Drugs - Make them all Legal?
keithvanhorn
3,855 Posts
Via the Obama thread - and care of Laserwolf
"I might argue that Obama never campaigned on decriminalization/legalization but, almost every honest person on the left and right knows it needs to be done"
:NO:
"I might argue that Obama never campaigned on decriminalization/legalization but, almost every honest person on the left and right knows it needs to be done"
:NO:
Comments
because drug abusers can obviously only harm themselves. same with people who abuse alcohol. i still don't understand why we have drunk driving laws...
"Walter Kemp, a spokesperson for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, says decriminalization in Portugal "appears to be working." He adds that his office is putting more emphasis on improving health outcomes, such as reducing needle-borne infections, but that it does not explicitly support decriminalization, "because it smacks of legalization."
Drug legalization removes all criminal penalties for producing, selling and using drugs; no country has tried it. In contrast, decriminalization, as practiced in Portugal, eliminates jail time for drug users but maintains criminal penalties for dealers. Spain and Italy have also decriminalized personal use of drugs and Mexico's president has proposed doing the same. . "
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=portugal-drug-decriminalization
You're a lawyer.....seriously??
Sitting in my room and drinking myself to death = 100% Legal
Driving while drunk where I can hurt and/or kill other innocent people = 100% illegal
The money we spend on the "War On Drugs" will pay for rehab AND buy you a new skateboard.
Perhaps:
Should drugs be decriminalized?
Yes
No
Only marijuana.
Thank you,
Dan
OK....we'll throw some rollerblades your way......cool?
Check the poll results.
"Yes" with the plurality right now.
Isn't suicide still illegal actually?
And the proper response is not "You're a lawyer.....seriously??"
It should be: "stop instituting a nanny-state!"
BTW, Keith, you in favor of bringing back Prohibition? Serious question.
You don't think before you type. People who drink and use drugs don't live on islands by themselves. Your argument is akin to saying that you don't mind insane people owning bombs, so long as they only bomb their own houses. How can you make incredibly harmful and addictive drugs like meth and heroin legal without knowingly causing damage to people other than the users. Let's start with their families and go from there...
There hasn't been an elected democrat in favor of legalizing ALL drugs ever, yet because I oppose making drugs like heroin legal, you think I'm in favor of banning alcohol? There is (and should be) a balancing test between "freedom" and safety. It's one thing to say that people have a right to ruin their lives, but quite another to allow them to infringe on other people's rights. I'd like to be able to drive in my car with a baby in the car seat, without worrying that someone is legally fucked up on meth in the car behind me. And to get out of Rockadelic's limited frame of mind, I also don't want that person working in a daycare center, a hospital, pharmacy, school, or anywhere else where their fucked up mindstate might cause harm to me or others.
My posts are well thought out, but thanks for the heads up.
In response to your "I don't know why we have drunk driving laws" I plainly stated that drinking is not illegal, drinking AND driving is, but you obviously know that so your comment was just strange..
There are MANY things that are legal, that harm an individual who partakes in them, yet laws are put in place when their use crosses a line and can have direct adverse effects on others.
In my opinion drugs should be handled the same way as two of the biggest "killers" in our society, cigarettes and alcohol.
If you want to make all of those things illegal I can at least understand your stance.
I'm sure you don't want those people drunk either......yet alcohol is very legal.
You gotta be kidding me. Under your logic, why have laws at all since they have a harmful impact on the innocent families of those that go to jail?
We have drug laws to protect people. If you break those laws, the only thing debatable is what your punishment should be.
I asked you a question. I didn't assume anything about what your answer would be.
I was sincere in saying it was a "serious question." You can answer it or choose not to answer it but it's a straight-forward query.
Ok, so by your answer, I would infer that you think the drug laws that we've passed, dating back to the early '80s, have been, in fact, fair and just?
You seem to assume that any drug law passed must have been done so for a good reason and had a positive outcome.
BTW, I didn't saw "any law". I said drug laws.
For such a sensitive soul about people making assumptions about what you think, you sure are quick to turn around and do the same to others.
Most are there for stealing and/or killing to get money FOR illegal drugs.
Or for selling the very drugs that our government allowed across our borders to begin with.
Who exactly do you think the "War on Drugs" and it's related laws are protecting??
This gets a big raspberry from me.
My family has been seriously damaged by drugs and they are illegal.
Them being illegal has done zero to help my addicted family member.
It hasn't made him clean.
It hasn't made him sober.
It has not gotten him into treatment.
ZERO.
How about thinking before you type.
You are missing the point. The fact that drugs are illegal means that there is a legal deterrent. If we make all drugs legal, there will be more people walking around high and addicted, period.
Drugs are addictive and destructive, if they were legal but still cost money, people would continue to rob and steal to get them. There would also continue to be a black market. We get legal drugs from Mexico and Canada already because they are cheaper. If you made drugs legal and free, then I could see your point. We'd also be broke and have a country filled with addicts.
Drug laws put a lot of money in the pockets of lawyers.
pass the meth
has many more votes than
Protect the children
It's natural
and
I don't care
Combined!
If you had done unbiased wording think how many more people would have voted and how few votes you would have gotten.
I concede that elected politicians talk along the same lines as you. Bully for you, bully for them.
People who seriously study public policy and public health take a very different view.