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Is this an argument in favor of the practice? Because, honestly, drugs should be legal to sell and to purchase. If all drugs should be legal and if the trade

Is this an argument in favor of the practice? Because, honestly, drugs should be legal to sell and to purchase. If all drugs should be legal and if the trade in drugs should be legal, then how can any program like this designed solely to enforce drug laws be justified? In that event, who cares what drug "pushers" and users know?

tinco 13y ago
Well, honestly, drugs should not be legal to sell and to purchase. What world are you living in? Do you think these guys deal weed? Have you seen what (crack) cocaine does to people? These cocaine pushers are in the business of destroying people, and they certainly should be apprehended.
- Zigurd 13y ago
  It is less expensive and less destructive to treat addicts than it is to conduct a Drug War.
- betterunix 13y ago
  "Well, honestly, drugs should not be legal to sell and to purchase." Care to cite any reasons here? See, when it comes to cocaine, Congress has not revisited the debate since people said these sort of things: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F70F1EFA3A5A15738DDDAB0894D0405B888CF1D3 http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F70F1EFA3A5A1... http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/history/negro_cocaine_fiends.htm http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/history/negro_cocaine_fi... Yeah, you read that correctly. Black guys who use cocaine become more accurate with a gun and will attack white women! Also, Jews are selling it. Cocaine also makes it nearly impossible to kill a black man using a standard issue handgun, so let's upgrade the caliber. "Have you seen what (crack) cocaine does to people?" Yes: I have seen the children of the wealthy doing cocaine at college parties, then going on to get high-paying jobs on Wall St. Truly ruinous, truly! How about we drop the boogeyman and drop the anecdotes and start citing some sources? You claim that cocaine destroys people; let's see the proof.
- TausAmmer 13y ago
  Might be beating dead horse, but people want to drink alcohol snort coke or shoot up heroin. Put as many laws as you want, that is not a way to solve problem, never will. You can't forbid people being stupid by law. Also, abuse of narcotics is a side-effect for bigger problems, ones that is easier to ignore. Will we get there when we are able to speak about it, I wonder, I wonder my friend.
- legutierr 13y ago
  Many drugs are horrible and ruin lives. But they ruin fewer lives than do the laws making the sale and purchase of drugs illegal. If every penny spent on enforcing drug laws and incarcerating drug sellers and buyers were spent on education, treatment, and poverty programs, drug use would fall in the United States by orders of magnitude. One of the more pernicious effects of making the sale and purchase of drugs illegal is that people who sell and purchase drugs are sent to prison. Most people sent to prison for these offenses are themselves addicts either trying to feed their habit, or to pay for it. These are the people that the drug laws are intended to protect, no? But as a result of going to prison they: * are frequently denied effective treatment for their illness, and therefore continue as addicts inside and outside of prison; * are effectively exiled from the legitimate economy, becoming a burden on society both before and after incarceration, and increasing the likelihood of continued drug use; * cannot take care of their families, increasing the burden that we all carry that we would not otherwise carry; * are mixed with a violent element, whose influence will certainly cause many to commit non-drug crimes that they otherwise would not have. The prisons turn users into addicts and addicts into career criminals. Some people seem to believe that we need these harsh laws in order to catch, as you put it, "cocaine pushers" who are "in the business of destroying people". In fact, narcotraffickers are entirely the creation of US "Drug War" policies. Decades of supply-side enforcement has made these people so wealthy that they can purchase entire governments. The government of Mexico, the world's 14th largest economy, is populated in some percentage at almost every level by agents of the cartels. It is "Drug War" policies that create the profits to pay for this corruption. Demand-side policies along with controlled and regulated distribution of drugs in the US will decimate the narcotraffickers. Without customers willing to pay ridiculous margins for their product, they will simply go out of business. Although some former narcos will attempt to leach off of society through kidnapping and other crimes, a lack of local community support, money and political cover will mean that aggressive policing will finally be able to stomp them out in time. Also consider the case of Oxycontin, a legal narcotic manufactured by Perdue Pharma, "a privately held pharmaceutical company founded by physicians and now located in Stamford, Connecticut". Oxycontin is among the most destructive drugs today. Oxycontin is primarily acquired by addicts either by getting doctors to legally prescribe it, or by purchasing excess pills from individuals to whom it was legally prescribed. "Drug War" policies are entirely ineffective a combating this kind of practice; as a result, prescription drug abuse is growing at a faster rate than nearly all other forms of drug abuse. However, it is almost certain that addiction-treatment regimes instituted to reduce the use of currently-illegal drugs will also be effective at reducing the illicit use of currently-legal drugs. And if for some reason you think that education and treatment programs can't have a significant (if not massive) effect on addiction rates, I would ask you to take a look at the following two data points: http://articles.latimes.com/2013/jul/12/science/la-sci-sn-cigarette-smoking-kids-20130712 http://articles.latimes.com/2013/jul/12/science/la-sci-sn-ci... http://www.cato.org/publications/white-paper/drug-decriminalization-portugal-lessons-creating-fair-successful-drug-policies http://www.cato.org/publications/white-paper/drug-decriminal...
- pstuart 13y ago
  Have you seen what alcohol does to people? It kills over 80,000 people a year in the U.S. http://www.cdc.gov/alcohol/fact-sheets/alcohol-use.htm http://www.cdc.gov/alcohol/fact-sheets/alcohol-use.htm You think you're protecting people with that attitude but you're actually supporting a system that kills even more. Sanctimonious nanny-staters like you are the ones that let the madness continue. You should be ashamed of your ignorance and complicity.

tinco 13y ago

Well, honestly, drugs should not be legal to sell and to purchase. What world are you living in? Do you think these guys deal weed? Have you seen what (crack) cocaine does to people? These cocaine pushers are in the business of destroying people, and they certainly should be apprehended.

Zigurd 13y ago
It is less expensive and less destructive to treat addicts than it is to conduct a Drug War.
betterunix 13y ago
"Well, honestly, drugs should not be legal to sell and to purchase." Care to cite any reasons here? See, when it comes to cocaine, Congress has not revisited the debate since people said these sort of things: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F70F1EFA3A5A15738DDDAB0894D0405B888CF1D3 http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F70F1EFA3A5A1... http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/history/negro_cocaine_fiends.htm http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/history/negro_cocaine_fi... Yeah, you read that correctly. Black guys who use cocaine become more accurate with a gun and will attack white women! Also, Jews are selling it. Cocaine also makes it nearly impossible to kill a black man using a standard issue handgun, so let's upgrade the caliber. "Have you seen what (crack) cocaine does to people?" Yes: I have seen the children of the wealthy doing cocaine at college parties, then going on to get high-paying jobs on Wall St. Truly ruinous, truly! How about we drop the boogeyman and drop the anecdotes and start citing some sources? You claim that cocaine destroys people; let's see the proof.
TausAmmer 13y ago
Might be beating dead horse, but people want to drink alcohol snort coke or shoot up heroin. Put as many laws as you want, that is not a way to solve problem, never will. You can't forbid people being stupid by law. Also, abuse of narcotics is a side-effect for bigger problems, ones that is easier to ignore. Will we get there when we are able to speak about it, I wonder, I wonder my friend.
legutierr 13y ago
Many drugs are horrible and ruin lives. But they ruin fewer lives than do the laws making the sale and purchase of drugs illegal. If every penny spent on enforcing drug laws and incarcerating drug sellers and buyers were spent on education, treatment, and poverty programs, drug use would fall in the United States by orders of magnitude. One of the more pernicious effects of making the sale and purchase of drugs illegal is that people who sell and purchase drugs are sent to prison. Most people sent to prison for these offenses are themselves addicts either trying to feed their habit, or to pay for it. These are the people that the drug laws are intended to protect, no? But as a result of going to prison they: * are frequently denied effective treatment for their illness, and therefore continue as addicts inside and outside of prison; * are effectively exiled from the legitimate economy, becoming a burden on society both before and after incarceration, and increasing the likelihood of continued drug use; * cannot take care of their families, increasing the burden that we all carry that we would not otherwise carry; * are mixed with a violent element, whose influence will certainly cause many to commit non-drug crimes that they otherwise would not have. The prisons turn users into addicts and addicts into career criminals. Some people seem to believe that we need these harsh laws in order to catch, as you put it, "cocaine pushers" who are "in the business of destroying people". In fact, narcotraffickers are entirely the creation of US "Drug War" policies. Decades of supply-side enforcement has made these people so wealthy that they can purchase entire governments. The government of Mexico, the world's 14th largest economy, is populated in some percentage at almost every level by agents of the cartels. It is "Drug War" policies that create the profits to pay for this corruption. Demand-side policies along with controlled and regulated distribution of drugs in the US will decimate the narcotraffickers. Without customers willing to pay ridiculous margins for their product, they will simply go out of business. Although some former narcos will attempt to leach off of society through kidnapping and other crimes, a lack of local community support, money and political cover will mean that aggressive policing will finally be able to stomp them out in time. Also consider the case of Oxycontin, a legal narcotic manufactured by Perdue Pharma, "a privately held pharmaceutical company founded by physicians and now located in Stamford, Connecticut". Oxycontin is among the most destructive drugs today. Oxycontin is primarily acquired by addicts either by getting doctors to legally prescribe it, or by purchasing excess pills from individuals to whom it was legally prescribed. "Drug War" policies are entirely ineffective a combating this kind of practice; as a result, prescription drug abuse is growing at a faster rate than nearly all other forms of drug abuse. However, it is almost certain that addiction-treatment regimes instituted to reduce the use of currently-illegal drugs will also be effective at reducing the illicit use of currently-legal drugs. And if for some reason you think that education and treatment programs can't have a significant (if not massive) effect on addiction rates, I would ask you to take a look at the following two data points: http://articles.latimes.com/2013/jul/12/science/la-sci-sn-cigarette-smoking-kids-20130712 http://articles.latimes.com/2013/jul/12/science/la-sci-sn-ci... http://www.cato.org/publications/white-paper/drug-decriminalization-portugal-lessons-creating-fair-successful-drug-policies http://www.cato.org/publications/white-paper/drug-decriminal...
pstuart 13y ago
Have you seen what alcohol does to people? It kills over 80,000 people a year in the U.S. http://www.cdc.gov/alcohol/fact-sheets/alcohol-use.htm http://www.cdc.gov/alcohol/fact-sheets/alcohol-use.htm You think you're protecting people with that attitude but you're actually supporting a system that kills even more. Sanctimonious nanny-staters like you are the ones that let the madness continue. You should be ashamed of your ignorance and complicity.