3 ms·

Tolerance is a difficult thing. Standing by and watching people hurt themselves can seem equivalent to actually hurting people.

api 4y ago
To me a lot of even the protective rationale for prohibition is shown to be nonsense by alcohol being legal. Alcohol is as bad or worse than most illegal drugs save maybe crystal meth and some opiates. It’s also one of the more addictive ones, up there with the opiates and possibly more so than cocaine for some people. (There seem to be differences in susceptibility to addiction to different substances between people just like everything else.) All drugs can be harmful if misused or abused, even very tame OTC pharmaceuticals. Semi-automatic weapons, very fast cars, risky sexual practices, huge fireworks, and dangerous sports are also legal at least in most of the USA.
- analog31 4y ago
  Another legal drug in the US is tobacco. For decades it was heavily marketed as being safe, healthy, and cool. Yet its addictive properties raise questions about whether its use is strictly voluntary.
- qwerty456127 4y ago
  > Alcohol is as bad or worse than most illegal drugs save maybe crystal meth Don't try this at home! :-) Not a medical advice, just logical speculation: It is hard yet possible [for some rare individuals] to use meth sustainably for significant good and little harm. Right dosage, right supplements, right mindfulness, right partner and you can have increased productivity and sustain it, together with reasonably good health, for decades. I know there are at least some people who manage and that also is why medical desoxyn exists. I believe individuals who can sustainably extract any significant productivity increase from regular (I don't mind an occasional beer with a friend) alcohol usage while minimizing the harm it does to really negligible levels are even more rare.
Xylakant 4y ago
For many drugs, the worst negative effects are caused directly or indirectly by the drug being illegal. Opiates in general have very limited negative effects on your body - constipation is a common complication. People can be highly functional when using controlled doses of heroine. Morphine is a fairly common analgesic in hospitals because it’s strong, effective and poses little danger. But needle sharing, the social stigma, the impurities in the drugs, the varying quality, that’s what gets you in the end. And all of these are caused by the drug being illegal, and to address this, you must make drug use legal. That doesn’t mean make it freely accessible in a supermarket, but controlled access like cigarettes and alcohol. Drug use must be treated like an illness, through health and prevention programs, through the medical system. Portugal does so, to great effect. So if you’re talking about harm reduction being the priority, then prioritize legalization. It will almost instantly reduce harm.
Tangurena2 4y ago
Spite is a powerful drug. There are lots of people who just want to watch other people suffer. Or ensure that those other people do indeed suffer. I think one example is a program for homeless people that hands out keys to apartments to homeless people. It is far cheaper and far more effective than other homeless projects yet it gets huge amounts of anger, resentment and opposition from people who say things like "that's not fair - I pay my rent" or "that will just encourage people to not pay rent". Another example is our country's opposition to sex education and abortion. To the religious people, there must be some sort of punishment for having pre-marital sex. Therefore preventing STI or pregnancy is, to them, absolutely immoral and should be illegalized as much as possible. Spite. It's not just on the menu, it is the menu. 0 - https://dpbh.nv.gov/uploadedFiles/A%20MillionDollarMurray.pdf https://dpbh.nv.gov/uploadedFiles/A%20MillionDollarMurray.pd...
qwerty456127 4y ago
Indeed, the real problem with drugs (also with many other things in our broken society) is not in people taking them. It is in people taking too much. People should learn to exercise whatever they would do in a sensible amount but they tend to pursue extremes in everything. They want more and more and this is what hurts them. At the same time there are people who take drugs rarely enough so they can get amazing effect from small doses, forget about tolerance and get almost no harm.

api 4y ago

To me a lot of even the protective rationale for prohibition is shown to be nonsense by alcohol being legal. Alcohol is as bad or worse than most illegal drugs save maybe crystal meth and some opiates. It’s also one of the more addictive ones, up there with the opiates and possibly more so than cocaine for some people. (There seem to be differences in susceptibility to addiction to different substances between people just like everything else.) All drugs can be harmful if misused or abused, even very tame OTC pharmaceuticals. Semi-automatic weapons, very fast cars, risky sexual practices, huge fireworks, and dangerous sports are also legal at least in most of the USA.

analog31 4y ago
Another legal drug in the US is tobacco. For decades it was heavily marketed as being safe, healthy, and cool. Yet its addictive properties raise questions about whether its use is strictly voluntary.
qwerty456127 4y ago
> Alcohol is as bad or worse than most illegal drugs save maybe crystal meth Don't try this at home! :-) Not a medical advice, just logical speculation: It is hard yet possible [for some rare individuals] to use meth sustainably for significant good and little harm. Right dosage, right supplements, right mindfulness, right partner and you can have increased productivity and sustain it, together with reasonably good health, for decades. I know there are at least some people who manage and that also is why medical desoxyn exists. I believe individuals who can sustainably extract any significant productivity increase from regular (I don't mind an occasional beer with a friend) alcohol usage while minimizing the harm it does to really negligible levels are even more rare.

Xylakant 4y ago

For many drugs, the worst negative effects are caused directly or indirectly by the drug being illegal. Opiates in general have very limited negative effects on your body - constipation is a common complication. People can be highly functional when using controlled doses of heroine. Morphine is a fairly common analgesic in hospitals because it’s strong, effective and poses little danger. But needle sharing, the social stigma, the impurities in the drugs, the varying quality, that’s what gets you in the end. And all of these are caused by the drug being illegal, and to address this, you must make drug use legal. That doesn’t mean make it freely accessible in a supermarket, but controlled access like cigarettes and alcohol. Drug use must be treated like an illness, through health and prevention programs, through the medical system. Portugal does so, to great effect. So if you’re talking about harm reduction being the priority, then prioritize legalization. It will almost instantly reduce harm.

Tangurena2 4y ago

Spite is a powerful drug. There are lots of people who just want to watch other people suffer. Or ensure that those other people do indeed suffer. I think one example is a program for homeless people that hands out keys to apartments to homeless people. It is far cheaper and far more effective than other homeless projects yet it gets huge amounts of anger, resentment and opposition from people who say things like "that's not fair - I pay my rent" or "that will just encourage people to not pay rent". Another example is our country's opposition to sex education and abortion. To the religious people, there must be some sort of punishment for having pre-marital sex. Therefore preventing STI or pregnancy is, to them, absolutely immoral and should be illegalized as much as possible. Spite. It's not just on the menu, it is the menu. 0 - https://dpbh.nv.gov/uploadedFiles/A%20MillionDollarMurray.pdf https://dpbh.nv.gov/uploadedFiles/A%20MillionDollarMurray.pd...

qwerty456127 4y ago

Indeed, the real problem with drugs (also with many other things in our broken society) is not in people taking them. It is in people taking too much. People should learn to exercise whatever they would do in a sensible amount but they tend to pursue extremes in everything. They want more and more and this is what hurts them. At the same time there are people who take drugs rarely enough so they can get amazing effect from small doses, forget about tolerance and get almost no harm.