What If Drugs Are Legalized?

[.Cee 50]

Every year, about 2 million people in the you.S. are arrested for drug offenses, including using or selling marijuana, heroin, cocaine or methamphetamine. About a third of the country's prisoners are held on drug charges or for crimes attributed to drug abuse.

But what if we legalized all street drugs?

More kids would decide to try drugs "just once," and more would get hooked. Some lives would be ruined. But other lives would be saved. Gang murders would fall sharply. Thousands of people now in jail would be free to find work and feed their families. We'd save billions on the war on drugs, and a new drug industry would create jobs and loads of taxable revenue.

Of course, it may sound like madness. And the gut feeling among many people is that it would be disastrous....

More on the link: http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Colle...edAllDrugs.aspx

Comments there: http://moneycentral.msn.com/community/mess...threadid=777239

[Fulham Broadway 17,332]

Definitely a case for not legalizing, but decriminalisation of drugs. Did a research policy paper at university

Once they decriminalised heroin in Switzerland and Netherlands, and set up an area for addicts to get their supply , crime just literally disappeared.

Pure heroin , diamorphine, is available to most doctors , and many are addicts that have an unlimited supply and function as normal unbeknown to the outside world. It is even beneficial as the doctors rarely get colds or flu, and most health professionals cite sugar as being a much more harmful substance to the human body.

The average heroin addicts fix on the street is cut with sulphate, brick dust, salt and all manner of shit that causes infections etc. The nature of the drug and its addiction causes them to do anything -usually some form of stealing -to get their next fix. Remove the dealers, and the crap mixed with the drug -combine education with their fix controlled by the State and crime literally disappears.

The real key though, is education about substances and removing the myths. Some drugs are bad, but the legal ones HAHAHA that they just happen to tax -alcohol and tobacco are just as bad if not worse when abused.

[True_Blue 469]

Kids wouldn't use something that's legal,that way they wouldn't be cool :thumbsdown:

[Drogba11CFC 108]

We wouldn't have to endure those godawful Midnight Express knock-offs set in Thailand.

Sniffer dogs would end up with a Scouse fan's employment status.

[changingman2000 35]

I'd Legalise the fucking lot. Then at least it would be taxable and we'd get something back from it. I've had a wee go at the Bolivian Marching Powder in the distant past, as well as the occasional three foot fag nd it surely cant be any worse then necking back a Glasgow marathon in the boozer (26 pints and three curries).

[.Cee 50]

I'd Legalise the fucking lot. Then at least it would be taxable and we'd get something back from it. I've had a wee go at the Bolivian Marching Powder in the distant past, as well as the occasional three foot fag nd it surely cant be any worse then necking back a Glasgow marathon in the boozer (26 pints and three curries).

Surely not the stronger drugs tho'?

[Drogba11CFC 108]

"Banged up Abroad" would be renamed "Issued fines abroad for not paying the drug tax"

God knows how they'd fit it into the TV guide though.

[oxfordblues 299]

whilst working in mental health i`ve seen whatb drugs can do to the mind.

[misschief 24]

Surely not the stronger drugs tho'?

Depends what it is really, even cannabis can be proper dodgy if it doesnt suit someone. As Oxfordblues points out, you get to see the extreme end of things in mental health. If you've got a predisposition to psychosis and you use cannabis, the impact is often something that'll stay with you for the rest of your life. Likewise, the damage I've seen MDMA and Ketamine do to young lads is devastating - and irreversible.

Then again, the damage I've seen alcohol do to patients over a sustained period of time is equally as bad.

The difference is you can often get away with more alcohol over a longer period of time before the negative effects appear whereas, drugs can do a lot of damage in a shorter space of times.

[.Cee 50]

Depends what it is really, even cannabis can be proper dodgy if it doesnt suit someone. As Oxfordblues points out, you get to see the extreme end of things in mental health. If you've got a predisposition to psychosis and you use cannabis, the impact is often something that'll stay with you for the rest of your life. Likewise, the damage I've seen MDMA and Ketamine do to young lads is devastating - and irreversible.

Then again, the damage I've seen alcohol do to patients over a sustained period of time is equally as bad.

The difference is you can often get away with more alcohol over a longer period of time before the negative effects appear whereas, drugs can do a lot of damage in a shorter space of times.

Yeah, well, if some drugs are legalized they should be controlled even more tightly than alcohol.

[misschief 24]

Yeah, well, if some drugs are legalized they should be controlled even more tightly than alcohol.

I guess the one bonus would be they'd be a lot cleaner if they were legalised.

[Fulham Broadway 17,332]

I'd Legalise the fucking lot. Then at least it would be taxable and we'd get something back from it. I've had a wee go at the Bolivian Marching Powder in the distant past, as well as the occasional three foot fag nd it surely cant be any worse then necking back a Glasgow marathon in the boozer (26 pints and three curries).

'Glasgow Marathon' Absolutely. I'm not advocating drug taking, but the hypocrisy of governments as to what you can and cant take is staggering. Same as CM, I've dabbled with mushrooms, billywhiz, toked for about 20+years, Salvia, Khat, pills, MDMA, golden Virginia, -my old gaff looked like an explosion in a Rizla factory... and hoovered the old Mutu regularly on a night out. And guess what .......I've had some of the best fucking times of my life . Dont do anything now, but to say ''Dont Do Drugs'' is a green light to kids to do them. Education is the key.

[pablo814 1]

There is no reason weed shouldn't be legalized. There has never been a death by overdose from THC. Also, you never hear of ppl getting stoned and crashing into a bus full of kids or beating their wives to death like alcohol. I also agree with Constantine. If drugs are legal, there won't be such a rush to do them as a kid, but I also think heroin and that sort of stuff should be illegal. Legalize weed, LSD, mushrooms, and salvia.

Right now in America there is a debate going on weather we should lower the legal drinking age back down to 18. I think we should, as the stats indicate that places in Europe where 18 is the age age far fewer Drunk Driving fatalities and related issues. Most of the colleges universities are behind this as well.

[Elliott 7]

If a large amount of people are doing something considered illegal, then perhaps it shouldn't be illegal anymore. I'm sure under-age drinking is rife in American colleges and universities... if there are that many doing it, there's no reason for it to be illegal anyway.

I think same goes for cannabis.

[misschief 24]

There is no reason weed shouldn't be legalized. There has never been a death by overdose from THC. Also, you never hear of ppl getting stoned and crashing into a bus full of kids or beating their wives to death like alcohol.

I'm not taking the 'I've always been an angel' party line - because it'd be a complete bloody lie for a start. From a strictly professional point of view though, mental health wards are busy enough without legalising something that's directly linked to sending some youngsters nuts. You might not hear as much about people doing damage when theyre stoned but that doesnt mean it doesnt happen.

[pablo814 1]

I'm not taking the 'I've always been an angel' party line - because it'd be a complete bloody lie for a start. From a strictly professional point of view though, mental health wards are busy enough without legalising something that's directly linked to sending some youngsters nuts. You might not hear as much about people doing damage when theyre stoned but that doesnt mean it doesnt happen.

It does happen, but the damage weed does pales in comparison to the lives destroyed by alcohol. At least in the states, weed only crushes lives if you get caught and sent down the river.

Grooverider's story is a prime example. Grooverider is a drum and bass Dj based out of the UK, he had a show on BBC Radio 1xtra. He went to play a club in Dubai. He neglected to check his pants he packed, and as a result he left a small bag of weed in the pocket. He was arrested and sentenced to 4 years in a UAE jail. He was released about a month ago as part of a UAE tradition of releasing marginal criminals during Ramadan. But if this did not happen, he would have been loacked up for 3.5 more years. Their laws may be culturally(religiously) written, and he should have known that, but his life and the lifes of his family would have been decimated in the states too. you get off a plane in the states wiht any ammount of illegal substance and that is an automatic international trafficking charge, no matter where you r from.

Edited September 26, 2008 by pablo814