The Drug war.
 

Whats the point?

Do we really need to keep this going?

Why don't we just legalize drugs therefore smashing the drug cartels, such as the bootleggers were smashed in the 30s when prohibition was undone.

We legalize drugs then we can stop over crowding the prisons with drug related criminals.

We legalize drugs the government can tax the shit out of yet another vice and make billions.

Legalize drugs we save money on not having to employ the DEA.


I don't even do drugs and never will, beside like the legal kind. (rum and cocacola). And I'm begining to doubt the purpose of this drug war that been raging since the 80s. Would it be better to admit we can't stop drug use , stop demonizing it, just try to deal with like we do with Alcohol and cigarettes?

Wouldn't spening half the money the gov't does on the drug war on national drug rehab hospitals save the nation a bundle?

"You know we can't legalize marijuana. Because then people would smoke it."

At the very least lets legalize weed. Come on.

By legalizing the harder drugs we would have new problems in our society, and we would have more ODs, which as we all know is not a good thing, because there would be needed more staff that can handle ODs.

Yes, the goverment would get alot of moen through taxation of drugs, but there would still be cartells smugling drugs into the nations. Netherland has legalized cannabies, but there are still illegal cannabies flowing through the streets.

But personaly I would not have any problems if Norway legalized hash and marijuana.

If the US would legalize certain types of drugs, mind you they would not only have to legalize them but also organize them. It could get pretty complicated. The government would most likely have to assist in setting up the industry, and then start taxing the industry. People would still find ways to buy and sell drugs illegally for lower prices, and there's a possibility of more people developing substance abuse problems. Or it could go the other way and legalization could stem the use of substances. I guess the problem is not knowing what will happen, and perhaps right now the risks are too great.

Well, as I mentioned in another thread, high school kids actually have an easier time getting marijuana than getting alcohol or tobacco, primarily because it's illegal. As long as marijuana and other drugs are illegal, there will be drug cartels to sell them. Those drug cartels couldn't care less who they sold them to, regularly sell to kids and teenagers, and even have teenagers sell to other teenagers. If marijuana and other drugs were legal, they'd be sold in pharmacies and drug stores that check for ID, so it would make it more difficult for young people to get them.
It would also end the gateway effect, for basically the same reason. The only reason marijuana is a gateway drug now is because it's being sold by illegal dealers who have no qualms about pressuring their users into using harder, more expensive drugs, and in some cases they'll lace marijuana with a harder drug to get their customers addicted and make more money. Once marijuana and other drugs are legal, the worst that will happen when someone goes to buy one is they'll see an advertisement for tylenol. Marijuana being laced with crack to get you addicted so you'll buy more drugs, vs. seeing an ad for tylenol when you buy your marijuana. I don't think there's much of a contest here. :)

And, as has already been pointed out, legalizing drugs would bankrupt organized crime. There may still be some illegal sales of drugs, the way some people will buy beer for underage drinkers, but there will be far less than there is now, and those sales won't be supporting gangs, drug cartels, and other violent criminals who do far more damage than just spreading drugs around.

no we wouldn't, the laws don't stop people from doing them. like at allso if it doesn't increase usage it won't increase ODs

I'm all for legalizing marijuana. It's such a huge gateway drug, and is so prevalent on the black market, and the symptoms for it are better than most allergy/painkiller shit you see on commercials these days. It is a perfectly legitimate medical drug that got turned into an illegal heirarchy of hypocrisy.

I'm not sure about legalizing everything it's categorized with though. A few drugs are on par with radioactive fallout, and are just plain useless. Heroin needs legalization definitely, since it's applicable the same way as Morphine is, and there's no morphine-crazed underground that I know of.

Don't get me wrong like Heroin, Crack, cocaine, and such I don't like and don't want legal but after thinking about It would proably save us a lot of time, death, and money to legalize it and organize it( however brought that point up thumbs up).

I know this like relying on an irresponsible society to be responsible with their drug use, but we do it with Beer and other alcoholic beverages, and cigarettes...

This may be somewhat off-topic but I just wanted to say something about all the comments on marijuana being a "gateway drug." Despite what you may have learned in the D.A.R.E. program (and mind you, you don't have to believe this) but the gateway drug theory is a myth. I'll point you to the most popular study on the matter.

How to legalize marijuana
 

This idea occured to me last night. If there ever came a time in America when the majority of adult citizens supported the legalization of marijuana, we could force it to be repealed. Have everyone that wants pot legalized within a district sign a petition that states that any politician running for the U.S. House of Representatives in their district who does not support the legalization of marijuana will not be elected. Then send it to the representative. That way, it would be made clear that opposing the legalization of marijuana would be political suicide. Similar methods could be used to take the Senate. After enough senators have turned pro-marijuana (or died trying), have several people write up a bill repealing marijuana, then submit it to a senator to submit to Congress. With this method we could pass it through the House and Senate with ease. It could prove difficult to override a veto, though...

If I really had the choice, I'd outlaw booze and even your average nonperscription drug store uppers and downers. But then, I don't have the choice, and even if I were the prime minister, I still wouldn't have the choice because such a policy would never work.

As a society, we need to cut our losses and accept that there are some vices we need to allow because fighting them causes more problems than we had in the first place. All we really need if we want to fight our narcotics epidemic is education? You know why LSD isn't so popular anymore? Because people started to realise that some folks never wake up from their halucinations. Apparently a freind of mine knew some guy (And I think there's another "Knew a guy" in there.) who did like 30 hits of acid and now he thinks he's an orange and he's afraid people are going to unpeal him. That's the kind of crap kids ought to learn about.

When I was a school, they just told told you what was an upper, what was a downer, what was halucinigenic, and about addiction. Really, they just gave us a weak drug catologue. As soon as I found out that marijuana isn't much more addictive than chocolate and doesn't have too many permanent side effects (Though my Psych teacher seemed to have something to say about that.) I decided to try my hands at that. Of course, after like my second time I decided that essentially manually making myself a retard for a few hours and being dazed and slow-witted really wasn't fun, and especially not worth the money. Still, narcotics being stupid will probably never be a reason for people not to do them.

They'll never ever stop weed. It's as easy to get weed as it is for an underaged kid to get booze. In grade 9 I knew a guy who regularly went to class stoned. In summer school, I actually saw someone rolling a joint in class. One reason for it is that we all know the punishment is too tough. When teachers saw this stoner, they knew he was stoned, but they certaintly weren't going to ruin his life over it. Telling them to smarten the hell up didn't work, so what was punishing really going to do besides hurt them?

Oh, get this, on one of the times when I got stoned, I was walking home, and I was stopped by a cop. She asked me if I had anything in my pockets, where I had came from, how I got stoned, and what my name was, and how far away my house was. I cooperated with her fully (I think i was actually really smiley at the time to.) and then she just let me off, told me, "You ought to go home, you look pretty stoned," So there you go. Not even police really think the current laws are worth enforcing.

As for hard drugs, well, they're a lot more dangerous. Allowing them to circulate is sort of like allowing a degenerative brain desease to circulate. It's pretty much worth the trouble to stop it, especially when you've made sure to warn people about just how shitty drugs are.

They should legalize weed and tax the hell out of it like they do all the other tolerated vices. They can sell it at the LCBO, just like the booze. I think it'd be funny if they ran those places like pharmacies and had a guy in a white coat tell you the side effects of what you were taking and stuff before they gave it to you. But, that'd cost too much, so to hell with it.