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> In Amsterdam when you go to a music festival you will not see a lot of pod heads I could be wrong, but I don't believe marijuana is as-legal in Amsterdam as
by Alupis 3y ago
> In Amsterdam when you go to a music festival you will not see a lot of pod heads
I could be wrong, but I don't believe marijuana is as-legal in Amsterdam as it is in California for example. In CA, there's very few enforced restrictions of where you can get it and where you can use it.
> Look at Portugals drug history. Legalization saved that country!
It doesn't appear so[1]. It appears they are struggling with the same issues - dramatic rise in drug use.
It's not really effective to just simply legalize all drugs. I agree with most, we shouldn't throw people in prison for drug use. No, instead we need to throw them into mandatory rehabilitation programs.
The goals of a decriminalization program shouldn't be to increase average citizen's drug use. But that's what happens without some sort of rehab/treatment program.
[1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/07/07/portugal-drugs-decriminalization-heroin-crack/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/07/07/portugal-dru...
- Ajay-p 3y agoI am not a consumer of marijuana but in my observations of habitual users is nowhere near the same as someone addicted to heroin, and the severe physical and mental impact it has on their bodies. One could say alcohol and nicotine have such harmful effects, but not as dramatic and sudden as harder narcotics.
- TylerE 3y agoDisagree. Much more societal harm comes from the supply side (cartels, street gangs) than users, and much of the harm for/from users goes away if prices adjust to what they actually cost to produce (a tiny fraction of street price), and if the products are lab tested for potency and purity.
- Alupis 3y agoThis pitched scenario has played out in exactly zero markets around the world, including all of the legal-marijuana states right here in the US.
- TylerE 3y agoCartels aren't generally dealing in marijuana, it's small potatoes.
- Alupis 3y agoIt's not just cartels in the classical sense. In CA, it's cheaper to buy illegal marijuana than going to one of the licensed stores, for a whole variety of reasons. That "market arbitrage" opens the door for a lot of things to occur - all things proponents of legalization promised would go away.
- TylerE 3y agoThe market for hard drugs and marijuana are totally different.
- Alupis 3y agoLittle bit of a straw man there. Nobody said they weren't different things. The promises of the legalize-marijuana crowd have not become true. There is still crime revolving around marijuana in CA, it's more expensive than it was before legalization, and the tax revenue is a drop in the bucket for CA. So all we "gained" was a bunch more people using marijuana...
- TylerE 3y agoYou kinda did by talking about marijuana exclusively while I was talking about hard drugs.
- vuln 3y ago> if prices adjust to what they actually cost to produce (a tiny fraction of street price) Nothing. Absolutely nothing is priced at “actual costs to produce.” Nothing. I wish it were the case though maybe one day.
- TylerE 3y agoSorry, I was imprecise in my wording... obviously there has to be profit, but not the 10,000%+ margins hard drugs "enjoy".
- Demotooodo 3y agoYou get it in a lot of shops without any issues. And that's the way for more than 10 years. Even as a tourist