Your position on Legalizing drugs

I remember back in the 70's Motor Trend or Car and Driver took some of their writers out to a private closed track and time them and judged their driving both straight and high and none of them did worse and some actually did better.
Uneducated on the matter people make specious statements based on Cheech and Chong movies and Fast Times At Ridgemont High movies. Like marijuana is more dangerous now because it is X times more powerful these days. In fact marijuana these days has more Delta9-THC and fewer cannibanols and lower THC's which had the "doopy" effect and people just SMOKE LESS to get the same level of high.

And as a matter of disclosure I passed a drug test last Wednesday.

 

As was proved during prohibition, restricting a commodity that people demand and want just creates artificial scarcity and drives up prices for those commodities.

As with prohibition, organized crime then moves in to capitalize on this artificial scarcity.

Americans are whining about immigration from central American. War of drug policy is largely responsible for creating the conditions in those countries that make people so desperate to escape the poverty and violence that they are willing to risk all to try and save themselves and their families.

To top everything is the absolute hypocrisy that elements of the American intelligence apparatus have been supporting narco-states and involved deeply with drug dealers for decades.

 

Throwing an addict in prison does nothing to help their addiction problem.

 

There has to be a middle ground, flat out legalizing that scourge would be a disaster. I think the lengthy prison terms should be reserved for traffickers and cooks. Court mandated rehab should be more common.

 

Decriminalization and legalization are not the same thing. Decriminalization IS the middle ground. You are fined for simple possession, instead of arrested, but it's still illegal produce and sell them. So, dealers and producers would still be put in jail, but people who simply use the drugs would not be. Decriminalization is usually coupled with public rehab programs, needle exchange programs, etc.

 

Not only that but it's a deliberate revolving door. When an inmate is released on parole, he/she is required to be tested for drug use and if he/she comes up hot, they are thrown back in prison for parole violation.

 

Agreed . . . . but the same thing goes for open borders.

 

Didn't Portugal legalise almost everything to consume but not to sell, and (maybe I'm wrong) but, don't they treat drug addicts like victims rather than criminals?

Or, is that misinformation; I've never been to that country yet, but if that's the case; I think that's a good position to have on drugs; treating addicts like victims if anything rather than as criminals.

 

Legalise LSD and weed.

 

Drugs wake us up, 'they' don't want us awake.
That's why drugs are illegal.


The Brain: On the left is the brain without LSD, and on the right, is the brain on LSD lol.

 

We don't charge alcoholics to get thier stomach pumped, why charge pill addicts? . As far as causing harm, just like alcohol, being drunk is not an excuse and can even be a punishment multiplier as it is in the case of auto accidents. .

 

I've lost track of time, but it's been more than 10 years since Portugal legalized ONLY pot. One of the results was that youngsters used it at a lower rate, considerably lower than use by US youngsters.

 

Would you be interested in offering a definition of 'decriminalize'? By name, has such an approach been instituted anywhere you know of?

 

legalize everything, regulate everything by opening 'state drug stores' while imposing harsh sentences with felonies for use during certain activities such as driving (any vehicle, train, plane, construction equipment, etc), any gov position, any medical position, while on the clock at any job... no worries about overcrowded jails, just place them on house arrest with ankle monitors and confiscate their assets until sentence is completed... oh, & close the effin boarder with 'extreme security' by using all the proceeds from the drug sales...

 

Some states have state liquor stores. In the several times I've been forced to shop in one, they are pathetic in so many ways.

 

Given the “opioid epidemic” on the northeast has been exaggerated, the entire Controlled Substances Act needs tossed out the window. People want to use cocaine and Valium like marijuana? Fine, let them. The drug war favors no one but law enforcement and the for-profit prison system. The legal freedom shouldn’t be extended, it should be unlimited from pot to hardcore drugs.

With one caveat, that revenue from open sale of these drugs be put into addiction programs.

 

I agree with several of your points, but not the last sentence. More, how do you think the opioid phenomenon has been exaggerated?

 

Then you would also note the pathetic exaggerating going on in the NE with the opioids is part of the drug war.

Passing opioid legislation isn’t for the drug war, it’s killing it so officers who see heroin can’t arrest you for it. They, in turn, become powerless. People can speak out against drugs, but that doesn’t mean one can’t have the freedom to do them responsibly.

Imagine how much we could tax the sale of heroin at a dispensary,, or LSD? That revenue goes back into rehab programs for those who become irresponsible with the substance.

 

Are you aware of how high taxes in certain jurisdictions like NYC on cigarettes have created a black market in untaxed cigarettes? It's simple economics, and would also happen if certain drugs were taxed at an unreasonable level.

 

The publicity, I heavily doubt people have been dying left and right from Maine to Pennsylvania as if it was some plague. Not saying it’s not difficult to accidentally overdose and die, that can happen with sleeping pills, but it’s up to the individual to use these drugs in moderation. No different than marijuana. Yes, coke can kill on the first hit (via cardiac arrest) but pot can as well. Obesity is bigger of an “epidemic” to use that term loosely as it brings cardiovascular disease, which the CDC cites is the number one killer in the US.

 

You have to tax it at a reasonable level, such as whatever the sales tax has been for Colorado or Washington state on pot.

 

Well actually, it's easier said than done saying "it's up to the individual" to use drugs in moderation. Much easier said than done, and so far all you've done is say it.

I know too many youngsters now dead and gone from the opioids. I don't think the seriousness of the situation is being exaggerated at all. Those products should be withdrawn from the market, but if corporate responsibility were real, they would never have been brought to market. The industry deceived doctors and the public.

 

Sometimes I think it takes too long for the FDA to approve a new drug. There is a huge amount of testing and hoops to jump through, before a cancer or AIDS patient may try the new product. I think the drug companies charge way too much because they are greedy, not because they hate anyone. I think they charge too much due to the amount of testing required by the FDA.

I think that testing is necessary in some cases and in others, I think it is way too much. We took LSD in the sixties before we knew anything about it. We smoked pot before we knew what it would do long term, to our brains and bodies. We snorted coke because it was something that made folks feel up beat and ready for a while. We took ecstasy to be able to allow others to have sex with us, when we might not have without it.

I don't know. Alcohol has killed more than opioids. It's killed more than heroine. Can't we all see that it is better to make folks feel good than to be healthy?

"It is better to look good than to feel good". - Fernando