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You've said "drug laws are bad" at least two or three times, so I feel you must want a response... Drug laws are not bad. The current state of drug laws in the

by Foy 14y ago

You've said "drug laws are bad" at least two or three times, so I feel you must want a response... Drug laws are not bad. The current state of drug laws in the states, however, is appalling. I believe, for instance, that some substances should always be strictly controlled / banned like Heroine or Cocaine for instance. I believe Marijuana should be legal (at the VERY least, decriminalized) and treated similarly to alcohol and tobacco. Psychedelics are clearly a gray area, they seem harmful but really not enough research has been done. Creative breakthroughs aside, I'm not really sure how addictive or destructive they are. In summary, drug laws are not bad in general; they are just bad at the moment, in the U.S. specifically. It's just such a shame that democracy doesn't lend itself to perceived criminal leniency. No politician looking to get elected is going to advocate taking it easier on criminals even if those criminals he wants to be easier on shouldn't even be criminals in the first place. I blame Nixon. /endrant

glenra 14y ago
You're wrong. Drug laws are bad in general. Do a little research and you'll find that even for heroin and cocaine the harm done to society by their being illegal far exceeds any conceivable harm done by the drugs themselves. When and where cocaine has been legal, people drank tea from the leaves as a mild stimulant similar to caffeine. When heroin was legal people took it in pill form and addiction was safe and affordable - the main long-term documented negative effect of regular heroin use is constipation. Many people have lived a long and healthy and productive life addicted to these drugs in exactly the same way I've lived one nearly continuously addicted to caffeine (in my case, preferably administered in the form of Diet Coke - your tastes may vary). When alcohol was illegal, whiskey was cheaper than beer and people went blind drinking wood alcohol; when alcohol was legal again the average potency of what was fashionable to drink declined. That same dynamic applies to every other drug - making a drug illegal makes a more potent, more dangerous product available where leaving it legal lets people use it far more safely - an outcome you can only be opposed to if you carry some sort of Victorian anti-fun meme or if you're convinced that everybody in the world is insane, untrustworthy and lacking in judgment except the angels we've found to regulate the rest of us. I recommend the book Licit and Illicit drugs, which you can read for free here: http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/library/studies/cu/cumenu.htm http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/library/studies/cu/cumen... You could also just look up any of the drugs you're worried about in an old-fashioned paper encyclopedia.
- Foy 14y ago
  Thanks for the link, I'll look into it.

by Foy 14y ago

glenra 14y ago

You're wrong. Drug laws are bad in general. Do a little research and you'll find that even for heroin and cocaine the harm done to society by their being illegal far exceeds any conceivable harm done by the drugs themselves. When and where cocaine has been legal, people drank tea from the leaves as a mild stimulant similar to caffeine. When heroin was legal people took it in pill form and addiction was safe and affordable - the main long-term documented negative effect of regular heroin use is constipation. Many people have lived a long and healthy and productive life addicted to these drugs in exactly the same way I've lived one nearly continuously addicted to caffeine (in my case, preferably administered in the form of Diet Coke - your tastes may vary). When alcohol was illegal, whiskey was cheaper than beer and people went blind drinking wood alcohol; when alcohol was legal again the average potency of what was fashionable to drink declined. That same dynamic applies to every other drug - making a drug illegal makes a more potent, more dangerous product available where leaving it legal lets people use it far more safely - an outcome you can only be opposed to if you carry some sort of Victorian anti-fun meme or if you're convinced that everybody in the world is insane, untrustworthy and lacking in judgment except the angels we've found to regulate the rest of us. I recommend the book Licit and Illicit drugs, which you can read for free here: http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/library/studies/cu/cumenu.htm http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/library/studies/cu/cumen... You could also just look up any of the drugs you're worried about in an old-fashioned paper encyclopedia.

Foy 14y ago
Thanks for the link, I'll look into it.