Do you think drugs should be legalized?

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chaser
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Re: Do you think drugs should be legalized?

Post by chaser »

We don't have so much the cartel problem as we do the banks. Every bit of drug money moves through the banks at some point. Laundering billions of dollars can be quite lucrative. Especially if you get rid of all those pesky bank regulations for banks that are "too big to fail." Banks are our cartels.
As far as the prisons, I just read an article that says they're using prison labor to work in the agricultural industry, the return of the chain gangs, working in the fields for sixty cents a day. That's back breaking work. 60¢ a day is just...criminal. That's just adding insult to injury. A lot of people may think, "well, they're criminals, they deserve it." But for the grace of God... You can tell a lot about a country/civilization by the way they treat the lowest citizens they have, and it shames me the way we treat the poor, the destitute and homeless, the sick and the prisoners in this country.
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Post by Loveabull »

Looking at it again from a sociological point of view is the toll that putting people in jail for minor possession puts on families. Some would say simplistically that people who do drugs don't deserve to have their children. But even if you put away the parents SOMEBODY has to raise those kids. There aren't enough adoptive families to begin with and the process can take years.

The foster care system has been known to actually lose track of kids. The first choice in some states is to send them to next of kin. The problem being that simply being related doesn't mean the family is acceptable. I once knew a young brother and sister who were sent by the court to live with their grandmother. The mother was arrested for assault and minor possession.

The mom was out of jail in a matter of months. Shortly before she was released the grandmother grew angry with the boy over his bedwetting problem. Eventually she would tell the police he fell in the bathroom and they let him lay down on the couch to rest. His mother was released in time to attend the funeral.

Especially if there are children involved, the first avenue should be rehabilitation, not breaking up a family.
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Post by yalonde »

Difficult question. Legalizing it drugs will cause the number of people in prison to decrease and that will save taxpayers money. If drugs are legal, there would be no drug dealers or users in jail and that is a very large population. Then again, legalizing it is like saying it is ok to do drugs. I understand marijuana, but what about the other drugs. Can you imagine crack, cocaine, meth, or heroine being sold next to the cigarettes at the grocery store. I think by legalizing it more people may get addicted.
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Post by LoveMusic_AK »

No, only for medical purposes. That's it! For drugs to be legalized for everyone is ridiculous!
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chaser
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Post by chaser »

To lump marijuana in with drugs is beyond ridiculous. It's downright stupid. I don't think they should legalize cocaine, heroin or any number of legitimately dangerous drugs. But marijuana's only crime was being a political and prohibitional tool to control a segment of the population. The reasons for it being a schedule 1 drug are purely political and in no way scientific.
It's much better than alcohol---annually, there are about 78,000 deaths directly attributed to alcohol in the US---
35,000 people die from cirrhosis of the liver, cancer and other diseases linked to drinking too much beer, wine and spirits.
Number of alcohol-induced deaths, excluding accidents and homicides: 25,692
Marijuana? 0
Alcohol addiction destroys lives---marijuana addiction hasn't even been scientifically proven. Some people say they're addicted to it, but if they are, the chances of them making it through withdrawal with little or no discomfort is exceedingly high. Alcohol addiction, on the other hand is very dangerous, with withdrawal symptoms running the gamut from hallucination, extreme agitation, seizures and death.
Worldwide, harmful use of alcohol results in the death of 2.5 million people annually, causes illness and injury to millions more, and increasingly affects younger generations and drinkers in developing countries.
Nearly 4% of all deaths are related to alcohol. Most alcohol-related deaths are caused by alcohol result from injuries, cancer, cardiovascular diseases and liver cirrhosis.
6.2% of male deaths are related to alcohol, compared to 1.1% of female deaths.
320,000 young people aged 15-29 years die annually, from alcohol-related causes, resulting in 9% of all deaths in that age group.
Marijuana? 0.
Yet, alcohol is legal, widely accepted---even celebrated.
So until you have verifiable scientific evidence that states that marijuana is dangerous, then you really have no cause to be condemning it. I'm just glad I live in a state that doesn't let prejudice and ignorance rule---which is why we are the the first state to legalize marijuana. And believe me, there will be many more.
It's time to take marijuana off the "Reefer Madness" roles and put it where it belongs---in the beneficial herb category.
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Post by Lexi_efff »

I wrote a college research paper on the legalization of marijuana. I am a huge supporter and I find it ridiculous that the government hasn't capitalized on the opportunity to create revenue on a product that currently costs them millions. The marijuana industry generates billions of dollars a year- and it's illegal! I do believe that there is a sore need for the drug laws to be altered. I am amazed by the fact that marijuana is a schedule one drug recognized for no medical use and viewed legally as an equal to heroin and worse than methamphetamine! It's outrageous and ignorant. It is commonly known and accepted as a medical treatment for those suffering from a large array of ailments. Additionally, it is statistically far less dangerous or debilitating than alcohol. I also believe that marijuana should be separated from other drugs like cocaine, heroin, ecstasy, methamphetamine, LSD, Peyote, etc. (while I find LSD to be mild and pleasant I recognize the high possibility of negative experiences or "bad trips")
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Post by Bookworm0266 »

I have not read it, but as a criminal justice major, I can say for a fact that the United States is failing the Drug War..

-- 28 Mar 2014, 19:07 --
Lexi_efff wrote:I wrote a college research paper on the legalization of marijuana. I am a huge supporter and I find it ridiculous that the government hasn't capitalized on the opportunity to create revenue on a product that currently costs them millions. The marijuana industry generates billions of dollars a year- and it's illegal! I do believe that there is a sore need for the drug laws to be altered. I am amazed by the fact that marijuana is a schedule one drug recognized for no medical use and viewed legally as an equal to heroin and worse than methamphetamine! It's outrageous and ignorant. It is commonly known and accepted as a medical treatment for those suffering from a large array of ailments. Additionally, it is statistically far less dangerous or debilitating than alcohol. I also believe that marijuana should be separated from other drugs like cocaine, heroin, ecstasy, methamphetamine, LSD, Peyote, etc. (while I find LSD to be mild and pleasant I recognize the high possibility of negative experiences or "bad trips")

I have written as well as seen lots of research on this debate. What it comes down to is money vs. public safety. Like our current regulations and restrictions on alcohol, there are still people who die or suffer from the effects of alcohol consumption. Not to mention the idiots who choose to drink and drive..
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Post by TrishaAnn92 »

I think marijuana should be but none of the other stuff.
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Post by chvaki »

I say drugs should not be legalized, for many reasons. Drug addiction is a major problem, and many people just don't know how to stop. Addiction runs in the family, and many children of drug addicts get hooked at an early age. And while they are drunk, they are not thinking properly, and therefore do not realize the bad situation they are in. If drugs is legalized, these children of addicts while start thinking it is okay to do drugs since it isn't illegal, and they cannot get arrested.
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Post by annabear3 »

I have dealt with drug addicted idiots since I was two years old, I have watched marriages get ruined by drugs, I have family members who are "crack babies" and I've seen how selfish people can become with the involvement of drugs so I would absolutely say no. Absolutely not.
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Post by b4rbz »

I think drugs that have any medicinal value (cannabis, psychodelic mushrooms, etc.) should be legalized. The government shouldn't tell people what they can or can't put into their own bodies.
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Post by kasi33 »

Hoops4me2 wrote:It is a slippery slope when legalizing drugs. One has to choose between personal freedom and the greater good.
I am not a fan of using the term "Greater Good" because it has been used by many Dictators throughout history. It is a term that cannot be translated correctly for this purpose, because in a "free" country, we are led to believe that we are our own masters, and we decide what is good for us. If we are enforced to the "greater good", the decision of what is "good" for us is left up to whom?
I am assuming that "drugs" is street drugs. I think that we waste too much time trying to control what others are doing to harm themselves, when they are going to do it regardless of the consequences. If a person will be so inclined to sell their souls to a substance, that they will leave their jobs, homes, and children, to be one with the substance, then going to jail for the substance is not a hindrance to them, because they are already a prisoner in their minds.

-- 19 May 2014, 18:55 --
Loveabull wrote:Looking at it again from a sociological point of view is the toll that putting people in jail for minor possession puts on families. Some would say simplistically that people who do drugs don't deserve to have their children. But even if you put away the parents SOMEBODY has to raise those kids. There aren't enough adoptive families to begin with and the process can take years.

The foster care system has been known to actually lose track of kids. The first choice in some states is to send them to next of kin. The problem being that simply being related doesn't mean the family is acceptable. I once knew a young brother and sister who were sent by the court to live with their grandmother. The mother was arrested for assault and minor possession.

The mom was out of jail in a matter of months. Shortly before she was released the grandmother grew angry with the boy over his bedwetting problem. Eventually she would tell the police he fell in the bathroom and they let him lay down on the couch to rest. His mother was released in time to attend the funeral.

Especially if there are children involved, the first avenue should be rehabilitation, not breaking up a family.
I agree that problems will not end when a child is relocated. A lot of the time, the child is given to the grandparents, but the grandparents failed with the first child, so why would we believe they would be the answer to the problem with the grandchild?
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Post by tangowithParis »

If it means that the people who really want them legalized will move to a leper colony(in the middle of the Pacific, a million miles from anywhere)
and share them with the residents therein AND never ever bore the rest of the world
with their obnoxious addictions(to pot and their need to blather on about pot), then
Yes. Yes. and Yes. Just remember potheads, once you're there, you can't ever leave.
For any reason. Not even rolling papers.

-- 16 Jun 2014, 18:45 --
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Post by serenasmoothie »

Not all, but I thought marijuana should be
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Post by Divephantom19 »

At least if pot were legal there would be more room in prisons for criminals who deal the harder stuff. The government could tax the hell out of it and use the money to provide lower tuition or even free in state tuition to state universities. That would be a big help to those of us living in states that don't have the sense to have a lottery to fund roads and education.
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