, widely-available, "illegal" drugs and addicted folks everywhere. Yeah... that's just what we need.

And Vrai... don't you love it that people who want to legalize drugs usually want to ban guns despite the fact that drug-related deaths far outnumber shooting deaths?

 

[SamSpade]

Most shooting deaths - that are not suicides - are related either to drugs or gang violence.

I have actually noticed that every girlfriend I've ever had that was FOR the legalization of drugs either took them illegally already or had a history of drug abuse. I wonder why that is?