4 ms·

>Now, I am for legalizing and pardoning (non-dealing/manufacturing) weed, cocaine and mushrooms. The only reason I am hesitant for heroine, meth and fentanyl is

>Now, I am for legalizing and pardoning (non-dealing/manufacturing) weed, cocaine and mushrooms. The only reason I am hesitant for heroine, meth and fentanyl is because if I remember right, heroine and meth get laced with fentanyl which is very easy to overdose on. But I am willing to be corrected if that's not the case. The argument you usually hear back is that if those harder drugs were more regulated, there would be no accidental overdoses where the street drug has been cut or consists of unknown quantities, safer places to consume, no drug deals gone wrong, etc... I am still not sold on the solution there. I know other countries have some sort of program that gets pointed to, but I don't know enough to comment. I do only know that those drugs have absolutely wrecked the lives of people I knew. If they were legal they still seem to be so addictive that the user's life is 100% focused on getting high as often as possible. So maybe some regulation so that certain people can get those drugs but without risk of overdose? But isn't that what methadone is for? I am sort of rambling here as I try to form a better opinion - because if we just outlaw those certain, very-addictive drugs, a black market will always exist. But that is also something I would never want my family members to try on a whim.

aardvarkr 5y ago
I like your train of thought and understand the uncertainty that both avenues present. Personally I believe that healthy adults will mostly choose to avoid getting addicted to hard drugs as long as they’re aware of the consequences. To achieve a reduction in the harm that drugs have in society I feel that we need to do everything possible to reduce the number of new people getting addicted while also making it easy for people to receive treatment and bring them into a system designed to get them back to health. Problem is that doctors need to be educated on this as well. That means stopping doctors from pushing pain pills that get people addicted to pain meds in the first place (because who in their right mind would go straight to using heroine if they hadn’t started on prescription pills) and encouraging open discussion with youths that’s focused on education instead of pushing an agenda (admittedly this doesn’t seems possible) while also legalizing methods for people to access hard drugs in order to bring addicts in out of the cold so to speak and expose them to a medical system that encourages them to get their health back.
throwawayboise 5y ago
If manufacturing is still illegal, you'll have unregulated products. Anything that is more restricted than alcohol to manufacture and sell will have a black market. If you want to get rid of overdoses caused by heroin cut with fentanyl, you have to let Johnson & Johnson make it and sell it at CVS and WalMart.

aardvarkr 5y ago

I like your train of thought and understand the uncertainty that both avenues present. Personally I believe that healthy adults will mostly choose to avoid getting addicted to hard drugs as long as they’re aware of the consequences. To achieve a reduction in the harm that drugs have in society I feel that we need to do everything possible to reduce the number of new people getting addicted while also making it easy for people to receive treatment and bring them into a system designed to get them back to health. Problem is that doctors need to be educated on this as well. That means stopping doctors from pushing pain pills that get people addicted to pain meds in the first place (because who in their right mind would go straight to using heroine if they hadn’t started on prescription pills) and encouraging open discussion with youths that’s focused on education instead of pushing an agenda (admittedly this doesn’t seems possible) while also legalizing methods for people to access hard drugs in order to bring addicts in out of the cold so to speak and expose them to a medical system that encourages them to get their health back.

throwawayboise 5y ago

If manufacturing is still illegal, you'll have unregulated products. Anything that is more restricted than alcohol to manufacture and sell will have a black market. If you want to get rid of overdoses caused by heroin cut with fentanyl, you have to let Johnson & Johnson make it and sell it at CVS and WalMart.