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Nobody seems to talk about marijuana being a “gateway drug” anymore, even though it’s still true. I’ve witnessed friends in college become addicted to weed (ye

Nobody seems to talk about marijuana being a “gateway drug” anymore, even though it’s still true. I’ve witnessed friends in college become addicted to weed (yes, psychological addiction is still addiction) and their futures have suffered as a consequence. I believe we need to discourage drug use as a society, not give up and let it become accepted. If that means instilling fear that one could be arrested with possession, then let it be.

amanaplanacanal 6y ago
Unfortunately, for most people, the side effects of being convicted are much worse than the side effects of smoking.
- mhh__ 6y ago
  That and the racial and class politics behind who gets convicted. (UK) I know some rich people who have some plants growing right outside their kitchen, if I tried that where I live I'd get shafted without question.
toyg 6y ago
You can discourage while still having it legal. In fact, it's easier to detect people with problems if it's legalized, since they lose the incentive to hide the habit and it becomes easier for them to seek help when they feel like it. It's also easier for them to come clean and resume a normal life; otherwise, once you're tainted with felony, all the incentives are to fall back even worse on substance abuse. If there is one thing we've learnt from the heroin years, is that these things have to be faced in the open, and that addicts are sick people, not bad people. You don't send sick people to jail, you send them to a hospital.
- Reelin 6y ago
  > that these things have to be faced in the open, and that addicts are sick people, not bad people. You don't send sick people to jail ... and not all users of <substance> are addicts. Recreational use shouldn't be lumped in with addiction, nor should it be persecuted.
- buzzert 6y ago
  The problem is, many of these people don’t believe they are sick. So if you wanted them to get treatment, it would have to be by force. At that point, what’s the difference between that and going to prison? I agree it shouldn’t be on someone’s permanent record, but it should still be punished. Maybe keep it as a misdemeanor?
  - toyg 6y ago
    > At that point, what’s the difference between that and going to prison? Despite some shockingly bad practices in the past and the common portrayal by media as "prisons for crazy people", psychiatric and psychological treatment is waaaaay different from prison. And yes, that treatment can be made compulsory, the legal instruments are already there, no new law necessary. DUI, for example, will obviously stay on the books no matter what, and you can work from there. > Maybe keep it as a misdemeanor? Why? Do you consider drinking alcohol punishable as a misdemeanor? We should just treat drug addiction the same way we treat addiction to alcohol, pills, regular smoking, etc.
FpUser 6y ago
>"I believe we need to discourage drug use as a society, not give up and let it become accepted. If that means instilling fear that one could be arrested with possession, then let it be." Did not prohibition already show how it ends up?
gameshot911 6y ago
I agree with you that weed can be very problematic. But shouldn't adults have the right to live the lives they desire, as long as they don't negatively impact others?
enneff 6y ago
If you look at the stats for countries where it is legalised you’ll find that abuse is not higher than in places where it is criminalised. The war on drugs just hurts individuals and helps drug cartels. Surely that is antithetical to the goal of having a healthy society.
vangelis 6y ago
That's the status quo!
tasty_freeze 6y ago
How does your anecdote support the claim that marijuana is a gateway drug? Your story supports the "MJ isn't harmless" position (agreed), not "MJ leads to harder drug use" (more doubtful). As far as I know, most states that legalize set aside some portion of the generated tax revenue to support drug treatment programs, which at least partially addresses the "MJ isn't harmless" issue.
TheDesolate0 6y ago
That's a wonderful medical study you've published there...
mhh__ 6y ago
The opportunity cost of changing the status quo is overwhelming in favour of doing so. Drugs can ruin your life, so we'll send you to prison for decades?
vagrantJin 6y ago
Anecdotally, people who dont smoke or use drugs tend to have pretty strong opinions. Case in point the hilarious story of gateway drugs. You don't suppose drug addiction is a linear progression do you? What variables, risk factors are involved from a drug to go from being a giggling fool to being hamstrung on herione? What percentage of the weed smoking sample populatiob does your observation represent? Sample size matters. Seeing 2 people become addicts is not ground to mobilise society into not legalizing a recreational drug, very much like alcohol and sugar of which have worse health side effects which society subsidizes.

amanaplanacanal 6y ago

Unfortunately, for most people, the side effects of being convicted are much worse than the side effects of smoking.

mhh__ 6y ago
That and the racial and class politics behind who gets convicted. (UK) I know some rich people who have some plants growing right outside their kitchen, if I tried that where I live I'd get shafted without question.

toyg 6y ago

You can discourage while still having it legal. In fact, it's easier to detect people with problems if it's legalized, since they lose the incentive to hide the habit and it becomes easier for them to seek help when they feel like it. It's also easier for them to come clean and resume a normal life; otherwise, once you're tainted with felony, all the incentives are to fall back even worse on substance abuse. If there is one thing we've learnt from the heroin years, is that these things have to be faced in the open, and that addicts are sick people, not bad people. You don't send sick people to jail, you send them to a hospital.

Reelin 6y ago
> that these things have to be faced in the open, and that addicts are sick people, not bad people. You don't send sick people to jail ... and not all users of <substance> are addicts. Recreational use shouldn't be lumped in with addiction, nor should it be persecuted.
buzzert 6y ago
The problem is, many of these people don’t believe they are sick. So if you wanted them to get treatment, it would have to be by force. At that point, what’s the difference between that and going to prison? I agree it shouldn’t be on someone’s permanent record, but it should still be punished. Maybe keep it as a misdemeanor?
- toyg 6y ago
  > At that point, what’s the difference between that and going to prison? Despite some shockingly bad practices in the past and the common portrayal by media as "prisons for crazy people", psychiatric and psychological treatment is waaaaay different from prison. And yes, that treatment can be made compulsory, the legal instruments are already there, no new law necessary. DUI, for example, will obviously stay on the books no matter what, and you can work from there. > Maybe keep it as a misdemeanor? Why? Do you consider drinking alcohol punishable as a misdemeanor? We should just treat drug addiction the same way we treat addiction to alcohol, pills, regular smoking, etc.

FpUser 6y ago

>"I believe we need to discourage drug use as a society, not give up and let it become accepted. If that means instilling fear that one could be arrested with possession, then let it be." Did not prohibition already show how it ends up?

gameshot911 6y ago

I agree with you that weed can be very problematic. But shouldn't adults have the right to live the lives they desire, as long as they don't negatively impact others?

enneff 6y ago

If you look at the stats for countries where it is legalised you’ll find that abuse is not higher than in places where it is criminalised. The war on drugs just hurts individuals and helps drug cartels. Surely that is antithetical to the goal of having a healthy society.

vangelis 6y ago

That's the status quo!

tasty_freeze 6y ago

How does your anecdote support the claim that marijuana is a gateway drug? Your story supports the "MJ isn't harmless" position (agreed), not "MJ leads to harder drug use" (more doubtful). As far as I know, most states that legalize set aside some portion of the generated tax revenue to support drug treatment programs, which at least partially addresses the "MJ isn't harmless" issue.

TheDesolate0 6y ago

That's a wonderful medical study you've published there...

mhh__ 6y ago

The opportunity cost of changing the status quo is overwhelming in favour of doing so. Drugs can ruin your life, so we'll send you to prison for decades?

vagrantJin 6y ago

Anecdotally, people who dont smoke or use drugs tend to have pretty strong opinions. Case in point the hilarious story of gateway drugs. You don't suppose drug addiction is a linear progression do you? What variables, risk factors are involved from a drug to go from being a giggling fool to being hamstrung on herione? What percentage of the weed smoking sample populatiob does your observation represent? Sample size matters. Seeing 2 people become addicts is not ground to mobilise society into not legalizing a recreational drug, very much like alcohol and sugar of which have worse health side effects which society subsidizes.