Please, for Eris’s sake, let us exercise some small amount of willpower and treat this very close to an extended poll. I don’t care if you like or don’t like illegal pleasure drugs. I just want your possibly but not necessarily humble opinion.
And I mean legal for general consumption like cigarettes or tobacco, none of the “medical marijuana” jazz.
Ya think any currently illegal (Schedule I, II, or III in the US) drugs will ever become legal within the next fifty years? I have a feeling marijuana might make it in that time, but no others (which, to me, is a shame because I’m not a fan of it).
With illegal drug money heavily fueling our economy and some banks being mostly supported by it, I kind of doubt if any drugs will ever be legalized because the drop in flowing billions would hurt some economies.
I figured pot would be the first illegal drug to be legalized, but with people paying up to $40 for just enough to make a couple of joints, I kind of doubt it. In the 60s and 70s, $40 got you almost half a pound of good stuff!
Plus, they have finally found something harmful about pot, which I figured they would because the stuff leaves an enormous amount of resin behind in pipes when smoked. In older people, it has the ability to cause heart attacks because it speeds up the heart. I figure soon they’ll link lung disease and cancer to it because of the thick resin and that will be enough to place it in line with tobacco products and keep it from being legalized.
Coke and all of its forms is just too addicting and deadly, which is why they made it illegal in the first place. You used to be able to buy it over the counter.
The same with opiates. As far back as the early 60s you could buy Paregoric, which was a liquid, opium based pain killer but people started buying it too often and they frequently boiled the liquid off to get the opium and smoked the stuff. That’s why it became illegal.
There are only two major drugs that are legal and that is nicotine in the form of tobacco and alcohol.
I doubt any schedule I drugs will even be moved down to Schedule II or less, much less be legalized. I don’t forsee any Schedule II-V drugs being made either unscheduled or going OTC. I actually expect the reverse: Some non-scheduled prescription drugs, like Ultram, will end up being Scheduled.
I’m guessing cocaine and heroin will both make it, once there is a cure for the additive part. The high will then become fashionable among the rich and famous, there will be more scandals in high places, then the legalization.
I dunno, Qadgop, it’s possible that one day (OP did say within the next 50 years) we may start prescribing heroin or cocaine for abusers, as we do now with methadone.
I wouldn’t expect marijuana to become legal until there is an objective lab test (as there is for alcohol) that will correlate somewhat to degree of impairment while driving. I expect, and hope, that driving under the influence would be enforced as always, but it’s tough to do if THC is detectable in the urine for a month, but the high lasts only a few hours. (“No, your honor, I smoked my most recent joint two weeks ago, I SWEAR…”)
I would honestly like to see legalization, with drug abuse treated as an illness (as alcohol abuse is now) rather than a crime (as alcohol abuse was during Prohibition). Drug abuse is seemingly a crime for the poor, but merely a bad habit for the more affluent, who often have the option of treatment programs rather than prison. I wonder which are cheaper, jails or treatment centers? And, by the way, a tax-dollar argument is far more likely to result in legalization than a stoner “grass”-roots “it’s our civil right to have fun” argument, IMHO.
In case anybody is wondering, or even cares, I’m not a smoker/toker/tooter, myself. My drugs of choice are caffeine and theobromine, both with sugar.
I would agree that marijuana would probably become legal, but only as medical marijuana. You can also use marijuana plants for other uses to (clothing, paper and such).
Two weeks ago the British Government said they were going to declassify cannabis from a class B drug to Class C. Basically they admitted that too many people are smoking it and it’s a waste of police time. The police over here have actually called for the decriminalisation of it, but what this does is to make the possession of ganja as illegal as the possession of amphetemenes.
The police in parts of London have already got a policy of just confiscating your stash and walking away, and now there are parts of London where cannabis is openly smoked on the street. Well, certainly in my part of town.
That’s not to say that cannabis is legal. You can still be hauled up in front of a magistrate for it, but essentially the government has said to the police to concentrate on other things - notably heroine, crack, and violent crimes.
Even the right wing has supported this move. Even our most un-liberal politicians are saying that this should be given a chance. And others are saying it’s only the first stage to an inevitable legalisation. The government has also said it will seriously look at cannabis for medicinal use.
In the last few years Germany has decriminalised it, joining bits of Holland and a bunch of other countries. If legalisation ever comes to the US, it will probably be after observing wether the limited European moves pay off or not. However I think that American politics is much more right wing than in Europe and even the Democrates seem not very liberal compared to some European politics.
Which brings me to a point I’ve always thought about American society. For all the self-publicised ‘freedoms’, there are an awful lot of things that American citizens cannot do if their life-style isn’t that of a middle class, middle aged white, man or woman who seem to dominate the moral debate - or is this just an impression I get? (Apart from carry a gun??? That’s something that us non-Americans will never get our heads around: guns. But that’s a different debate entirely and not probably one for this particular message board)
I figure pot will be legal before I die. As all the older memebers of the govenment die out and my generation takes over, laws concerning things such as this will probably become much more liberal. IMHO
I’m going to say yes on pot in the US, probably within 20 years. Maybe sooner. Canada and England (two of our biggest allies, English-speaking, similar systems of government and commerce, etcetera etcetera) are now considering (and in England’s case, experimenting) with various decriminalization/legalization measures. It will probably be a matter of convincing those who would recoil in horror at such an idea (“Legalize…DRUGS?!”) that the economic and societal benefits outweigh the possible dangers of legalization. My guess is, Canada legalizes under a system of governmental control (like their cigarette and booze policies, if I’m not mistaken). England decriminalizes, leading to a Netherlands-esque system of “Well, it ain’t technically legal, but we ain’t gonna prosecute you for it.”. The US authorizes bars to sell small quantities for on-premises consumption, and liquor stores to sell slightly larger amounts for home use. Government strongly reiterates their stance against harder-drugs, fearing a backlash (the old “we have to appear tough on drugs!” canard). Much doomsaying from various factions, a few nervous months when legislators wait to hear of marauding dope fiends destroying society. Little changes in the long run; many nickle-and-dimers from the black market either move on to other drugs, or ditch it. Some make money providing varieties not sanctioned by the government, at slightly better quantity prices. Drunk driving accidents decrease slightly, due to some choosing the pot instead of alcohol in the bar setting.
Welp, I guess I’ve rambled on long enough. That’s my opinion.