I don't really care if people smoke weed. I really wouldn't care about the hard drugs either if society wasn't paying for the health care. I guess it's time to start doing drug tests in the schools.
Good to hear for the most part, a lot of the traditional arguments don't hold weight when given a closer look. Haven't heard the healthcare argument before, I need to research around and give it some thought. Nice to finally have some fair, even debates about a topic, in any case
Ahh but the war on drugs, and the illegal nature of it causes you much, much more $$$ in the long term I am not for hard drugs at all. I think they are, for lack of a better word 'the biggest scum out there' I however look at it rationally, imagine if the drugs were controlled by the government like liquor is. Business now makes money from them, the quality is controlled, you can regulate how addictive it is and even how much each person can buy a week. You tax it, making enough money to pay for any extra health costs. You also get rid of the war on drugs. Kids no longer can get it on any street corner as the illegal trade has dried. up. It still exists on a much smaller level trying to peddle some extra legal drugs they bought to those who can not get it, this however is a much smaller supply. In the end costs will go way down, in the end the taxes brought in, the reduced government agencies, etc may in fact give you a nice tax break
Not if the tests are not used for criminal prosecution. Drug tests are used as a condition of employment, in sports and to enter the military. Drugs were wide open until prohibition. A lot of people drank coke and Dr Pepper. Opiates as pain killers were widely available. The problem nowadays is that if the drugs were legalized people would flip out and go on a binge.
You can't regulate how addictive a drug is, that largely depends on the person. Which is why some people become alcoholics while others don't yet they have the same types of liquors available to them
This war on drugs does not work and we need to just legalize them and be able to control them. This would keep our prisons from over-flowing, give us a lot more money off of the taxes on drugs, and a lot of violence will cease. This will also help put some mafia and gangsters out of business. I think it is all for the better by legalizing drugs.
Totally false. You can by the design of a drug regulate how addictive a drug is. As it is now total banning = no regulations on how drugs are made. Tobacco for instance has substances added to make it more addictive, raw tobacco before being refined 'processed' is much stronger and can kill you not by cancer but by effects of the moment. Yes each person is a bit different, so is the drugs themselves. Ahh and we didn't have a problem such as we do today. I highly doubt people would go on a binge, yet again if controlled 'legal' you could regulate how much each person gets maximum making it impossible to 'binge'
Drug tests on school students WOULD be unconstitutional. The reason it is legal for sports: sports are considered a privilege and an extracurricular activity, so schools can set rules for participation. The reason drug tests are legal for employers are that employers can set any rules they wish for employment, short of discriminating against a protected class (race, age, disability). They want you to be off drugs to work there? It's their right. I'm not familiar with the military, but I would imagine it's similar to the reason employers can drug test. But as a government funded function, and compulsory until age 16 in most places, regular testing of school students remains unconstitutional. It doesn't line up with the examples you gave, and rightfully so, in my opinion. On the other thing you spoke of, you said drugs were used in a widespread manner until they were banned. I don't argue that. Then use increased steadily with cultural revolutions like the sixties, and as education that drugs could be used in a safe manner became more prevalent, as did drug education. You still haven't presented evidence to support a "drug use explosion" as indicated. I think that even if such a hypothetical thing were to occur with full legalization, it would be a temporary peak until the novelty wore off and things settled.
If you where to legalize the hard drugs, it's too much freedom all at once. The drug tests are a good idea. If you fail three tests you are out on the street. We're wasting public money trying to educate people that are high. In fact, the drug tests should be expanded to welfare. Again, what's the use supporting people so they can stay home and get high all day.
THEY ARE UNCONSTITUTIONAL. I explained why the examples you gave are legally permissible, and how those same reasons do NOT apply to public schooling. Aside from them being unconstitutional, they are ridiculous. Drug testing itself is ridiculous. You do know for almost all drugs, the time your body requires to metabolize them from your system is roughly 1-4 days? I think aside from barbiturates, the only drug that stays detectable for a few weeks is marijuana. So surprise surprise, even if your intentions are to target hard drugs, you're just going to end up catching mostly stoners. Aside from that, very few drug tests can detect if the subject is currently high, just if its been in your system recently. Before you know it you get A+ students who smoke on their weekends and always show up ready to learn during the school week getting kicked out of school. That also says nothing for false positives, which are quite common. Look, I understand the goal of wanting to pay for only people who are there for learn. But targeting by drug use is a terrible method, as there are plenty of people in school who are sober but still aren't there to learn. My stance here has a lot of parallels with the death penalty: we as people can never be perfect, and in a situation where a good person could be punished falsely, I choose to lie on the side of freedom and play it safe.
You can never have too much freedom, only too little. As long as no one hurts another person or destroys their property, everyone should have freedom of choice, not mandatory consensus on what is and is not good for us.
war on drugs is pointless and the goverment knows it, the reason they do it is because all the religious people in the country would throw a fit if we legalized them because a majority of them don't understand how the world works now a days there mentality is good vs bad. If we legalized drugs everything would solve itself out. The price for drugs would fall and could even be sold in drug stores which means it could be taxed for money. The enviorments which drugs have created, such as slums or crack houses would go away because they are legal now you don't need to go hide in a corner to do them. Drug lords would be out of there business and power because its legal and cheap because for the most part it can be grown and sold at the cheap rates at which it usually originally sold. It would be like growing corn. Crime would go down because drug users wouldn't rob stores steal cars and do other things to make drug money to support there addictions. That doesn't mean this type of crime will go away, im sure it would go down a good percentage. If someone has a drug problem or abuses them at least there at home doing drugs than out on the street in debt for life trying to buy drugs at insane prices. They could get there fix on stuff that costs cheap and lasts them awhile. In which keeps them away from the world at least. (better than on the streets trying to steal cars or rob stores). Now the Cons of this are: Over abuse, people could mis use the drugs Driving while on drugs still isn't safe legal or illegal. Some people react different on drugs than most people so who knows what some people would do on certain drugs. There are more cons i am sure but this is all i could think of. I still believe the benefits out weigh the risks by a lot. We would just need to keep the people who used them in check and make sure they understand what they are getting there selfs into.
Do not agree with. The situation that has been created we would need to have an agressive enforcement and education system in place. If done correctly it could 'work itself out' but not simply by sitting back doing nothing. It could be taxed at any level of price. I do not agree with this either. Some still wont be able to afford to get out of the housing areas such as this. Even if legal one may still need to go to a crackstyle house to use the drug. Pot and a few others can be grown, not all drugs. Make anything legal though and it greatly reduces the demand of the illegal product. You may have some bootleggers left and such, but a small fraction of what there currently is. Crime would also go down because the gangs making money off of it, organized crime, etc will no longer have a cash cow. You will also have more money to spend on police for other things other than 'drugs' putting more man power into catching rapists, murderers, etc. Not to mention quality can be controlled, how addictive a product is, how much a person can get a week. Also making it very possible to force rehab if needed. That is the case in any event, with them being legal and regulated the chances do go down. No it is not, however it would be easier to enforce laws for those caught doing a legal substance while driving. Much like drunk drivers. That is with any substance, yet again controlled drugs are much, much safer then the ones brewed in someones bathtub. Which is much easier to do in a legal setting.
I'm not sure about America, since you guys are pretty apathetic in a welfare sense (IE, No free health service) but we in Britain, since we take the other direction (IE free NHS, dental services, counselling etc), could offer subsidies or even free drug treatment as long as people subscribe to come off drugs. I think that would be a good idea.
You will never cut the supply of drugs. The government has been trying, not just at home, but worldwide, to cut drug supply since 1971 and even before Nixon officially declared a war on drugs. And guess what? It doesn't work.
Yeah, but until you reduce the demand, someone will always create a supply. That's how the market works. Unfulfilled demand is just another opportunity for an entrepreneur.