Global Commission on Drug Policy: war on drugs has failed, legalize marijuana

[brainhulk]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110602...DeW5fdG9wX3N0b3JpZXMEc2xrA21ham9ycGFuZWxkcg--

Compiled by the Global Commission on Drug Policy, which includes former heads of state, a former U.N. secretary-general and a business mogul, the report calls on governments to end the criminalization of marijuana and other controlled substances.

"Political leaders and public figures should have the courage to articulate publicly what many of them acknowledge privately: that the evidence overwhelmingly demonstrates that repressive strategies will not solve the drug problem, and that the war on drugs has not, and cannot, be won," the report said

 

[AMDZen]

war on drugs has failed

In other obvious studies conducted recently, men like boobs, women like shopping and dogs like peanut butter.

 

[mmntech]

The war on drugs failed because all effort was put into jailing junkies and chasing drug lords. There was never any serious efforts to build recovery centres and mental health facilities. I've always said addictions are a symptom. That should have been the primary focus. Even the Netherlands is curbing back their liberal drug policies due to the problems its caused.

Treatment and prevention should be the focus.

 

[Maleficus]

Should have been decriminalized/legalized a long time ago, will never happen in the US, we're too stuck up and backwards when it comes to drugs/prostitution.

 

[Train]

The war on drugs failed because all effort was put into jailing junkies and chasing drug lords. There was never any serious efforts to build recovery centres and mental health facilities. I've always said addictions are a symptom. That should have been the primary focus. Even the Netherlands is curbing back their liberal drug policies due to the problems its caused.

Treatment and prevention should be the focus.

To be fair, there was a sgnificant amount of money spent on anti-drug campaigns, that actually lowered the amount of teens that ended up as drug users.

 

[Malak]

And before too long they will be calling on legalizing pirating software and bootleg videos.

You know, the war on murder has failed too. Let's go ahead and legalize that too.

 

[rivan]

To be fair, there was a sgnificant amount of money spent on anti-drug campaigns, that actually lowered the amount of teens that ended up as drug users.

The amount of money spent on DARE and the like pales when compared to the amount spent putting inmates in jail - nevermind the softer costs like police time/effort, court and prosecution costs, etc.

 

[rivan]

And before too long they will be calling on legalizing pirating software and bootleg videos.

You know, the war on murder has failed too. Let's go ahead and legalize that too.

It's a slippery slope, man!

</conspiracy>

 

[ahenkel]

And before too long they will be calling on legalizing pirating software and bootleg videos.

You know, the war on murder has failed too. Let's go ahead and legalize that too.

I'm not depriving someone of something when I take a bong hit or do a line off a strippers ass. Because its 7:45am and I just woke I'll let Bill Hicks cover the moral dilemma.

"Here is my final point...About drugs, about alcohol, about pornography...What business is it of yours what I do, read, buy, see, or take into my body as long as I do not harm another human being on this planet? And for those who are having a little moral dilemma in your head about how to answer that question, I'll answer it for you. NONE of your fucking business. Take that to the bank, cash it, and go fucking on a vacation out of my life."
— Bill Hicks

 

[IceBergSLiM]

Should have been decriminalized/legalized a long time ago, will never happen in the US, we're too stuck up and backwards when it comes to drugs/prostitution.

you do know it is already decriminalized an many states right?

 

[Miklebud]

you do know it is already decriminalized an many states right?

Correct! Here in Massachusetts, possession (of under an ounce) is treated like a speeding infraction.

I just wish it was treated like Alcohol or Tobacco. Not for minors, not for consumption in public, and tax the hell out of it.

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

Well do you legalize all drugs? Crack, Cocaine, Meth, Heroin, Speed?
The "war" on drugs failed because it was never allowed to work.
They should have gone slash and burn through all areas of drug cultivation and destroyed it all.
I don't care what drugs you use, you have a problem. You are only hiding the problem by taking a drug to convience yourself you don't have the problem. If you have to resort to using an external chemical to make you feel better you need to re-evaluate your life and change the factors in it that make you feel so bad that you have to take drugs to over come it.

 

[Juddog]

A bit of a no-brainer, but at least now it's official. Maybe there is glimmer of hope for humanity after all. Pot should definitely be legalized as it's way less harmful than alcohol. I would prefer that meth & heroin and other hard drugs remain at least somewhat illegal though, given how badly heroin can destroy people's lives (I've seen it firsthand).

Psychadelics should be legalized as well, assuming the person in question goes through a psychological examination first. In other words, have a license to drive, so to speak. Kids shouldn't be doing it, but in the right hands it can open up doorways in the mind that are unexplored and advance humanity. In the wrong hands it can destroy lives and ruin otherwise productive members of society. The scientist who discovered the molecular structure of DNA was on hallucinogens when he made the discovery, as an example. LSD has been used to cure lifelong alcoholics of their disease, as another example. The psychadelics have enormous potential in terms of modifying people's personalities towards the better, given correct supervision.

 

[ShawnD1]

To be fair, there was a sgnificant amount of money spent on anti-drug campaigns, that actually lowered the amount of teens that ended up as drug users.

Last time anyone checked, roughly 20% of Americans have tried cocaine at last once in their life. It sounds like the advertising isn't working.

 

[Malak]

I'm not depriving someone of something when I take a bong hit or do a line off a strippers ass. Because its 7:45am and I just woke I'll let Bill Hicks cover the moral dilemma.

"Here is my final point...About drugs, about alcohol, about pornography...What business is it of yours what I do, read, buy, see, or take into my body as long as I do not harm another human being on this planet? And for those who are having a little moral dilemma in your head about how to answer that question, I'll answer it for you. NONE of your fucking business. Take that to the bank, cash it, and go fucking on a vacation out of my life."
— Bill Hicks

100% correct, none of my business. And I don't believe in the law, have always said as much. Laws are designed solely as a justification for a government to punish citizens. No crime has ever been stopped by a law, because crime only exists because of the law.

The reason government exists is because people lack confidence in society managing their life adequately on their own. It is a system of control with the misplaced hope that it can create a better civilization.

As long as you put hope in that system, you have to accept the whole thing. Controlled substances are bad, so they are illegal.

 

[CrazyAznDriver]

In other obvious studies conducted recently, men like boobs, women like shopping and dogs like peanut butter.

Its true! Dogs do like peanut butter! http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=6ff_1298695301 :whiste:

 

[Juddog]

100% correct, none of my business. And I don't believe in the law, have always said as much. Laws are designed solely as a justification for a government to punish citizens. No crime has ever been stopped by a law, because crime only exists because of the law.

The reason government exists is because people lack confidence in society managing their life adequately on their own. It is a system of control with the misplaced hope that it can create a better civilization.

As long as you put hope in that system, you have to accept the whole thing. Controlled substances are bad, so they are illegal.

They are not always bad, sometimes they can be good under the right circumstances. I have known people with severe back problems due to accidents, where they went through constant back pain for the rest of their lives. One of the few things that would mellow out the pain was pot.

As I mentioned above, discoveries about the human mind, even the molecular structure of molecules, can all be helped via psychadelics.

 

[ahenkel]

100% correct, none of my business. And I don't believe in the law, have always said as much. Laws are designed solely as a justification for a government to punish citizens. No crime has ever been stopped by a law, because crime only exists because of the law.

The reason government exists is because people lack confidence in society managing their life adequately on their own. It is a system of control with the misplaced hope that it can create a better civilization.

As long as you put hope in that system, you have to accept the whole thing. Controlled substances are bad, so they are illegal.

What makes them bad?

 

[Train]

Last time anyone checked, roughly 20% of Americans have tried cocaine at last once in their life. It sounds like the advertising isn't working.

That's quite irrelevant to the point I was making.

Last anyone checked, teen use of drugs was on a steady year over year decline through much of the 90's and 00's

 

[Portly Penguin]

And before too long they will be calling on legalizing pirating software and bootleg videos.

You know, the war on murder has failed too. Let's go ahead and legalize that too.

Someone needs to start a war on shitty posting

 

[darkxshade]

As long as you put hope in that system, you have to accept the whole thing. Controlled substances are bad, so they are illegal.

Unfortunately, people have already lost hope in the current system and the government. We disagree with a lot of laws... to accept wholly a flawed system is to perpetuate it as well. Alcohol and cigarettes are bad too, why aren't they illegal?

 

[BeauJangles]

Well do you legalize all drugs? Crack, Cocaine, Meth, Heroin, Speed?
The "war" on drugs failed because it was never allowed to work.
They should have gone slash and burn through all areas of drug cultivation and destroyed it all.

That's a myth. Over the last decade, the US has invested billions of dollars into Colombia, financing missions against farms that produce the precursors to cocaine. Cocaine production remains unaffected. The problem goes so much deeper than just "burning the fields." The farmers in Colombia don't grow Cocaine because they want to, they grow it because it is the only way to support their family. If the government comes and burns their farm, they simply do it all over again so that they can barely scrape by.

I don't care what drugs you use, you have a problem. You are only hiding the problem by taking a drug to convience yourself you don't have the problem. If you have to resort to using an external chemical to make you feel better you need to re-evaluate your life and change the factors in it that make you feel so bad that you have to take drugs to over come it.

Easier said than done, especially with drugs like Meth where you can easily become an addicted after one hit.

 

[Schadenfroh]

China won their "war on drugs," not sure if we want to do what they had to do to win...

 

[rcpratt]

I'm all for legalization, but the argument that "we failed at stopping it, so let's make it legal," doesn't make any sense to me.

 

[Josh]

Not going to happen. What will all the government employees "working" on the war on drugs do?