3 ms·

"Look at the history of opium as well." You mean the fact that it was legal in China about 500 years ago and it nearly created an entire country of addicts? V

by rick888 16y ago

"Look at the history of opium as well." You mean the fact that it was legal in China about 500 years ago and it nearly created an entire country of addicts? Vicodin (another form of heroin) is legal, yet there is still a black market for it. I would also be interested to see "your reading" where LSD only had "positive benefits".

matwood 16y ago
Vicodin (another form of heroin) is legal If you're using Vicodins legal status (requires prescription) as a comparison then pot and cocaine are already legal.
- rick888 16y ago
  "f you're using Vicodins legal status (requires prescription) as a comparison then pot and cocaine are already legal." Right..so why fight for other forms of it then? Also, it didn't stop people from selling it on the black market (like so many proponents would like you to believe)
  - VBprogrammer 16y ago
    It may be legal, but not in the sense that access to it is unrestricted. I can't think of a situation where it is possible for a black market to exist for a legal and unrestricted product. Not that I'm arguing for or against just enjoying seeing the opinion of other HN readers.
  - matwood 16y ago
    What researchers should do is look at the prevalence of black markets in states where pot is easy to get legally. In CO pot is easier to get legally than anything else other than alcohol or tobacco. I wonder what that has done for COs black market for pot.
- llimllib 16y ago
  > If you're using Vicodins legal status (requires prescription) as a comparison then pot and cocaine are already legal. I believe in legalization, but this this is false (in the US at least). Pot is a Schedule I prohibited substance, Cocaine is a Schedule II prescription drug, and Vicodin is Schedule III. Each schedule carries with it a large difference in how available and legal a drug is. "legal" is a spectrum, and vicodin is much more legal than pot or cocaine are. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controlled_Substances_Act#Schedules_of_controlled_substances http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controlled_Substances_Act#Sched...
  - matwood 16y ago
    While that is true on a federal level it is quite a bit different on a state level. In CO for example, pot is very simple to get legally. You can tell a doctor you have head aches, back pain, whatever and quickly get a pot card. When it comes to pot it is legally easier to get than an endless prescription of vicodin. At one point they had 'doctors' onsite at the pot dispensaries, but I think they may have recently changed that part. You are right that cocaine is more strictly controlled than either of the other substances, but the original point I was making is that you can't use vicodin as an example of a legal substance when it's not freely available.
VladRussian 16y ago
>it nearly created an entire country of addicts An entire country of addicts was nearly created by a Big, i'd say Huge, Business + Government Corporation - Britain's East India Company. These and other addictive substances have existed through the history of human species. They become a huge problem only when big money and/or big power gets involved. >Vicodin (another form of heroin) is legal, yet there is still a black market for it. that your statement doesn't make sense - Vicodin is legal for prescribed purposes. People having Vicodin prescription don't buy it at black market. Vicodin is illegal for all other situations, and in these situations people go to black market.
Symmetry 16y ago
Erm , no it wasn't. Opium was illegal in China which is part of the reason that China ended up at war with Britain where it was legal. Its totally unfair to use that as an argument for legalization since the problem was more complicated than that, but its also unfair to use it as an argument against legalization.

by rick888 16y ago

matwood 16y ago

Vicodin (another form of heroin) is legal If you're using Vicodins legal status (requires prescription) as a comparison then pot and cocaine are already legal.

rick888 16y ago
"f you're using Vicodins legal status (requires prescription) as a comparison then pot and cocaine are already legal." Right..so why fight for other forms of it then? Also, it didn't stop people from selling it on the black market (like so many proponents would like you to believe)
- VBprogrammer 16y ago
  It may be legal, but not in the sense that access to it is unrestricted. I can't think of a situation where it is possible for a black market to exist for a legal and unrestricted product. Not that I'm arguing for or against just enjoying seeing the opinion of other HN readers.
- matwood 16y ago
  What researchers should do is look at the prevalence of black markets in states where pot is easy to get legally. In CO pot is easier to get legally than anything else other than alcohol or tobacco. I wonder what that has done for COs black market for pot.
llimllib 16y ago
> If you're using Vicodins legal status (requires prescription) as a comparison then pot and cocaine are already legal. I believe in legalization, but this this is false (in the US at least). Pot is a Schedule I prohibited substance, Cocaine is a Schedule II prescription drug, and Vicodin is Schedule III. Each schedule carries with it a large difference in how available and legal a drug is. "legal" is a spectrum, and vicodin is much more legal than pot or cocaine are. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controlled_Substances_Act#Schedules_of_controlled_substances http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controlled_Substances_Act#Sched...
- matwood 16y ago
  While that is true on a federal level it is quite a bit different on a state level. In CO for example, pot is very simple to get legally. You can tell a doctor you have head aches, back pain, whatever and quickly get a pot card. When it comes to pot it is legally easier to get than an endless prescription of vicodin. At one point they had 'doctors' onsite at the pot dispensaries, but I think they may have recently changed that part. You are right that cocaine is more strictly controlled than either of the other substances, but the original point I was making is that you can't use vicodin as an example of a legal substance when it's not freely available.

VladRussian 16y ago

>it nearly created an entire country of addicts An entire country of addicts was nearly created by a Big, i'd say Huge, Business + Government Corporation - Britain's East India Company. These and other addictive substances have existed through the history of human species. They become a huge problem only when big money and/or big power gets involved. >Vicodin (another form of heroin) is legal, yet there is still a black market for it. that your statement doesn't make sense - Vicodin is legal for prescribed purposes. People having Vicodin prescription don't buy it at black market. Vicodin is illegal for all other situations, and in these situations people go to black market.

Symmetry 16y ago

Erm , no it wasn't. Opium was illegal in China which is part of the reason that China ended up at war with Britain where it was legal. Its totally unfair to use that as an argument for legalization since the problem was more complicated than that, but its also unfair to use it as an argument against legalization.