Should Drugs Be Legal?

elder999

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Answering the question of “Should drugs be legal?” is like answering the question of “Should guns be legal?” Whoever answers either question steps onto a minefield of passionate opposition—from conservatives if you say yes to drugs, and from liberals if you say yes to guns. That’s why it’s easier to recognize that both questions are really part of a much larger and more important question: Should government be controlled? And the answer to that question, as well as the other two, is yes.
The illegalization of drugs gives government the excuse to trample our rights, under the guise of protecting us and our children from their effects, and the illegalization of guns will give government the ability to totally trample our rights because we would have no defense against it.

What has the illegalization of drugs accomplished?

• Prisons are overcrowded with drug offenders sentenced under mandatory sentencing laws while violent offenders go free to make room. The result is the U.S. now has the highest incarceration rate in the world, made up mainly of people who have never committed a violent crime—pretty incredible for a “free” country.

• There is increased corruption in our police and judicial systems due to the large amount of money available for payoffs. The poorer you are the more likely you are to go to jail; monied drug lords with their high-priced lawyers have little to fear from the law.

• Millions of Americans who suffer from chronic pain go undermedicated because doctors are afraid to prescribe pain killers for fear of being investigated (a number have already been sent to prison) by a drug enforcement agency. A U.S. health agency has called the suffering of these patients a national disgrace.

• Seizure of property from citizens who have not been found guilty of any crime has gone sky-high, thanks to drug laws that give police the power to seize property suspected of being involved in a crime. It’s up to the owner to prove his property is innocent. Orwellian?

• The War on Drugs is a repeat of Prohibition in the ‘30s. The amount of drugs consumed in America has not gone down appreciably, but the price of them has gone way up, making them even more attractive to sell.

What will the illegalization of guns accomplish?

• This is the classic history lesson of our century. Like all the communist and fascist states that outlawed guns before turning against their own people, we will be powerless to resist our government should it turn against us. And judging from our government’s conduct in its War on Drugs, it already has.

What about the arguments against making drugs legal and keeping guns legal? Both are essentially the same: drugs and guns lead to the destruction of our children, the former through destroying their physical and mental well being and the latter through killing them outright.

Both arguments play on the publicÂ’s desire to protect their children at all costs. Those who would keep drugs illegal would imprison our children rather than have them take drugs, and those who would make guns illegal would expose our children to the potential enslavement of a government turned tyrannical rather than let them be endangered by guns. (Another story is the fact that Justice Department statistics show that guns are used by private citizens to prevent violent crimes far more often than they are used to commit crimes, but the stories behind those statistics never make it into the newspapers. I wonder why?)
People in government, especially the cadre of bureaucrats who think they know best how we should run our lives, find these excuses convenient to hide behind. The illegalization of drugs has given our government the excuse it needs to stop us on the street and make a warrantless search of our person, to invade our home on the suspicion we may be using drugs, and to send our children to prison for their own good. The illegalization of guns would allow the government to go even further because we would have no way to resist police in what appears to be our emerging police state.

I am the father of two grown children and hereÂ’s what I think of the government and their conservative and liberal supporters who want to protect my children against drugs and guns: Leave my children alone. They are my concern, not yours. I would rather they ran the risk of experimenting with drugs than have some government agent send them to prison to be gang raped by hard core criminals, and I would rather they risked being gunshot than have them live out their lives as servants to a tyrannical government without any chance to restore their freedom through armed resistance.

Drugs and guns may be bad if used badly, but an all powerful Government is much worse. The illegalization of drugs may have sounded like a good idea in theory once, but it has given Government far too much power over us. And the proposed illegalization of guns may sound like a good idea in theory to some because it is supposed to help keep our children safe, but in reality it will take away our last and ultimate defense against government. And like our Founding Fathers I would rather live free with some peril than live as the protected slave of government.

The question is this: Do we want a powerful government that can come into our homes or stop us on the street at will and arrest us on the suspicion we may be guilty of a crime, that can seize our property on the suspicion it is guilty, and that sends our children to prison for their own good? Or do we want a government that dares not trample on our rights guaranteed in our Constitution?

If the latter, then both drugs and guns must be legal.
 

celtic_crippler

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Drugs shouldn't necessarily be legal, but decriminalized. The "War on Drugs" is one of the biggest farces ever. Just what exactly is a victimless crime anyway? Has anyone pondered how ridiculous that term is?


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwTfgCooQLQ&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cW6mB0yfBQ0&feature=related (amen to that)

A very interesting fact is the US created it's own meth problem. People in Amsterdam don't even know what meth is! We created it because people went looking for ways to create drugs in their homes because that was easier than trying to find them or buy them illegally.

See what happens when you shove morality down peoples throats? It doesn't work. Want to be humane? Try and help them instead of throwing them under a bus (or in jail.)
 
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theletch1

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I have no problem with legalizing drugs... all drugs, any drugs. I do have one caveat to my statement, though. Anyone who choses to engage in activity with drugs must be held accountable for the repercussions of said activity. I don't want my taxes going to rehab... they chose to do the drug, I choose not to fund fixing their screw up. I don't want any excuses for any damage someone on drugs may be responsible for while under the influence (and that goes for alcohol as well)... no "Your honor, I was high when I killed that family of 4 in a fit of rage". Legalize it. A twist on a much cliched phrase... "With great freedom comes much responsibility."
 

Ray

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Drugs, certain drugs, used as tools and therepies are legal. Personally, I don't see the need to use them recreationally especially when many people I grew up with came to a bad end because of their inability to recreationally use drugs and stay well.

Guns, when used properly, should be legal too. Personally, I don't have any guns.

Baseball bats, when used properly, are legal and should remain so. Personally, I don't play team sports. But I do have several pairs of escrima sticks and other "weapons" and they are a load of fun as well as a way to keep my interest in working out.
 

terryl965

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Make them legal and tax them, that will help our government with there finanial burden.
 

Ray

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Make them legal and tax them, that will help our government with there finanial burden.
The government's fianancial burden is the burden carried on the backs of me and the other peasants who must sweat to earn our daily bread. Better that the rulers labor for their support (in addition to their job as rulers) than to support them with our labor.
 

teekin

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Well now normally I'd go with legalize all drugs and let the Darwin Awards begin! If you think shooting pig tranq ( Ketamine) into yourself willy nil is a great idea, be my guest. The rub is at some point said person will need 24/7 medical care and a rubber room. And that cost money, big big money. Perhaps we'll all luck out and they'll step in front of a bus when they start to come down. Then it's just their friends and parents that suffer.
How bout any drug that alters neurotransmitters? The LD50 on that **** can have an huge safety margin or close to nil. And hey you run out, can't find the man? Your not going to get the DT's and sweat a bit, your going to convulse, shock and die.
What is out on the streets is fairly tame. It's weak as it been stepped on so many times as everyone tries to get a bigger slice of the pie. The high octane **** in the labs and locked rooms of hospitals is what you don't want the public to have free access to. If you make drugs legal where does the line get drawn? Grass, Coke, speed ( in all it's forms), mild downers ( hell you can get those on the shelf now if you know a bit of pharmacology), mild uppers ( see mild downers), nicotine, alcohol, Ketamine, heroin? Who decides?
Who decides, who decides?
If you'll excuse me I'm to find my red K-Tel Super Slider Snow Skates as freezing rain seems to be falling on this slippery slope. I do like the idea, but can't reconcile the toll it will take with the freedom we would gained.
Lori M
 

Big Don

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Make them legal and tax them, that will help our government with there finanial burden.
Larry Flynt, publisher of Hustler, ran for governor of CA, when Davis was recalled. Unlike virtually all of the other candidates, Flynt had a plan to get the state out of it's (DEEP) Deficit. His plan was to legalize gambling, specifically, slot machines. Needless to say, he never had much of a chance, but, he was the only one with a plan.
I don't really care if drugs are legalized or not. However, they are not legal at this time, and that is that. Those who choose to use or sell drugs are criminals, nothing more. If you want drugs legalized, convince enough people to call their congressmen and senators. The activities of some of those who wish to legalize(or decriminalize) marijuana alienate people from their cause...
 

teekin

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Larry Flynt, publisher of Hustler, ran for governor of CA, when Davis was recalled. Unlike virtually all of the other candidates, Flynt had a plan to get the state out of it's (DEEP) Deficit. His plan was to legalize gambling, specifically, slot machines. Needless to say, he never had much of a chance, but, he was the only one with a plan.
I don't really care if drugs are legalized or not. However, they are not legal at this time, and that is that. Those who choose to use or sell drugs are criminals, nothing more. If you want drugs legalized, convince enough people to call their congressmen and senators. The activities of some of those who wish to legalize(or decriminalize) marijuana alienate people from their cause...


Can you please expand on this? What activities and who are they alienating? The pot smokers, I mean?
Lori M
 

celtic_crippler

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Make them legal and tax them, that will help our government with there finanial burden.

Drugs are legal, that is the ones the huge pharmaceutical companies want to be legal, and they are taxed. Not to mention the billions the Fed gets from their lobbyist.

....that's one major reason why you would never see something like marijuana legalized. Do that and kids may stop raiding mommy and daddy's medicine cabinet for their pain killers.

Weed's not nearly as popular today with the youth as loritabs, oxycotten, ect.
 

punisher73

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What drugs specifically? Many people argue that marijuana should be legal and is less dangergous than alchohol or tobacco. I have never witnessed someone go out and rob/kill/steal to get their next joint (or heard about it). Cocaine/crack etc. I have seen and heard people doing horrible things just to get the money to buy it so by legalizing that you are going to be creating a whole new set of issues.

Just like Prohibition with alcohol, it created alot of rich people and alot of violence to keep their money. Most of the murders in our area are drug related to the sale of marijuana.

As far as gun control, we need stiffer penalties for people who have guns and shouldn't (convicted felons) and stiffer penalties for the use of a gun in a crime. There are TONS of responsible gun owners that never break the law or commit a crime. Deal with the criminals. I have only had one friend that was held up at gun point and robbed. It was in England.
 

Nolerama

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Heck yeah they should be legalized. In the United States, we have a crazy way of doing things when it comes to drugs. I think it was stated earlier in this thread, but isn't it odd that major, lobbying pharmaceutical companies get to reap insane profits off of drugs that have damaging effects on citizens while people trying to self-medicate on marijuana have the potential to spend time in prison?

I agree with the Darwin Awards idea. If we treat drugs with as much danger as, say, your kitchen knives then we'll be ahead of the game. If someone decides to seek out the pleasures of chemical satisfaction, then so be it. That's their choice.

We need to be free in this country. We are not.

I chalk it up to soccer moms.
 

Bodhisattva

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I have no problem with legalizing drugs... all drugs, any drugs. I do have one caveat to my statement, though. Anyone who choses to engage in activity with drugs must be held accountable for the repercussions of said activity. I don't want my taxes going to rehab... they chose to do the drug, I choose not to fund fixing their screw up. I don't want any excuses for any damage someone on drugs may be responsible for while under the influence (and that goes for alcohol as well)... no "Your honor, I was high when I killed that family of 4 in a fit of rage". Legalize it. A twist on a much cliched phrase... "With great freedom comes much responsibility."

Drugs should be legalized.

Killing people is illegal already. No need to alter the law whether high or not high.

People are silly.
 

theletch1

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Drugs should be legalized.

Killing people is illegal already. No need to alter the law whether high or not high.

People are silly.
Agree wholeheartedly. The point of the line in my post is that often times drug and/or alchohol usage during the commission of a crime are used as "mitigating factor" by defense attorneys. That, IMO, is BS in the highest degree. Unless someone slipped the drug into your soda when you weren't looking I believe that defense is crap, but I'm derailing Elder's excellent thread on that tangent.

As to which drugs, I think that the OP was looking at all of the recreational drugs that are currently and popularly considered "illicit" and not the super strong pharma that are in the locked rooms of hospitals.
 

Empty Hands

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They are...with a perscription.

Not all. Cocaine, opiates similar to heroin, and many different drugs in the same chemical class as meth are all legally usable with a doctor's prescription. Not so marijuana. Marijuana cannot be legally used for any reason, apart from the medical marijuana state of California. Does anyone with two brain cells to rub together really think marijuana is so much more dangerous than cocaine that it never should be used, even with medical supervision?
 

Twin Fist

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i say legalize pot, but nothign harder.

The harder drugs are way too addictive, and the effects of those addictions are way too destructive.
 

Archangel M

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Yeah, Weed probably isn't as "socially destructive" as alcohol has been through the ages, but most "simple possession" arrests for marijuana are already just fines. Don't be stupid and torch up in public and you probably will never get caught.
 

5-0 Kenpo

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Well now normally I'd go with legalize all drugs and let the Darwin Awards begin! If you think shooting pig tranq ( Ketamine) into yourself willy nil is a great idea, be my guest. The rub is at some point said person will need 24/7 medical care and a rubber room. And that cost money, big big money. Perhaps we'll all luck out and they'll step in front of a bus when they start to come down. Then it's just their friends and parents that suffer.

Well, now. If we were to keep the government out of the health care issue and jack up the rates of private insurers for those that live high risk lifestyles, this wouldn't be too much of a problem.

Works with car insurance, don't it.
 

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