Drugs
 

Legalize?

I am not personally intersted in doing drugs, but the secondary crime (Violence, etc) from the drugs seems to be a much worse problem than legalizing and regulating them, like alcohol.

Discuss

Legalize and tax. While we are at it, lets get rid of all victimless crime. Driving with a buzz - legal. Driving wht a buzz and causing an accident, or god forbid injury/death- major violation, fines, possible jail time.

Pot will never be legalized because it can grow wild everywhere.

The govt wont be able to control it and thus, collect taxes. No taxes, not legal.

Every regular Joe will have plant or two, if not Crops of it for personal use.

Imagine a world where Pork bellies and Refer Futures are on the Nasdaq?

Can't the same be said for tobacco?
What about alchohol? Between wine and beer, I create around 60 gallons of the stuff in my own home every year.

Agree totally. Our trying to contain the situation has gotten us in to a complete mess. Its like booze in the '30s, drinking will never stop, neither will toking on a joint and probably neither will some people snorting a line.

Tax it, regulate it and take the criminal element out of it.

Grant,
Pot is easy to grow, tobacco not so much and anyone that has ever tried to home brew beer or make wine knows that it is fun yet very time consuming (if you want a good product). Folks that abuse alcohol are typically not the type to spend the time and money involved. Much easier and cheaper to snag a 40 or a fifth.

Re: Drugs
 

Red,
Really bad idea. lets face facts, the majority of the population really doesn't know what is truly good for them. You have to hit most cig smokers over the head with decades of cancer ads just to get a small amount of attention.

Steam'n down a bud now and then might seem harmless but it will be abused like tobacco and booze. With those products, the toothpaste is out of the tube but maybe if other drugs are kept out of the general population than we won't have additional problems that come with the abuse.

I wonder what keeps other drugs illegal? Could it be the millions the liquor industry pumps into politicans pockets?

Nah.......

I'm just trying to envision the marketing campaign that a pot company would enevitably put out:

Some college guys on a couch with a bong, with maybe 1 or 2 slightly overweight & poorly dressed chicks in the room, taking turns playing PS3. yeah... sign me up for that!


Kinda hard to put a glamourous spin on weed! :)

I suspect legalization would have about a "zero" end effect on overall usage rates. Initially you'd see a spike, but after a month or two, I'd expect rates to drop to about where they were before the legalization. People who have a predisposition to abusing substances are ALWAYS going to abuse them, legal or not. That isn't going to change. The upside is that there would be more revenue directly from the taxation of the product to fund the abuse & recovery programs rather than having it come out of the general slush fund. That doesn't sound like a particularly bad thing.

Another positive benefit would be the law enforcement resources that could be freed up. Right now cops spend far too much time going after guys selling nickel bags than going after serious criminals.

Naturally these sorts of positions come from the point of view of a person that can make the distinction between "shades of grey" rather than seeing the entire world in black and white, like politicians. Unfortunately lawmakers strive to eliminate any sort of personal judgement from the lawbooks, lest some idiot misinterpret it and cause harm, undermining the intent of the law, or leave a loophole. The whole "zero tolerance" attitude is a major contributor to why our system is failing. I can see why it's done, but OTOH, it'd be awfully nice to have laws that said (effectively), "common sense will apply here - don't be a dumbass". In reality, that's what was originally intended with "trial by a jury of one's peers", but government found out pretty quickly thereafter that there's much more money and power to be made by sidestepping that wherever possible.

Re: Re: Drugs
 

Mike,

We have it being abused now. My ex-wife (first one, lives in the Mid-West) goes to bed every night with two joints on the table by the bed. She and her boyfriend smoke one joint (seems that she enjoys sex more while high) then has the remaining joint when they wake up.

They have spent the last 30 years high, rarely going more than a day without smoking pot. There are tens of thousands of people doing this on a regular basis.

"Drugs are bad"

-Bob Roberts

Really tough.

I think marijuana is an easy one; legalize it and regulate it. It's a far more dangerous drug right now than it should be, with wide variations in THC levels and traces of other compounds. Regulation would make it much safer.

I'm not as comfortable with the idea of legalizing harder drugs though. I have a cousin who's addicted to heroin, and it has been slowly killing her for 7-8 years. Her husband was an addict too, and hung himself in the kitchen after shooting up. I don't know that gov't should be involved in that business. On the other hand, I once read that most heroin overdoses are the result of varying potency of the drug. Maybe legalization & regulation would make it safer.

Actually, that's Mr Mackey, m'kay?

marijuana? Legalize and tax.

get farmers to grow both hemp for fuel, textiles, paper, etc..

Keep in mind that the only reason pot is illegal is because of companies like DuPont and Kimberly Clark.

Legalize.

Think of the countless people in jail for drug offenses. Think of what it cost to put them there. Police. Lawyers. The whole criminal justice system. Then think what it costs to keep these people there year in year out. Then think of the lives and careers etc that have been ruined by having a criminal record. All of this is a colossal waste.

Look at countries like Switzerland and Holland where drugs are legal or almost legal and you will see that the crimes rates have dropped dramatically, and usage has not increased.

This is really a no-brainer.

Re: Re: Re: Drugs
 

Its about availablity - make it easy to get and the market will expand exponentially. There are always gonna be folks to skirt the bounds of legality but for the rest of society, the laws keep them straight for fear of the repercussions.

Whoah!You could be on to something here...could pot be the next biofuel...and what impact would it have on the environment.

Would we be able to huff the exhaust fumes and get high all while getting decent MPG?

I personally think it is time to end prohibitions on anything. They are expensive, they never work, and they end up leading directly to violence. If someone wants to let their body and brain rot away from heroin, let them.

Legalize everything (the government shouldn't be in the business of telling people what to do). However, we should strictly enforce penalties for the results of your choices. Kill someone while driving drunk? Death penalty. Miss work because you are high? Fired. Choices have consequences. End the BS about being a victim of an addiction.

Re: Re: Re: Re: Drugs
 

This is not borne out by any statistics. If you want it you will get it - whether it is illegal or not. And just because it's legal doesn't increase demand. There have been many studies on this, and the results are very, very clear. Legalization will not increase use.