I'm sure this has been asked, but I'm interesting in reading what you all think. Please vote in the poll and give your reasons. I respect everyone's potential answer and views, therefore the poll will not show who voted for what. Personally, I believe at the very least Cannabis should be legalised. In America you have the NRA and your amendment which allows you the right to bear arms. So if you allow guns which are designed to kill, why not allow drugs? I think all drugs should be legalised. This way the government can ensure safe usage, IE clean drugs; not mixed or cut with anything else. I believe we should have the freedom to go down to a clinic, pay x for a specific drug, be monitored/helped with using it, then the waste is safely disposed of. This would nullify the illegal smuggling, black market and crime associated with drugs, practically overnight. Ever wondered why drug dealers are in fact against the legalisation of drugs? Because they're greedy, and as long as it's illegal, they'll take profits for themselves. The government would show compassion if they ended the prohibition, as we'd all be a hell of a lot safer. Sure, drugs can and have ruined lives and families, but isn't this our choice? It's not the central government's job to nanny us like this. It's a shame so many listen and believe the propaganda put out by the Man, when in actual fact, research is ignored. Don't forget folks, hundreds of thousands die every year from alcohol and cigarette related issues, while a big fat zero have died (ever!) directly from Cannabis
Definitely cannabis, and more and more, I'm leaning towards full legalization. I've heard the 'for the children' argument, and you know what? It's pointless. I grew up in the D.A.R.E. generation, and it definitely influenced me and a lot of others away from drugs, not the illegality aspect. I maintain that those who really want to try them are going to get their hands on them anyway; it's like banning guns to protect against criminals, then only the criminals have guns. Once I hit 16 or 17 and started questioning authority, and looking deeper into the issues, I begun to side with the libertarian "my body, my choice" mantra. The only reason cigarettes and alcohol are legal is because a huge percent of the population uses them compared to hard drugs. The bottom line is studies have shown that drug use has increased in all categories since the War On Drugs was instituted; it isn't working. We need to, as a certain political candidate says, stop focusing on trying to stop drug use through legislation, and instead focus on stopping drug use as a community and treat it as a health problem and an addiction and disease. So while I'm not completely sold on full legalization, I currently lean there more than I lean to marijuana only.
Our government has a lot of problems, being associated with the facilitation of drugs shouldn't be one of them There is a concern about addition, and even overdose. If the drug user buys drugs from the government sponsored center and Overdoses is the center responsible for his/her death? I believe if our government doesn’t attack the problem from the demand side then supply will never go down because their will always be demand for the drugs.
Well the Western world has been "attacking demand" for a hell of a long time my friend, and it doesn't seem to be working. If people are monitored, given check ups and stick to a government recommended dosage, everyone would be fine. Virtually all overdoses happen because of the inconsistency of drug potency. If we're allowed pure substances, they'd practically be no ODs.
Well in the U.S. they have been attacking the supply (The drug dealers, the drug suppliers) and really not the drug users.
That's a start. People abusing drugs shouldn't be punished. If they have issues, they need help, not prison. another important point I'd like to make, is that no-one is actually saying Cannabis, or most drugs, is safe or harmless. We should have a choice to potentially harm ourselves. Tobacco smokers do. Now I think of it, I don't think it should be up to the Congress in the US, or Parliament here in the UK, or any other government body, to decide whether it should be legal or not. Why can't they conduct a huge nation wide poll? That's true democracy.
Definitely not true. They target both. Half of all drug related offenders in jail are for possession of marijuana. I'll get a source on that ASAP.
http://www.drugwarfacts.org/marijuan.htm Listed as their sources are a bunch of tables from the FBI Crime data, freely available on their site. Total Drug Related Arrests (2005): 1,846,351 Total Marijuana Possession Arrests (2005): 696,074 Percentage: 37.7% That means 3 of every 8 drug related offenders simply had some weed in their pocket. This is not a supply side war. "The Department of Justice reported that at year-end 2003, federal prisons held a total of 158,426 inmates, of whom 86,972 (55%) were drug offenders." (Source) To your defense, most people in federal prisons are trafficking offenders. Sadly, over half of the people we put in a federal prison were drug offenders. Murderers and rapists go free due to overcrowding, because of the ridiculously long sentences that come upon drug traffickers. Not that every guy selling drugs is an angel, but I'd rather have someone selling weed on the streets than someone who has killed before.
I don't what the government determining what I can and cannot use, whether it is cannabis or vitamins. I'm an adult, and I reserve the right to make my own free choices. Why we outlaw Marijuana and not cigarettes or booze is beyond me. A wise man has recently said, "We don't treat alcoholics as criminals, addiction is a disease."
Statistics don’t explain everything. For example out of those arrested for possession, how many were on probation? What is the size of their possession? How many times have they been arrested before? How long did they get arrested for? Also out of the 55% drug offenders, how many committed other crimes? I’m just saying that the statistics don’t always explain the full story. I don’t believe anyone is serving more then a year in jail for just having a joint in their pocket.
You bring up that the mafia flourished. That is the exact situation you see with other drugs. Cocaine allows Colombian drug cartels to make massive amounts of money. Afghani opium. Mexican/Canadian weed. Gangs in many large cities operate firstly in the drug trade, and then in other forms of violence. This is one of the causes of a drug war, that we leave drug production and sale to an illegal black market, and in a sense drive violence and other crimes. Legalize it, tax it, regulate it, and the black market DIES, as economies of scale drive prices down tremendously and supply increases exponentially. An eighth of weed doesn't cost $50 anymore from that shady guy down the street, it costs a fraction of that in the corner store where you need to show your ID to buy it. Overdoses, as BRUm mentioned, drop significantly, because there is incentive and regulation to put out a quality product. Do you think the gang banger in South Central LA cares about the quality of his coke? "Oops we didn't cut it, Johnny died. Who gives a fuck." But if pharmaceutical companies or whoever else can be held liable for the product they put out, you can be damned sure people will do a better job of making it standardized and safe. I'm not saying every guy out there is innocent. But that doesn't justify this ridiculous endeavor the government started 30 years ago that has gotten further away than 1971 in curing the problem it set out to defeat. If someone is violent, imprison them. If someone is addicted, help them. Continue the programs that educate people on drugs and their dangers, but ultimately leave it in their hands to decide what to do. Maybe you don't know, but people who have done nothing but have some weed in their pockets DO GO TO JAIL. I'm college aged, do you know what happens every time I get pulled over? "Son, do you mind if I search your vehicle? You carrying any illegal drugs?" Thank goodness for the 4th amendment, because based solely on my age, I'm a danger to society and should be accosted at every possible step of the way to be sure I don't have drugs! It's a ridiculous war, and time has shown that it does not work. You say to attack the problem from the demand side to ever have a chance of solving the problem, and then acknowledge there will always be demand for drugs. If there is always demand, how do you plan to attack the problem? 35 years of data will show you that outlawing it does not work. We need to focus on encouraging people to stay off it, and being as educated as possible. It has a lot of parallels to abstinence-only sex education, which has shown to increase pregnancy rates and STD rates, and why? You can't outlaw something, leave people uneducated as to WHY it's dangerous, and then expect them to make the right decision. People will do what they want, the best thing we can do as a society is to make them as informed as possible and hope they make the right decision, and help them when they do not. Force doesn't cure every social ill of life, and we need to change our outlook on that if we ever want to make our world a better place.
I don't have time to read all the posts, nor make a great post. I however feel the need to pound out something quick. I am for ending drug prohibition on everything. A few points. Most in jail, probation, etc are users. In Wisconsin it's a felony for being caught with pot a second time. Not intent to sell, a simple joint can make you a felon. Over doses are caused much of the time by bad quality drugs. Imagine if your tylonel was made in someones bathtub. Wasted tax payer money, it causes the DEA and other government agencies to gain power, waste money, for what could be used better to teach of dangers, protect against terrorism, etc. Crime. The crime caused by drugs mainly comes from prohibition itself. Children. Make drugs legal, control them legally and it will be harder for them to get. So many reasons to legalize, I could go on and on. How about simple personal liberty and responsiblity?
If drugs are legalized it will greatly increase the number of people using them. Who knows what could result from that.
Not likely at all. Education would have more $$$ Drugs would be made less addictive. You now have actual control and can force people into treatment and limit how much they use. So many things can be done to totally destroy the 'more will use them' argument.
The number one issue with the hards drugs is the health care burden for addicts. Smoking opium in places afghanistan doesn't place a burden on the health care system because they don't have one. The second issue is that you will have children smoking that shit. Here is a video of an Iranian child smoking opium http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=27e_1187423084&p=1 The third issue is that drugs are hard for the government to regulate. It drugs are legal it will be very easy to grow your own weed or poppies and hard for the government to tax.
Evidence? "Some supporters of drug prohibition claim that its benefits are undeniable and self-evident. Their main assumption is that without prohibition drug use would skyrocket, with disastrous results. But there is little evidence for this commonly held belief. In fact, in the few cases where empirical evidence does exist it lends little support to the prediction of soaring drug use. For example, in two places in the Western world where use of small amounts of marijuana is legal--the Netherlands and Alaska--the rate of marijuana consumption is arguably lower than in the continental United States, where marijuana is banned. In 1982, 6.3 percent of American high school seniors smoked marijuana daily, but only 4 percent did so in Alaska. In 1985, 5.5 percent of American high school seniors used marijuana daily, but in the Netherlands the rate was only 0.5 percent.[6] These are hardly controlled comparisons--no such comparisons exist--but the numbers that are available do not bear out the drastic scenario portrayed by supporters of continued prohibition." (Source)
That essay covers all drugs. 1st issue: I'm not saying opium in Afghanistan. I'm saying that's where it comes from, and that the drug cartels that produce it are funded by the illegality of it and the fact that there is demand for it that can't be satisfied in our own country; opium's illegality DRIVES foreign production by drug cartels. 2nd issue: Kids already get their hands on drugs. My sister is in 9th grade, she tells me about kids taking Xanax to trip out before school starts, or bringing booze in water bottles. And 9th grade isn't where a lot of these issues start. The use is already there. I'm also not saying full legalization, for all ages. Make it like drinking or smoking. 18 or 21, regulated by the government, taxed even. 3rd issue: Weed is still easy to grow now. Hell, I can make moonshine in my bathtub if I want to, but it's not worth the trouble, and it's still illegal. Even if I did grow weed in my backyard, have you ever had or even seen weed like that? It's crap. It's dirt weed, and it hardly gets you high. Weed is easy to grow, but extremely difficult to grow well. I could probably grow tobacco also, but I don't. The quality produced by industry far outweighs home grown quality, and economies of scale will drive price down to a point where I won't mind paying for it because of the difference in quality. In today's age, many people will buy crappy ditch weed for $5 an eighth, because quality weed around here goes for $50 an eighth, since demand is so high and it's difficult to grow quality weed. Shrink the disparity in prices through industry, and it won't be an issue.