I have figured out why drugs are illegal

[Brigandier]

Busting drugs dealers means the government gets all the drug dealer's money, guns, assets, whatever.

People will always find a way to get high, therefore, the government has an eternally built in revenue source, since there will always be drug dealers with money to seize.

Not only does this give the government money, it produces a lot of jobs in the courts, prisons and police departments. This economic boon far outweighs the paltry drug dealer money, but when has our government not devoured millions with glutinous glee?

 

[JMapleton]

They're illegal because they're bad for you.

Is the government's way of policing them effective? No.

But I don't think the government has ill intentions as far as illegalizing them.

Pot is illegal because believe it or not, some people do think it's bad for you. Are they right, I'm not saying they are.

Everything is not a conspiracy theory.

 

[Brigandier]

They're illegal because they're bad for you.

Is the government's way of policing them effective? No.

But I don't think the government has ill intentions as far as illegalizing them.

Pot is illegal because believe it or not, some people do think it's bad for you. Are they right, I'm not saying they are.

Everything is not a conspiracy theory.

Why are they bad for everybody? Not me, everybody. I think it happens to be because there's a porcine hand in the guvmental cookie jar. Believing intentions makes you an idealist, following the money makes you a realist.

 

[Matthiasa]

They're illegal because they're bad for you.

Eh its not quite because they are bad for you... if that was the case far more things would be illegal.

A lot of drugs which are illegal now were heavily used by the outcasts in society, as well as minorities, and so due to racism and prejudiced were made illegal.

 

[JMapleton]

Why are they bad for everybody? Not me, everybody. I think it happens to be because there's a porcine hand in the guvmental cookie jar. Believing intentions makes you an idealist, following the money makes you a realist.

Go shoot up some herion and try to tell me they're not bad for "everyone."

Excluding marijuana, which I think can be used responsibly, most all other drugs are extremely bad for everyone with continued use.

You cannot build a country productive people when everyone is stoned.

As far as following the money, I understand what you're saying, but you're thinking in terms of absolutes. You cannot just blindly say that for every single issue and topic. Not every single person on the face of the Earth is purely motivated by personal financial gain in every purpose and in every aspect of life.

 

[Brigandier]

Go shoot up some herion and try to tell me they're not bad for "everyone."

Excluding marijuana, which I think can be used responsibly, most all other drugs are extremely bad for everyone with continued use.

You cannot build a country productive people when everyone is stoned.

As far as following the money, I understand what you're saying, but you're thinking in terms of absolutes. You cannot just blindly say that for every single issue and topic. Not every single person on the face of the Earth is purely motivated by personal financial gain in every purpose and in every aspect of life.

You're right, you can build a good society if you give amphetamines to attention deficits and give depressants to chronic depressives. Society is already drugged, many of those drugs are right on Schedule II.

Drugs wreak their destructive paths regardless of society's tolerance to them. Tax them an d fund rehab programs for hard drug users, or maybe even create a widespread mental health network, reducing all destructive behavior in general.

I thought this country learned during prohibition that making drugs illegal doesn't reduce it's affect on society, it's available. When it's illegal you just have to pay drug dealers, who some pay rent and get high, some buy guns and take it a step further. You want a drug dealer to get a job? Legalize drugs.

 

[TruePaige]

Go shoot up some herion and try to tell me they're not bad for "everyone."

Excluding marijuana, which I think can be used responsibly, most all other drugs are extremely bad for everyone with continued use.

You cannot build a country productive people when everyone is stoned.

As far as following the money, I understand what you're saying, but you're thinking in terms of absolutes. You cannot just blindly say that for every single issue and topic. Not every single person on the face of the Earth is purely motivated by personal financial gain in every purpose and in every aspect of life.

If it is about productive societies than why are ampethamines like Adderall illegal? They boost productivity without (for most) any life destroying effects. Provigil allows people to continue working by simply deactivating the drowsy part of your brain in simple terms.

These things, by your standard, should not only be legal over the counter but encouraged!

edit: Crap, someone beat me to it somewhat.

 

[MJinZ]

They're illegal because they're bad for you.

Is the government's way of policing them effective? No.

But I don't think the government has ill intentions as far as illegalizing them.

Pot is illegal because believe it or not, some people do think it's bad for you. Are they right, I'm not saying they are.

Everything is not a conspiracy theory.

Holds no water. If it was simply "bad for you" that illegalized an item, then no McDonalds, fatty foods, Cigarettes, Alcohol, etc etc.

 

[StageLeft]

Definitely all money. It can't POSSIBLY have to do with any injurious effects on society as a whole, no way.

 

[Robor]

They're illegal because they're bad for you.

Is the government's way of policing them effective? No.

But I don't think the government has ill intentions as far as illegalizing them.

Pot is illegal because believe it or not, some people do think it's bad for you. Are they right, I'm not saying they are.

Everything is not a conspiracy theory.

So is tobacco. So is alcohol. Instead of being illegal both are regulated and taxed. Why not the same for pot? I've never tried it (yes, really) but from what I've been told by those who have it's less dangerous than alcohol.

 

[StageLeft]

So is tobacco. So is alcohol. Instead of being illegal both are regulated and taxed. Why not the same for pot? I've never tried it (yes, really) but from what I've been told by those who have it's less dangerous than alcohol.

Not all things are created equal.

 

[Brigandier]

Definitely all money. It can't POSSIBLY have to do with any injurious effects on society as a whole, no way.

What about the injury of maintaining this illegality? All drug money finds its way to buy more guns to shoot at our soldiers and police. Then the police arm too, and Tom Clancy dealers for major cash and caches. The dealers that survive then get to go prison for their mandatory minimum three hots and a cot, where they see a lot of their former buyers, some new criminal syndicates and a few new tricks. When they get out, are they going to become productive members of society?

Yes, just not for the benefit of them.

And all the while the prisons expand and money keeps flowing to fight a made up problem. How many people will that kill? Probably the type of people you'll miss a hell of a lot more than some junkie od'ing.

 

[CallMeJoe]

What about the injury of maintaining this illegality?...

Legalization takes the profit out of drugs and cripples the cartels that destabilize Central and South American nations. Legalization cripples the gangs that thrive in our inner cities on drug trafficking. Legalization removes a central source of income for Middle Eastern terrorist organizations.
Unfortunately, legalization also means that some Americans enjoy themselves in ways that "Middle America" dislikes. Guess which aspect our politicians consider more important?

 

[Printer Bandit]

how many people a year die from legal drugs like alcohol and tobacco? and how many from illegal drugs?

 

[StageLeft]

Didn't some country in Europe decriminalize a bunch of drugs recently? How is it working for them?

 

[JMapleton]

Holds no water. If it was simply "bad for you" that illegalized an item, then no McDonalds, fatty foods, Cigarettes, Alcohol, etc etc.

You're playing logic games.

McDonalds and cigarettes never caused anyone to lose their familes, their careers, all their money, and left them on the street and near dead.

You know this but are playing silly debate games.

There are a lot of things that are "bad" for you, but not "dangerous" bad.

 

[jhu]

Didn't some country in Europe decriminalize a bunch of drugs recently? How is it working for them?

The Czech Republic made having 15 gm of marijuana and 1.5 gm of heroin legal starting last month. Not enough time has elapsed for any meaningful statistics to emerge yet.

Portugal made personal possession of drugs no longer a crime since 2001. Drug use has declined since then.

 

[JMapleton]

So is tobacco. So is alcohol. Instead of being illegal both are regulated and taxed. Why not the same for pot? I've never tried it (yes, really) but from what I've been told by those who have it's less dangerous than alcohol.

Pot is not what I consider a "real" drug. Let's leave pot out of this. Pot is sort of in between. It's like alcohol. Mildly addicting and intoxicating, but it's not going to kill you.

Real drugs are dangerous bad, not just bad.

 

[JMapleton]

I thought this country learned during prohibition that making drugs illegal doesn't reduce it's affect on society, it's available. When it's illegal you just have to pay drug dealers, who some pay rent and get high, some buy guns and take it a step further. You want a drug dealer to get a job? Legalize drugs.

I understand what you're saying and I'm not totally disagreeing with you.

But I just don't believe that if you made crack cocaine available in every gas station that there would not (as a whole) be a lot more people addicted to it than there are right now. Users would increase dramatically if it was easily available (which despite what anyone here says, for most people, hard drugs are NOT easily available) and you made it acceptable to society that more people who, when in emotional hardship, would use the drug and become addicts.

There are a lot of people who cannot beat alcoholism, imagine how much harder it is to beat crack cocaine or herion.

 

[jhu]

McDonalds and cigarettes never caused anyone to lose their familes, their careers, all their money, and left them on the street and near dead.

And what about alcohol? People have lost families, careers, money, etc. due to alcohol. The truth is that people have different thresholds for addiction and self control. The smartest people in my graduate classes were high as a kite until test time.

 

[Brigandier]

Pot is not what I consider a "real" drug. Let's leave pot out of this. Pot is sort of in between. It's like alcohol. Mildly addicting and intoxicating, but it's not going to kill you.

Real drugs are dangerous bad, not just bad.

Yes, they are, and that's why when you legalize you can see how many people are actually on whatever drug, and target your awareness programs accordingly. Drug use is not solved in prison, and it cannot just be shoved under the rug at the point of a gun. Drugs are a part of the 21st century conscience and have been around for quite awhile. It's time to face the issue head on instead wasting money and lives in a usesless struggle. Gangstas still get rich, cops and bystanders get shot.

But wait, there's more! If we found a way to harvest poppy we could just break the Taliban's grasp over rural afghanistan, those farmers would have a legit source of income and not have to make a deal with the devil for protection. That is pretty extreme, but whatever, it's free.

 

[JMapleton]

And what about alcohol? People have lost families, careers, money, etc. due to alcohol. The truth is that people have different thresholds for addiction and self control. The smartest people in my graduate classes were high as a kite until test time.

Take one hundred people. Force them to use alcohol once a day for a year.

Take one hundred more people. Force them to use crack cocaine once a day for a year.

See the results after a year and now you've answered your own question.

Alcohol can be controlled. Hard drugs take control of YOU. Most alcohol addiction is part of a larger emotional problem. A normal person with no issues can get hooked on hard drugs like nothing.

You clearly are not thinking or know nothing about addiction.

 

[Lemon law]

I think Skoorb asked a a very legitimate question.

But I also think that we must make a very big distinction between an addictive drug in the opiate class and a mere feel good drug like marijuana that is non addictive.

Worse yet, among the non thinking, there is a tendency to conclude if the Government is wrong about pot, its wrong about heroin.

If we examine the overall history of the criminalization of of pot, its all due to an after though of a fellow named Anslinger who had no rational basis to make the discrimination. Should we always be trapped in the past, and never learn a damn thing?

As someone who grew up in the days of sex, drugs, and rockin roll, I feel strongly that we would have had far less hard drug use if pot were legal.

 

[JMapleton]

The smartest people in my graduate classes were high as a kite until test time.

On a semi-relate note. Most intelligent kids I went to school with never touched drugs and still to do this day they never touched them. There have been a few surprises since, a few smart kids lost their way and a few previously unintelligent kids got their act together, but things were as they seemed in high school for me. If you looked like a stoner you were one and visa versa.

 

[Brigandier]

I think Skoorb asked a a very legitimate question.

But I also think that we must make a very big distinction between an addictive drug in the opiate class and a mere feel good drug like marijuana that is non addictive.

Worse yet, among the non thinking, there is a tendency to conclude if the Government is wrong about pot, its wrong about heroin.

If we examine the overall history of the criminalization of of pot, its all due to an after though of a fellow named Anslinger who had no rational basis to make the discrimination. Should we always be trapped in the past, and never learn a damn thing?

As someone who grew up in the days of sex, drugs, and rockin roll, I feel strongly that we would have had far less hard drug use if pot were legal.

The government is wrong about heroin, those people need serious treatment, not jailtime. It's unfortunate that the mental health infrastructure is simply not up to the task. Perhaps if we spent less on prisons and more on rehab facilities we could see some change in this country. Under the rug, they suffocate, at least give them a chance to breathe. Hard drug use need not be legalized, but decriminalized with stipulations that recurring offences have to submit to a program.

People are still going to die from hard drugs, yes, but people die, and those people dying is what prevents someone from trying drugs moreso than any law.