So one of the most complex parts of the drug legalization debate for me is whether to go “all or nothing” with it. Some drugs, like crystal meth, seem SO bad that it’s viscerally repulsive to imagine them being sold at the corner drugstore.
Some argue that if all the “less bad” drugs were legalized, no one (or much fewer) would touch the really bad ones. Others seem to deny that any tiers of “badness” for drugs exist at all — at least not to the extent that it should impact the legalization debate.
What do you all think? Is legalizing pot exactly the same as legalizing crystal meth or the most addictive opiates or what have you? Are there any that “should” remain illegal? Would legalizing them all reduce the impact of the “bad” ones, if any exist?
At least at first, a gradual phase-out of drug laws would probably be best. A quick blanket legalization of them all would be too likely to be chaotic. Gradualism is, perhaps, not the most admirable approach to liberty, but it’s less likely to lead to the kinds of problems that would bring back strict regulation again.
A lot of us are afraid that legalized drugs will lead to contamination of food or water. We’re already seeing that in Colorado – in a small way – with people eating marijuana brownies without knowing what they’re eating. We need to legalize in a way as to educate people and protect their rights not to be drugged. Later steps might lead to legalization of the “hard stuff.”
Pot-yes.
Milder opiates-yes. OTC for cough syrup with codeine, hydrocodone up to 5mg. Maybe tracked like is being done for Sudafed and kept behind the counter.
Stronger opiates- Tracked RX only.
Can’t think of any others that I would be comfortable with being legal.
One of the most dangerous drugs on the market is already legal…Alcohol. It is easier to od on than most of the illegal drugs on the market and has the added bonus of being highly addictive and its users are often aggressive. I think the real question is why are all the drugs that are safer than booze still illegal at all.
Fully agree about alcohol. It is an absolute hypocrisy shared by a lot of anti types - that they can happily ingest their drug of choice with whimsy and at the same time decry those choosing similar but not exact paths when it comes to a night out. For example due to diet reasons I cannot really drink much - anything more than a lousy three beverages can do bad things to my guts. Why should I be denied the right to within limits get a bit altered, like many of my fellow humans?
Legalize them all in stages, encourage moderation and responsibility, provide all the science and education about what chemical does what, provide for the health clinics to help addictions. It should not be hard to find the coin for any of it either - just rattle the police budget around for a good minute or two. Without drugs to seize, coins will just fall out of it.
I’d legalize them all. It’s not that I think people should be using drugs. But it just seems obvious to me that criminalization hasn’t worked as a means of fighting drug abuse. It just adds the problems of being a criminal to the problems of being a drug abuser. (And serves as an economic incentive to a whole bunch of other crimes.) I think we need to take a new approach and treat drug abuse as a health care problem.
I don’t see this as being a problem. Eliminate all drug crimes and drug-related crimes and we’ll still have plenty of other crimes to keep the police and the rest of the legal system busy. And if I’m wrong and we really do run low on crime, I’m not seeing that as a bad thing.
No true that Whynot- If you based the campaign on just cuts too many feathers get ruffled to make progress. How about a campaign that said the police are now fewer but better paid and more qualified? A few clinics and a detailed webpage would not cost so much I think that even after its over the forces did not find some welcome savings of its own either. Dead on though and good points everywhere.
Nobody would do crystal meth if amphetamines were legal and available. Crystal meth is the homemade solution, at least the first few times. (I guess it’s really, really addictive, in a way pharmacy amphetamines are usually not.)
In my experience people will use the drugs they want, and get them however they can, whether they’re legal or not. I don’t foresee a lot of people getting hooked on heroin if it were made legal, for instance. I know a few people who never used marijuana in their life, now it’s legal in my state and they are not at all curious to even try it. And I know some who tried it and said, “Okay, there’s that done,” and will probably never buy it again.
However, I do think the fact of the drug’s being legal might convince people it was harmless. But a lot of things you can buy OTC are not harmless and can be abused, OD’d on, etc.
I disagree with this. It’s a matter of intent. Alcohol can be imbibed to a degree without intoxication. One or two beers in a full grown man is going to have a negligible effect.
Nobody smokes marijuana only because they enjoy the flavor of it.
Is consuming any substance, whether it be alcohol or drugs, with the intent of becoming inebriated something that should be encouraged? If not how is legalizing substances whose sole use is intoxication a good thing?
Anyways, when talking about freedom and drug legality, it’s worth mentioning the odd paradox that springs up - the heroin addict is technically “free”, but… not really. He’s got a physical and mental compulsion, under pain of extreme duress, pain, and some really nasty other effects, to take more Heroin. As a result, I feel there is some argument to be made that we should restrict people’s freedom to take these drugs, or the sake of their own freedom in the future. A similar argument as some I’ve heard against “voluntary” slavery. Keep in mind, this refers mostly to highly addictive and harmful drugs, such as Heroin or Meth.
…That said, criminalization has been a complete and utter fiasco. We need better ways to deal with people who take controlled substances. Rehab, perhaps.
People who want to abuse drugs will find a way. I do believe the war on drugs has been a failure, and causes more harm then good. I believe we should decriminalize almost all drugs of abuse… HOWEVER… That doesn’t mean make them legal. Humans, like many animals, search for a way to have an altered mind. What we should do is weigh the risks and benefits of various drugs, and we should make an educated choice on what should be legal, and what should not.
For example, Nicotine is one of the most addictive drugs around, it causes untold hardship, causes hundred of thousand deaths, has very few benefits, can lead to life long addiction is just a few uses, leads to poverty in many of its abusers, and causes people to commit crimes in the search of it… (as I can attest to, I’m a nicotine addict, and it’s hold on me has even caused me to be arrested in the past due to choices I made in search of the drug)… yet, it is legal, and I can buy it wherever I turn, and there are even advertisements for it. Marijuana is a schedule I controlled substance, is highly illegal federally, and in most jurisdictions, possession or sale of it can lead to prison sentences of decades, while technically physically addictive, clinically it is not, hardly any deaths are attributed to it, and most crimes associated with it are only crimes since it is illegal in the first place.
Drug use should be a health issue, not a criminal one; however, like all health issues, there are times the risks totally outweigh the benefits, and use should be contraindicated in almost all cases… Like my drug of choice, Nicotine… But there are others when the benefits (even if they are few), outweigh the negatives (because there are even fewer), and should be up to adult to do as they wish.
(Nothing is this post should be construed to support drug use in minors, I’m of the belief that until you’re old enough, and intelligent enough to make an informed choice, you shouldn’t do anything.)
For the sake of argument, if so, then it wouldn’t matter if crystal meth were still illegal as long as amphetamines were. Therefore, if we made amphetamines legal, we could keep crystal meth illegal.
I hesitate to use broad language, but most of the English speaking world has OTC codeine. Canada, the UK, Australia, all have some form of OTC codeine and I think most countries do. It isn’t a big deal, the world doesn’t collapse into an orgy of junkies, I don’t know what specifically is different about the USA culturally that it is unthinkable.
Oh and about krokodil, no one would use that shit if they could get other drugs. The articles are clear that heroin users in Russia use it when they can’t get or can’t afford heroin. In fact the pharmaceutical companies could easily produce safe and pure desomorphine(the active drug in krokodil) without the impurities that give it its bad name.
