Russians are smarter than I thought
Its about time somebody realizes that criminalizing drugs is a mistake. Theres no reason people should be tossed in jail if they arn’t hurting anyone but themselves. The war on drugs is one which cannot be won.
Well, my job would be at least 20% easier if they did that here. Heck, maybe 50% easier.
QtM, prison physician.
Hopefully the Russians will. They haven’t yet.
I wouldn’t even agree that it is a war. It will continue to be a miserable situation so long as it’s approached as one though.
Well not quite, but they’re closer than we are, damn it. I may not want to use an illegal drug, but I want the right to choose. I also want the right to tax the shit out of people who choose to use them. If we can legalize, regulate, and tax cigarettes and alcohol, we might as well ease into the others.
-Lil
So if I’m reading the story right, it’s less illegal to possess, but still completely illegal to sell or distribute.
Not exactly the sweeping “decriminalization” implied by the thread title.
So what you’re saying is that no matter whether drugs have destroyed the life of the person taking them or the people that that person lives with (or deals to), as long as they don’t show up in your office, you’re ok with that?
Yup, we should just make drugs legal. That way people could just throw their lives away, beholden to an addiction that has taken control of them.
Nice.
Not to get into GD territory, but I’m a little leery about legalizing ALL drugs. Does black tar heroin or PCP really belong in the same sentence as pot? Not sure what I’d do about it, but still.
A better policy might have been that any drugs that you have would be taken, but you would not be arrested unless they were above the “10 times” limit. I’m guessing that this would become “distributing” at that point.
You mean like the caffeine, alcohol and nicotine addictions that currently have enough industry money behind them to remain legal?
So, 2 grams of marijuana is a single dose? That is one big joint…
Nicotine, caffeine, and alcohol can all be enjoyed without a loss of basic faculties. For instance, no matter how many cigarettes I smoke, I will never walk down the street naked. And no matter how many cups of coffee I drink, I will never climb up on my roof and complain that aliens are coming for me. And, while alcohol may lead to both of those conditions, it is possible to consume alcohol in a context that doesn’t demand intoxication. I could, say, have a glass of nice red wnie with my steak. I could have a beer with my hot dog. In each case though alcohol had a role that wasn’t INEBRIATION.
Pot, Coke, E, PCP, and other drugs have no other purpose than to relieve you of you ability to think clearly. The proof is that the only way that yo gauge the quality of those drugs is how “messed up” they make you.
Do you see the difference?
No. Not even remotely.
Thank you Asa Hutchinson.
Let’s see, purposes of those other drugs besides fucking one up. There’s medical marijuana which even the federal government has in the past acknowledged. Cocaine has anesthetic properties and of course acts as a stimulant. Ecstasy (MDMA) is thought by some psychotherapists to have therapeutic value. PCP is thought to have no potential medical applications.
What purpose does nicotine have besides fucking one up? I always got a bigger buzz off a cigarette than I ever did of the same amount of marijuana. And alcohol? What is that good for from a human consumption standpoint other than fucking oneself up? And ultimately, what does it matter to you what substance someone chooses to ingest to alter one’s consciousness, so long as it doesn’t affect you?
As for gauging quality, it is certainly possible to scientifically measure it in the same way that any other drug is tested for quality. Were the drugs in question legalized and produced under controlled conditions, uniformity of dosage would be achievable.
Hmm. Perhaps something has been clouding your thought processes.
At best, that would only excuse the use of these substances for medicinal purposes. It would not imply that they are suitable for recreational use.
I won’t speak about nicotine, as I’m not convinced tobacco should be legal either. However, people frequently consume alcoholic beverages for the flavor, not for the buzz. In other words, the purpose behind consuming alcohol does nto necessarily have to be “fucking oneself up,” as you put it.
I can’t speak for JamesCarroll, but I’d say that it’s foolish to think that these things don’t affect you in some way. Even if you don’t directly experience the deleterious effects of these drugs, you may still have to put up with family members that are slaves to drug abuse, or whose addictions affect their work performance, or who place undue (and easily avoidable!) loads on an already overburdened health care system. No man is an island, and it’s foolhardy to think that one’s personal consumption of these substances has no effect on anyone else.
Hm, 28 grams to the ounce, so that would be 14 joints to the ounce?
How much does a regular tobacco cigarette weight? I can vaguely remember seeing joints in HS and uni that were roughly the same size as a cigarette…
FWIW, I tried it and even inhaled :eek: but found I got the exact same result from alcohol, so I drank instead of smoked…had the benefit of me being able to tell my mom or dad to just get me a bottle of rum or vodka as I seriously doubt I could have told him to pick me up an ounce of weed…grin. So I did peripherally see weed use, but it impacted me in a very minimal way.
Try reading what I wrote for starters.
QtM, prison physician.
Get it now?
Yay for Russia, now if only America was half a civilized.
-Rob
Member of NORML
I’ve never seen anybody on their roof complaining about aliens. I’m guessing you haven’t either. And if I had, it would most likely be some religious fanatic, not someone on drugs.
Stop spreading false propaganda about what those “crazy” drugs do to you. I’m guessing you have absolutely no personal experience on them, so who are you to talk?
James said there is no possible use for various currently illegal drugs besides getting high. I posted information refuting that. Whether or not that refutation implies suitability for recreational use is irrelevant to the refutatoin of his statement.
All arguments to destigmatize and decriminalize and regulate drug use IMHO. Certainly not arguments for criminal sanctions, considering the undue and easily avoidable burdens placed on our health care systems by alcohol and tobacco. Nutritionally unsound foods also place an enormous and easily avoidable burden on our health care systems but there does not appear to be any support for the notion of expanding the Nanny State to criminalize chocolate or potato chips. Name pretty much any consumer good and it’s likely you’ll find someone who abuses it (alcohol, drugs, tobacco, food, guns, cars, sex, gambling, the Internet, etc.). If you’re not in favor of criminalizing anything that can be abused it seems unreasonable to single out “drugs.” And if someone’s addicted to drugs, how exactly does making the substance of their addiction illegal help them? Perhaps legalizing the substance and taxing it and using the revenues generated to fund treatment for addicts might be a better alternative. At the very least, it would free up the billions of dollars wasted each year in the “war on drugs” for other purposes, including one would hope treatment for addicts. Finally, there is a difference between drug “use” and drug “abuse.” All use is not abuse, except in the minds of a particularly obstinant class of substance abuse counsellors.