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Hell no. Legalize nothing. Allow research but nothing more. My wife had to quit her job as a psychiatric nurse because of the violence from drug addicts. She w

Hell no. Legalize nothing. Allow research but nothing more. My wife had to quit her job as a psychiatric nurse because of the violence from drug addicts. She was punched in the face five times by someone who wanted his methadone. Go figure where we'll be if it gets legalized. I'm in the UK as well. The last thing we need is more health expenditure on this. Edit: 1 downvote from the pro-drugs crowd. Edit: seeing as HN has restricted by posting rate... He wasn't in the hospital because he needed methadone. He was in the hospital because his drug problem had lead to him passing out in the street, flies had laid eggs in his legs and maggots were crawling out of them and he was going to die from infection. My wife was trying to help him. The only reason that he wanted methadone is because they won't give him the real stuff in the hospital, which he could get his hands on without any trouble outside the doors so availability is not a problem. Another edit: work in a psych ward. 95% of people in there are violent addicts of various substances. This is not a coincidence.

EdwardDiego 12y ago
> She was punched in the face five times by someone who wanted his methadone. > Go figure where we'll be if it gets legalized. Well, presumably he wouldn't have needed methadone, because the drug he was addicted to would've been available for a reasonable price at a known potency.
drewblaisdell 12y ago
I don't eat hallucinogenic mushrooms, but I downvoted because you countered someone saying that they should be legalized with an anecdote about your wife encountering a violent opiate addict. Conversations like this require clarity.
- jnorthrop 12y ago
  You should ask the poster for clarity, not downvote his post. He stated his opinion and his reason for it. That post deserves to been read, not buried.
  - allegory 12y ago
    Thanks but that appears to be the opposite of how it works when being critical of drug consumption. Check all the posts I made on it and how they have been downvoted. It's a travesty that rational discussion is impossible.
    - thatswrong0 12y ago
      > It's a travesty that rational discussion is impossible. It's difficult when you are entirely dismissive of an idea because of a few bad personal experiences. Literally, there is nothing else to your argument besides that. That is neither compelling nor rational. Furthermore, upon the shaky basis of your beliefs, you want drug use to be forbidden for everyone. Take away the rights of everyone because of a few bad apples.. if you're going to do that, you better present some VERY compelling evidence. You have presented none. Not only that, but you have ignored the positive effects of drug decriminalization. Portugal was pointed out - nothing from you. Portugal has seen a decrease in new HIV cases, fewer overdoses, and a large uptick in people seeking drug treatment. And at the end of the day, you're not going to stop people from using drugs. Keeping them illegal doesn't seem to work. Keeping them illegal means people will get bunk drugs, a danger it it's own. Keeping them illegal forces drug users to buy from drug dealers, the chain eventually leading back to drug cartels and violence; if drugs were legal, less money would make its way back to cartels. In the United States, the war on drugs aka prohibition costs a ton of money, puts a ton of people needlessly in prison, and we still have a ton of addicts. It's a lose-lose-lose situation. On the issue of mushrooms (since opiate addiction is a much different problem), the only thing I'm hearing from you is that ONE guy had his life spiral out of control because of mushrooms. Have you even considered the number of people that mushrooms has helped? I could point to plenty of anecdotes of people who self-treated their depression with psychedelic drugs and were quite successful at it.
      - allegory 12y ago
        Ok let's take this to hand then and write a rational reply. Every one of us can answer individually only with anecdotes, other than my wife who spent the best part of a decade dealing with drug addicts. They in turn dealt with the police who deal with the problem at the source. There are very few cases of "healthy" drug use, if any out there, at least in the UK as it stands. Yes I do indeed want drugs to remain forbidden for everyone because the population is generally irresponsible and illogical and will quite happily smoke, drink and destroy each other. That's just the human race; at least 25% of it is self-destructive and the rest of us really want to protect our position. There's nothing wrong wit that. If the Westborough Baptist Church moved in next door, you'd be pissed off right? Well I don't really want my taxes taken and applied to addiction care or rehabilitation that is unnecessary. I want it to be applied to general healthcare to help me through my life. I'm entitled to think that and vote for it - that's a democracy. Regarding Portugal, that's quoted a lot but the fact is, if you read into it that they haven't legalised drugs at all. They have introduced possession limits at which point you are prosecuted. Selling drugs is still illegal. That's not blanket legalisation - that's a soundbite used by the pro-drug lobby, so stop quoting that horse shit. For reference, HN decided I'd posted too much otherwise I'd have replied directly. Mushrooms may have helped people but that's where recreational drug use and the medical sciences diverge. Anecdotes from the former and studies from the latter so it's little hypocritical saying what I'm saying is an anecdote and ending on one. I have no problem with medical research being done and former recreational drugs being provided but only after someone has done an unbiased medical study and trialled it to the same standards as other medicines.
sushimako 12y ago
> Go figure where we'll be if it gets legalized. I know this is old news, but Portugal actually tried in 2001 and has some numbers on the positive effects of broad decriminalization of most drugs. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drug_policy_of_Portugal http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drug_policy_of_Portugal http://www.cato.org/pubs/wtpapers/greenwald_whitepaper.pdf http://www.cato.org/pubs/wtpapers/greenwald_whitepaper.pdf
joesmo 12y ago
Psilocybin is not addictive. Therefore, your argument bears no meaning in this discussion.
- wildgift 12y ago
  Also, this story is about treating addiction with psilocybin. Perhaps it could be used to treat opiate addiction.
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
beedogs 12y ago
"Edit: 1 downvote from the pro-drugs crowd." And some more from the "tired of seeing people complaining about downvotes crowd". Sometimes opinions are just crap. Yours was. Get over it.
DanBC 12y ago
> Another edit: work in a psych ward. 95% of people in there are violent addicts of various substances. This is not a coincidence. Do you realise how stigmatising this sounds? You're making links between mental ill health and violence (people with a MH illness are more likely to be the victim than perpetrator of violence); and you're saying all mental illness is drug related when it obviously is not. You're not correcting for people who had mental illness before they started taking drugs and are self-medicating. The fact that your ward if full of people in terrible states shows how pisspoor treatment is for peope with mental illness in England.

EdwardDiego 12y ago

> She was punched in the face five times by someone who wanted his methadone. > Go figure where we'll be if it gets legalized. Well, presumably he wouldn't have needed methadone, because the drug he was addicted to would've been available for a reasonable price at a known potency.

drewblaisdell 12y ago

I don't eat hallucinogenic mushrooms, but I downvoted because you countered someone saying that they should be legalized with an anecdote about your wife encountering a violent opiate addict. Conversations like this require clarity.

jnorthrop 12y ago
You should ask the poster for clarity, not downvote his post. He stated his opinion and his reason for it. That post deserves to been read, not buried.
- allegory 12y ago
  Thanks but that appears to be the opposite of how it works when being critical of drug consumption. Check all the posts I made on it and how they have been downvoted. It's a travesty that rational discussion is impossible.
  - thatswrong0 12y ago
    > It's a travesty that rational discussion is impossible. It's difficult when you are entirely dismissive of an idea because of a few bad personal experiences. Literally, there is nothing else to your argument besides that. That is neither compelling nor rational. Furthermore, upon the shaky basis of your beliefs, you want drug use to be forbidden for everyone. Take away the rights of everyone because of a few bad apples.. if you're going to do that, you better present some VERY compelling evidence. You have presented none. Not only that, but you have ignored the positive effects of drug decriminalization. Portugal was pointed out - nothing from you. Portugal has seen a decrease in new HIV cases, fewer overdoses, and a large uptick in people seeking drug treatment. And at the end of the day, you're not going to stop people from using drugs. Keeping them illegal doesn't seem to work. Keeping them illegal means people will get bunk drugs, a danger it it's own. Keeping them illegal forces drug users to buy from drug dealers, the chain eventually leading back to drug cartels and violence; if drugs were legal, less money would make its way back to cartels. In the United States, the war on drugs aka prohibition costs a ton of money, puts a ton of people needlessly in prison, and we still have a ton of addicts. It's a lose-lose-lose situation. On the issue of mushrooms (since opiate addiction is a much different problem), the only thing I'm hearing from you is that ONE guy had his life spiral out of control because of mushrooms. Have you even considered the number of people that mushrooms has helped? I could point to plenty of anecdotes of people who self-treated their depression with psychedelic drugs and were quite successful at it.
    - allegory 12y ago
      Ok let's take this to hand then and write a rational reply. Every one of us can answer individually only with anecdotes, other than my wife who spent the best part of a decade dealing with drug addicts. They in turn dealt with the police who deal with the problem at the source. There are very few cases of "healthy" drug use, if any out there, at least in the UK as it stands. Yes I do indeed want drugs to remain forbidden for everyone because the population is generally irresponsible and illogical and will quite happily smoke, drink and destroy each other. That's just the human race; at least 25% of it is self-destructive and the rest of us really want to protect our position. There's nothing wrong wit that. If the Westborough Baptist Church moved in next door, you'd be pissed off right? Well I don't really want my taxes taken and applied to addiction care or rehabilitation that is unnecessary. I want it to be applied to general healthcare to help me through my life. I'm entitled to think that and vote for it - that's a democracy. Regarding Portugal, that's quoted a lot but the fact is, if you read into it that they haven't legalised drugs at all. They have introduced possession limits at which point you are prosecuted. Selling drugs is still illegal. That's not blanket legalisation - that's a soundbite used by the pro-drug lobby, so stop quoting that horse shit. For reference, HN decided I'd posted too much otherwise I'd have replied directly. Mushrooms may have helped people but that's where recreational drug use and the medical sciences diverge. Anecdotes from the former and studies from the latter so it's little hypocritical saying what I'm saying is an anecdote and ending on one. I have no problem with medical research being done and former recreational drugs being provided but only after someone has done an unbiased medical study and trialled it to the same standards as other medicines.

sushimako 12y ago

> Go figure where we'll be if it gets legalized. I know this is old news, but Portugal actually tried in 2001 and has some numbers on the positive effects of broad decriminalization of most drugs. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drug_policy_of_Portugal http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drug_policy_of_Portugal http://www.cato.org/pubs/wtpapers/greenwald_whitepaper.pdf http://www.cato.org/pubs/wtpapers/greenwald_whitepaper.pdf

joesmo 12y ago

Psilocybin is not addictive. Therefore, your argument bears no meaning in this discussion.

wildgift 12y ago
Also, this story is about treating addiction with psilocybin. Perhaps it could be used to treat opiate addiction.

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

beedogs 12y ago

"Edit: 1 downvote from the pro-drugs crowd." And some more from the "tired of seeing people complaining about downvotes crowd". Sometimes opinions are just crap. Yours was. Get over it.

DanBC 12y ago

> Another edit: work in a psych ward. 95% of people in there are violent addicts of various substances. This is not a coincidence. Do you realise how stigmatising this sounds? You're making links between mental ill health and violence (people with a MH illness are more likely to be the victim than perpetrator of violence); and you're saying all mental illness is drug related when it obviously is not. You're not correcting for people who had mental illness before they started taking drugs and are self-medicating. The fact that your ward if full of people in terrible states shows how pisspoor treatment is for peope with mental illness in England.