If Drugs Were Made Legal
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The Drug Warriors' biggest argument against medical marijuana is that it's only the opening wedge in a movement toward total legalization of drugs. So, supposedly, we have to "nip it in the bud" - in the words of Deputy Barney Fife, the nation's first Drug Czar.
What if the Drug Warriors are right?
What if legalizing medical marijuana turned out to be the first step on a journey that ended in the outright repeal of every drug law? What would America be like?
Understandably, many Americans fear that with no drug laws, we would have hundreds of thousands of addicts, crack babies, children trying drugs, and other evils. But that's what we have now.
Let's assume the worst
If all drugs were legal, addicts would no longer pay black-market prices to criminals for drugs of questionable and dangerous origin. They would get drugs produced by legitimate pharmaceutical companies and pay market prices. They would no longer die from buying toxic drugs, and they would no longer have to mug innocent people to support their habits.
If all drugs were legal, addicts could seek help by going to doctors - no longer afraid of being prosecuted for their medical problems.
If all drugs were legal, criminal drug dealers would no longer be on our streets. They couldn't compete with the low, free-market prices for drugs sold at pharmacies.
If all drugs were legal, criminal drug dealers would no longer prey upon our children - any more than distilleries and breweries try to infiltrate schools to hook kids on alcohol. When I grew up in Los Angeles in the 1940s, the worst schools were safer than L.A.'s best schools are today.
If all drugs were legal, our government would no longer be dispensing propaganda that makes children want to try the forbidden fruit.
Reducing street violence
If all drugs were legal, our prisons would be emptied of hundreds of thousands of non-violent people who have never done harm to anyone else. No longer would over-crowded prisons cause truly violent criminals to be free on early release and plea bargains to terrorize the rest of us.
If all drugs were legal, law-enforcement resources would be available to fight violent crime, instead of being used to chase people who may harm themselves but are no threat to us.
If all drugs were legal, much of the street violence would end - as it did when Alcohol Prohibition ended - because gangs of thugs would no longer be fighting over drug territories.
If all drugs were legal, police corruption would diminish, because criminals could no longer use black-market drug money to gain immunity by subverting weak policemen.
If all drugs were legal, the government could no longer use the Drug War as an excuse to tear up the Bill of Rights and pry into your bank account, strip-search you at an airport, tear your car apart, monitor your e-mail, or seize your property without even charging you with a crime.
Why do we know this?
Why do I think America would be like this if all drugs were legal?
Because that's the way it was before the drug laws were passed. Yes, there were people whose lives were destroyed by drugs then - just as some people today destroy their lives with drugs, alcohol, financial mistakes, or various character weaknesses - but far fewer people lost their lives to drugs when they were legal.
And America's streets were peaceful.
Has America changed since then? Of course it has. But cause-and-effect relationships don't change. Force still begets force. Government programs still lead to unintended and destructive consequences.
Re-legalizing drugs would put a stop to those destructive consequences - end the criminal black market, end the violence, end the incentive to hook children, and end the production of toxic drugs that kill people.
We have to quit being afraid of the unknown, and instead recognize what we do know - that the Drug War is doing enormous harm to society.
If we care about our children, if we care about our cities, if we care about our country, we have to end the insane War on Drugs. -
So should chewing gum too!
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it would be a dark age
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lol read the entire article. does it sound like it would be a dark age?Originally posted by Lin Yu:it would be a dark age -
No replies? YOU ARE ALL TOO SCARED TO FACE THE TRUTH! FACE IT!! FACE ITTT!!!!
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If it's made legal, our void decks and staircases would be filled with needles and syringes
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medicine are also called drugs
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x2Originally posted by sbst275:If it's made legal, our void decks and staircases would be filled with needles and syringes -
I think the TS would OD and die ... -
You know that's bullcrap. The law has never stopped anyone from doing drugs. People who choose to do drugs don't do it because the law prohibits it, if anyone wanted to get their hands on drugs they could do it so easily.Originally posted by sbst275:If it's made legal, our void decks and staircases would be filled with needles and syringes
Take the Netherlands for example where drugs are legal. Are the void decks there filled with needles and syringes? I don't think so. -
They're alrdy illegal here and alrdy some places are filled w/ thatOriginally posted by jondizzle foshizzle:You know that's bullcrap. The law has never stopped anyone from doing drugs. People who choose to do drugs don't do it because the law prohibits it, if anyone wanted to get their hands on drugs they could do it so easily.
Take the Netherlands for example where drugs are legal. Are the void decks there filled with needles and syringes? I don't think so.
So you are telling me you want to add the problem and making it now legal to do these? -
x2Originally posted by sbst275:If it's made legal, our void decks and staircases would be filled with needles and syringes -
has anyone been to Amsterdam and visited their "coffee shops"?
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Yeah the places that are filled with them will just stay the same. The syringes won't start appearing around places they weren't before because the war on drugs isn't doing anything.Originally posted by sbst275:They're alrdy illegal here and alrdy some places are filled w/ that
So you are telling me you want to add the problem and making it now legal to do these? -
Are you willing to bear the consequences for making it legal and trouble starts to occur?Originally posted by jondizzle foshizzle:Yeah the places that are filled with them will just stay the same. The syringes won't start appearing around places they weren't before because the war on drugs isn't doing anything. -
ppl will start using drugs
then charity shows would start to ask us to donate to those ppl who are suffering
then me no moeny
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that will be real bad
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taking drugs is the same as having terminal diseases.
you spend most of ur money and savings on it, including reliance and the high barriers to exit from drugs.
in the end, we have a poorer workforce due to health reasons and much of our country's finance spent on drugs and cure or ever rehab.
conclusion:bad for economy+productivity. -
Nope, the war on drugs is bad for the economy. Organised crime would go down so much if drugs were legal. Druglords would go bankrupt as they wouldn't be able to compete with drug companies selling the stuff at pharmacies.Originally posted by sEphIrOth:taking drugs is the same as having terminal diseases.
you spend most of ur money and savings on it, including reliance and the high barriers to exit from drugs.
in the end, we have a poorer workforce due to health reasons and much of our country's finance spent on drugs and cure or ever rehab.
conclusion:bad for economy+productivity.
How will it decrease productivity? Does alcohol decrease productivity? People wouldn't go to work high the same way you wouldn't go to work drunk. -
Are you saying that people aren't using drugs now? The amount of drug users will hardly increase. People who choose not to use drugs don't do so because it's illegal, they do so because they know the health risks.Originally posted by MyPillowTalks:ppl will start using drugs
then charity shows would start to ask us to donate to those ppl who are suffering
then me no moeny -
Hello sir, what are you talking about? Most people here are not Americans. Your article does not apply.
Meat Pao. -
Hello sir, this article applies to all countries where drugs are illegal.Originally posted by Meat Pao:Hello sir, what are you talking about? Most people here are not Americans. Your article does not apply.
Meat Pao. -
the war on drugs is bad now, on the long run, druggies make the economy WORSE. we dont need no drug dealers here.Originally posted by jondizzle foshizzle:Nope, the war on drugs is bad for the economy. Organised crime would go down so much if drugs were legal. Druglords would go bankrupt as they wouldn't be able to compete with drug companies selling the stuff at pharmacies.
How will it decrease productivity? Does alcohol decrease productivity? People wouldn't go to work high the same way you wouldn't go to work drunk.
organized crime rate goes higher. ever thought of drug deals gone wrong? drive bys for drugs? heist for drugs? stealing money to fund druggies' habits? when people are desperate, they do things, anything to be precise.
alcohol in an average consumption WILL NOT lead to withdrawal symptoms. drugs however, lead to withdrawal symptoms. druggies will have imparied thinking.
reliance on alcohol is alcoholism, it takes much. reliance on drugs would be even the craving to cause major problems.
dont think for now, think for the future. impossible.
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Please look again how many instances the word 'America(n)' appear in your post, or the word 'LA', or 'Deputy Barney' (who is this), 'Bill of rights' , and 'Alcohol Prohibition'.
All those are very American-oriented words, and I scan 2 minutes no need to read all or digest it, already know it doesnt apply thousands of miles away to an Asian society here in Singapore.
Thats why some people in this world have problem with Americans, they like to export and apply their own world-view and expect everybody else to think like them and have the same beliefs with them.
One example is you.
Thank you.
Meat Pao. -
Exactly we don't need drug dealers which is why we need to legalise drugs. The reason why there are secret drug deals, heists for drugs, stealing money for druggies habits are because drugs are illegal, you're supporting my point.Originally posted by sEphIrOth:the war on drugs is bad now, on the long run, druggies make the economy WORSE. we dont need no drug dealers here.
organized crime rate goes higher. ever thought of drug deals gone wrong? drive bys for drugs? heist for drugs? stealing money to fund druggies' habits? when people are desperate, they do things, anything to be precise.
alcohol in an average consumption WILL NOT lead to withdrawal symptoms. drugs however, lead to withdrawal symptoms. druggies will have imparied thinking.
reliance on alcohol is alcoholism, it takes much. reliance on drugs would be even the craving to cause major problems.
dont think for now, think for the future. impossible.
Drugs in an average consumption WILL NOT lead to withdrawal symptoms. Many alcoholics have impaired thinking. Reliance on alcohol is just as bad as reliance on drugs.
If drugs were legal there wouldn't be organised crime because the criminals would go bankrupt as they're unable to compete with the pharmacies selling drugs. If drugs were legal they would be very cheap because of mass production so people wouldn't blow all their money on it or resort to stealing to fund their habit.