Should Drugs Be De-Criminalized Within the USA?

[john grey]

Should Drugs Be De-Criminalized Within the USA?

The question deals with the specifics of de-criminalization of drugs of abuse & brings this issue from a law enforcement agenda to a medical agenda. The purpose is to fight Organized Crime as a Primary Goal. The private manufacture of any and all drugs of abuse would still remain illegal. The purpose of that is to make efforts toward maintaining the dosage level, purity, and distribution of narcotics as placed under Medical Guidelines. This is NOT a political question but a social impact issue. What is your opinion as to the impact that such a vast change would have and the REASONS why these issue would develop?

Within the context of such a change would be the alteration of a law enforcement agenda to deal with the drug problem(s) this country faces and shift them to a medical level. The goal of medical supervision would be extensive; with those individuals who wish to use drugs to be maintained under a Physician’s supervision, registered with the local Health Department, & to be offered an opportunity to receive detoxification. The issue does not debate the impact that the use of mid-altering substances has on the nation; but rather, what to do about it. Prohibition with alcohol was repealed – yet we still have a severe problem with alcoholism and problematic repercussions from inappropriate drinking (DUI, etc).This is not a question of ("your favorite drug") one being less problematic than another. It would be all inclusive. The purpose is to fight Organized Crime & to deal with the Health Problems from a big-picture perspective.

On the positive side of this question is the potential for the elimination of Organized Crime receiving a major foothold in a multi-billion dollar drug trade. It would also free resources to cope with extensive aspects of sophisticated alternative areas of OC. It would provide a licensed physician to over-see the use and detoxification of those individuals with extensive drug problems; not just those with enough money to continually bounce in and out of detoxification-treatment centers. It may save many from receiving prison terms which have a severely unproductive effect on society and the individual. It could provide a large scale tax incentive to manage care & education.

On the negative side of this issue would be the possibility of a wider influx of drug usage. It would need to be coupled with a dramatic increase in educational funding. It could eliminate a source of ready capital for unfunded law enforcement projects, clandestine, covert espionage projects that have no Congressional mandate (unproven). It would eliminate various agencies and those associated jobs dealing with narcotics in law enforcement. It could have the potential to bring about significant social changes & an unknown strain on the limited medical establishment to cope with the issue. Additionally straining a social education mechanism that may best focus on other agenda (yet the anti-smoking campaigns appear to be productive). Issues regarding one drug being less harmful than another should have [with them] medical documentation, as we will assume that all foreign mind-altering substances have medical implications.

What is your opinion on the implications of such a far reaching alteration in societies’ social & legal boundaries?

[elgecko]

Here are the remains of the last drug thread.

Legalization of every drug and prostitution. Why not?

[CapnSev]

Originally Posted by elgecko

Here are the remains of the last drug thread.

Legalization of every drug and prostitution. Why not?

Beat me to it.

This thread will bite the dust in 3, 2, 1....

[MJ5150]

I don't know where I'm going............but I sure know where I've been......Beee-yaaawewwwwww.

-Mike

[powderfinger]

As long as private prisons, attorneys, and others can make money off "drug offenders", drugs wont be made legal.,

[MatticusMania]

Originally Posted by CapnSev

Beat me to it.

This thread will bite the dust in 3, 2, 1....

Well, legalisation and decriminalization are two very different beasts. Unfortunately theyre both pretty politcal in nature.

I think de-crim (yay! for abbvs.) is a good idea, in theory, but I think the ideas in the OP might go a little far. My pov on de-crim is to keep the nonviolent offenders out of our prison system. Infact, if we were to lighten up on possession laws, maybe turn them into infractions or misdemeanors, we might be able to squeeze some $ out of drug users without clogging our penal system. Of course violent crimes involving drugs could be penalized in a more harsh manner. And something would still need to be done with dealers.

[john grey]

Certainly your prerogative to kill it. But I see it being non-generalized, pointedly different than the other one - as it has specifics & doesn't lend itself to one line answers....But -
-=Bang-bang=- all gone.

[Metal Matt]

Decriminalization is a joke. It does nothing to rid or regulate the black market that manufactures, transports, and sells the drugs.

We should completely legalize all drugs and stop approaching every single drug as if they are the same thing. Marijuana is less harmful than tobacco, and alcohol. Make it legal for both recreation and medicinal use. There's doesn't need to be too much regulation since you can't OD on it, nor is it addictive. It's harmless and should be treated as such. It should be legalized completely, and taxed. It would bring an entire underground agriculture industry into the mainstream, and instead of having billions floating around only going to criminals, it could be used to do something positive for our country. In addition, hemp, which is not psychoactive in any way, can be used for numerous applications, textiles, fuel, etc... Along with pumping billions into our crippled economy, we'd SAVE billions by no longer wasting money on enforcing laws against users of a harmless plant.

As far as other drugs...

Hallucinogens, peyote, shrooms, ayuhusca, LSD, salvia, etc... should be legal, but strict regulation in place to punish businesses that sell it and don't properly inform people about safe use. It should be on labeling, informing people where it is and isn't safe to use it and recommend things like having sober friends around in case your trip goes bad. Most people that use hallucinogens don't have a drive to keep using them habitually, they just simply don't do that to you. You do it once, and might not want it again till a month later. You could take this a step further and regulate a business so they weren't allowed to sell a hallucinogen to someone more than X amount of times a week or whatever. I feel like we should have laws like this in place for alcohol that punish businesses for selling huge amounts of booze to one person every day.

For hard drugs, the stuff that actually is harmful to people like coke, crack, heroin, meth, etc... legalize the manufacture, tax the holy hell out of people that manufacture and sell it, to cover the medical costs caused by their product and decriminalize possession so instead of going to jail, you get a fine and get sent to treatment. I imagine if natural drugs are legal though, people will stop going to the hard stuff in general, and might wipe out that portion of the drug industry anyways.


We waste billions enforcing drug laws, and keeping people in prison for non-violent drug offenses. The war on drugs was doomed to failure the moment it was conceived and it is only hurting our society.

[powderfinger]

How many of you would shoot up heroin tomorrow if it was made legal? I wouldnt..... why do we need these laws?

[Metal Matt]

Originally Posted by powderfinger

How many of you would shoot up heroin tomorrow if it was made legal? I wouldnt..... why do we need these laws?

Exactly. I don't know where people get this idea that legalization would mean higher rates of use, it hasn't been true of Portugal or Amsterdam.

Most people exposed to hard drugs, are exposed to it because of dealers that only care about making more money, so your guy is out of weed, well hey, try this stuff instead. Getting rid of our insane drug laws would also rid us of environments like this that encourage hard drug use when safer alternatives are no long illegal.

I'd also like to point out that legalizing and regulating drugs (whatever they may be) will help keep them out of the hands of our youth. It's far easier for a teen to get an illegal drug from a dealer than it is for them to get a legal drug like alcohol from a guy who stands to lose his business, and get fined or go to jail for selling to a minor.

[BullHorn]

Yes.

And it only took 80 years for politicians to start thinking about the option. Which is an improvement. It took them much longer with human rights (slavery and such), women's rights, etc.

[powderfinger]

Originally Posted by Metal Matt

Exactly. I don't know where people get this idea that legalization would mean higher rates of use, it hasn't been true of Portugal or Amsterdam.

It's a fear tactic for those who have a vested interest in keeping them illegal. People would simply be more open, perhaps, about their drug of choice. In other words, all of the teachers, doctors, lawyers, judges, and preachers who smoke weed now... well, they would still do it.. but they might actually admit it in public. Maybe.

Most people exposed to hard drugs, are exposed to it because of dealers that only care about making more money, so your guy is out of weed, well hey, try this stuff instead. Getting rid of our insane drug laws would also rid us of environments like this that encourage hard drug use when safer alternatives are no long illegal.

Also, if you want to go buy some weed, you don't have to drive through the hood at 3 am on a Friday night. You can go to the pharmacy. Probably be a lot safer.

This all coming from a NON drug user (me).

[NateS]

it's my opinion that all drugs should be legalized, because i feel that the state has no right to say what i put in my body. i'm not going to debate in this thread, though, i just want to read. if you'd like, imagine a little +1 with my name next to it for everything that metal matt says, so far he's been pretty close with my opinions (except i feel that even heavy stuff like heroin and coke should legal)

[Simo98]

I don't expect this thread will last long unfortunately, however it is, in my opinion, a major issue within society that needs to be addressed.

Anti-Drug propaganda has not worked on a whole, if anything its ruins any and all education done related to drugs by destroying the credibility of the educators. Criminalisation of drugs has failed completely. They are realistically just as easy to get as they would (should) be when they are legal, not to mention the negative impacts of consorting with criminals (er.. other criminals), the overcrowded prisons, the organised crime, and quite often the abuse of the people manufacturing the products.

In all honesty, I see next to no negative impacts of legalising drugs, regulating and taxing them. The substances themselves will be safer, the people taking them will be safer, the people selling them will be safer, and the general public will be safer.

The number one risk when taking pretty much any drug, is that whatever you are taking will not contain what it is supposed to. Ecstasy cut with whatever, including amphetamines and all sorts. LSD substituted for DOx or some other chemical. Picking the wrong mushrooms etc.

Put them in a pre-packaged case, with the dosage on the box, just like Panadol, or asprin. Regulate the industry so like food, they contain the ingredient and anything else you need to know on the outside. Put warning labels on there, give people a fact sheet when they buy it that warns them of the risks of taking that specific drug, the ACTUAL risks, not that its "melting your brain" or whatever, and place restrictions on who can buy them. You need to be 18, and you need to have filled out the correct paperwork with your name and address and show them your drives license.

Another negative impact of illicit drug use is that long term use, or often abuse, generally causes negative health impacts. Just look at cigarettes and alcohol. The people who are abusing harmful drugs are already doing it, and are already causing a drain on public services. Legalise the drugs, tax them, use the money to pay the expenses. They have been doing it for years with the drugs they have legalised already, why not do it with the rest of them?

Take the "war on drugs" expenditure, and spend it on education, something that actually helps people make a rational decision about drugs, not just "ah, they are bad, i'm not going to take any". Like I said, the problem with those scare tactics is that they are not only generally blatant lies, but as soon as someone actually tries an illegal substance and finds out they are not all that bad, they tend to discount any actual useful information they have been given by drug education programs.

Now I can understand that a lot of people don't agree with legalising all drugs, as some of them can be quite harmful, but look at pharmaceuticals. Take yourself a load of paracetamol and your liver ***** itself, and that's something you can buy from the supermarket. Sure, heroin is dangerous, but so is riding a motorbike. You can only protect people from their own stupidity so much.


Its like drink driving, Alcohol isn't the problem as much as cars are not the problem, responsible use of both would result in next to no harm, however somehow people have managed the shift the blame (nothing unusual) to a chemical. I'm sure I haven't covered everything, but i'm off to work. Hopefully this thread is still alive in a few hours

I just don't understand why they are illegal in the first place. I really don't.

[jp58]

Pow, right in the kisser!

[Dirk Diggler]

Absolutely!
Vote for it!

[MrLenny1]

Yes, it's worth a try. The War on Drugs is not working when you look at the
situation in Mexico. If you legalize it that will take out the huge profits and when
drugs are the price of ketchup nobody will be killing themselves over it. The criminal factor will shrink and they will have to get regular jobs for sa living.

[DwaynieAD]

i hate drugs. actually i dont think hate is a strong enough word for the way i feel about it

marijuana should be legalized as long as you arent doing it and driving or operating machinery or something like that

no to the rest of the drugs

end

[BogeyBass]

Drugs and Hookers

thats all

[Metal Matt]

Originally Posted by DwaynieAD

i hate drugs. actually i dont think hate is a strong enough word for the way i feel about it

marijuana should be legalized as long as you arent doing it and driving or operating machinery or something like that

no to the rest of the drugs

end

I suppose this is a controversial stance to take on it, no matter what side of the legalization debate you're on, but driving while high on marijuana is not a danger anymore than driving after 2 or 3 domestic beers and we (society) seem fine with that limitation. I've rarely seen someone so baked they couldn't drive. But I have seen people that normally speed all over actually obey the speed limit while high, and actually drive more cautiously. I've also been so baked I knew I couldn't drive, so I didn't, where as a person so drunk they can't drive also might be so drunk that they can't make a rational decision like that. Simply put, marijuana does not impair motor function, coordination or judgement anymore than a few beers does to most people. Everyone is affected by booze and by weed differently though, so knowing your own limitations is important.

But we'll never have scientific proof of this until it's legalized and can be studied.