4 ms·

I just think it is better for things like fentanyl to stay illegal than freely available in streets. I would be interested to see an alternative universe where

I just think it is better for things like fentanyl to stay illegal than freely available in streets. I would be interested to see an alternative universe where tobacco was illegal. You do not necessarily lock people up but just reduce the supply as much as you can.

GuB-42 3y ago
The big problem with fentanyl is that it is an extremely potent drug with a low therapeutic index, which, with the poor quality control of street drugs, is a perfect recipe for overdoses. I am not saying the fentanyl should be made legal, but its criminalization is a big part of the problem. It is also why it is used so much over other, less risky opioids. Because it is so potent, only small quantities are needed, which makes trafficking easier.
- objektif 3y ago
  This is the part I also do not understand. Why is criminalization the issue? Do you think having such drugs makes the world better in any way? We are not talking about buying eggs. These are super addictive substances.
  - amanaplanacanal 3y ago
    Criminalization doesn’t make drugs go away. It just means you can throw addicts in jail. Is that a better world? Maybe. There are certainly downsides, which is where the discussion should be.
  - aeturnum 3y ago
    I would say that criminalization is "an" issue - when the drugs go through black markets quality suffers, it's harder to drive out bad suppliers, keep markets open, etc. This decreases the quality of the product overall, but also lowers the availability somewhat. On the other hand, look at cigarettes - everyone agrees they are very bad for you, the packages say it, and you pay an extremely high premium for them over their costs. But no one dies from fentanyl (or whatever) in them because they're a regulated industry. We used to know less about it and let people smoke as much as they want. Now that we have good data on that we raise the social and financial cost of cigarettes to keep them as unpopular as possible. I'd encourage you to think about this less like eggs and more like the weather. On some level, drugs exist "out there" and people will use them "sometimes." We can't change that. What we can change are the systems that make the already difficult problem of addiction worse by introducing lethal surprises.
BobaFloutist 3y ago
Yeah when people have no legal pain management you get the current opioid crisis (as opposed to the previous version where people were aggressively given highly addictive substances without sufficient support or oversight).

GuB-42 3y ago

The big problem with fentanyl is that it is an extremely potent drug with a low therapeutic index, which, with the poor quality control of street drugs, is a perfect recipe for overdoses. I am not saying the fentanyl should be made legal, but its criminalization is a big part of the problem. It is also why it is used so much over other, less risky opioids. Because it is so potent, only small quantities are needed, which makes trafficking easier.

objektif 3y ago
This is the part I also do not understand. Why is criminalization the issue? Do you think having such drugs makes the world better in any way? We are not talking about buying eggs. These are super addictive substances.
- amanaplanacanal 3y ago
  Criminalization doesn’t make drugs go away. It just means you can throw addicts in jail. Is that a better world? Maybe. There are certainly downsides, which is where the discussion should be.
- aeturnum 3y ago
  I would say that criminalization is "an" issue - when the drugs go through black markets quality suffers, it's harder to drive out bad suppliers, keep markets open, etc. This decreases the quality of the product overall, but also lowers the availability somewhat. On the other hand, look at cigarettes - everyone agrees they are very bad for you, the packages say it, and you pay an extremely high premium for them over their costs. But no one dies from fentanyl (or whatever) in them because they're a regulated industry. We used to know less about it and let people smoke as much as they want. Now that we have good data on that we raise the social and financial cost of cigarettes to keep them as unpopular as possible. I'd encourage you to think about this less like eggs and more like the weather. On some level, drugs exist "out there" and people will use them "sometimes." We can't change that. What we can change are the systems that make the already difficult problem of addiction worse by introducing lethal surprises.

BobaFloutist 3y ago

Yeah when people have no legal pain management you get the current opioid crisis (as opposed to the previous version where people were aggressively given highly addictive substances without sufficient support or oversight).