4 ms·

I won't go into details about why each solution you present is not optimal, because I have a better proposal. Make LSD and other drugs of similar effect legal.

by kgtm 15y ago

I won't go into details about why each solution you present is not optimal, because I have a better proposal. Make LSD and other drugs of similar effect legal. Have the government regulate the distribution. Put an exorbitant price tag on them and disallow buying-in-bulk. Make me sign that I am wholly responsible for what happens to me by using them (even though nothing adverse as lung cancer will, I'm sure). Give me a piece of paper that says the LSD I carry is legal. Done. Where i'm getting at is that I (for various definitions of I) would gladly pay, say, 1.000 USD/EUR for a "trip" if I knew I wasn't illegal or about to get poisoned. Heck, it's even cheaper than non-spiritual trips.

ajkessler 15y ago
This doesn't prevent, but in fact encourages, the black market. Either pay the gov $1000 or the guy in the van $5 (whatever market price is). You already see this with cigarettes in the US, where the price difference between taxed and illegally sold (untaxed) cigarettes are much, much smaller. Additionally, you'd likely create a black market for whatever piece of paper says the LSD is legal.
- kgtm 15y ago
  I never said I wanted to prevent the black market. I merely stated a scheme under which I would be comfortable acquiring such substances, and the trade-offs likely to be involved (high prices). As for the piece of paper, it was just a figure of speech; passing a law amounts to the same effect.
jcromartie 15y ago
Why an exorbitant price tag? That will just fuel the black market that is in turn fueling the drug wars (read: with bullets and machetes and thousands of dead people) in Central America. How about a reasonable price tag? Or how about blanket legalization of cultivation, possession, and use? I can get a tube of spores for "magic mushrooms" for about $10 and grow my own indefinitely. But for some reason this activity (the growing and using part) is currently highly illegal. I don't need a license to brew beer and drink it myself or give it away. Why should it be any different for plants and fungi?
- cynest 15y ago
  > I don't need a license to brew beer and drink it myself or give it away In the US you do
  - jcromartie 15y ago
    Actually it's per-state and per-county. Where I live, there's nothing stopping anyone over 21 from brewing their own beer (up to some rather large amount).

by kgtm 15y ago

ajkessler 15y ago

This doesn't prevent, but in fact encourages, the black market. Either pay the gov $1000 or the guy in the van $5 (whatever market price is). You already see this with cigarettes in the US, where the price difference between taxed and illegally sold (untaxed) cigarettes are much, much smaller. Additionally, you'd likely create a black market for whatever piece of paper says the LSD is legal.

kgtm 15y ago
I never said I wanted to prevent the black market. I merely stated a scheme under which I would be comfortable acquiring such substances, and the trade-offs likely to be involved (high prices). As for the piece of paper, it was just a figure of speech; passing a law amounts to the same effect.

jcromartie 15y ago

Why an exorbitant price tag? That will just fuel the black market that is in turn fueling the drug wars (read: with bullets and machetes and thousands of dead people) in Central America. How about a reasonable price tag? Or how about blanket legalization of cultivation, possession, and use? I can get a tube of spores for "magic mushrooms" for about $10 and grow my own indefinitely. But for some reason this activity (the growing and using part) is currently highly illegal. I don't need a license to brew beer and drink it myself or give it away. Why should it be any different for plants and fungi?

cynest 15y ago
> I don't need a license to brew beer and drink it myself or give it away In the US you do
- jcromartie 15y ago
  Actually it's per-state and per-county. Where I live, there's nothing stopping anyone over 21 from brewing their own beer (up to some rather large amount).