I've decided that drugs should be legalised

Discussion in 'Off Topic Area' started by Strafio, Jan 5, 2009.

  1. Strafio

    Strafio Trying again...

    I always assumed that "legalize drugs" arguments came from people who wanted to do their hobby legally.
    It was people who were fighting the rights of drug users.
    I didn't particularly see a reason why they shouldn't have their way, but I didn't see it as tragic that they didn't.

    As I've come to learn about gang culture (mainly from Ross Kemp documentaries) I've come from a different angle.
    Gangsters ruin communities and lives with their gun crime.
    Their gun crime is funded by the money they make on black markets.
    And while you can lock up individual gangsters, so long as there is a market/opportunity, there will be people who try and fill it.
    That is, you can pluck out individual weeds but so long as the soil is fertile there will always be fresh ones growing in their place.
    I want to starve them off their income.
    I want to see these MoFos put out of business.

    Governments put a lot into trying to destroy the business.
    The army is continually fighting drug barons in places like Colombia and Afghanistan, but this isn't solving the problem.
    The drugs are still getting through, the market is thriving, criminals and drug lords are getting rich and powerful at the expense of the people they tread all over on the way.
    America tried to ban alcohol a similar way back in the 1920s and failed in a similar way.
    I think that a more cost effective approach is required.

    Here's what I propose:
    1) Softer drugs be regulated
    "Softer" drugs such as cannabis and speed be regulated the same way alcohol and cigarettes currently are.
    They would be sold with appropriate restrictions in place.

    2) Harder drugs be nationalized
    "Harder" drugs such as heroin and crack would be nationalized - only government clinics would be able to sell it.
    (I'm writing from England where the government runs the NHS)
    They would sell the drugs, but in environments where they could advise the users if necessary and offer them treatments to break addictions.


    The hoped-for consequences
    Dealers in soft drugs would either need to legitimize their business or go bust.
    Dealers in hard drugs would lose business altogether.
    The legal distributors would be able to undercut the prices of the black market, who would still have the pressure of the police coming after them.
    This would make the drugs market less of an opportunity for gangs, and less money would be coming in to fund warfare between rival factions.
    What's more, the economy would no longer lose out on the money that drug users currently spend on black market goods.

    Possible drawbacks
    There is the drawback that it would make drugs more socially acceptable so usage would increase.
    We already see enough problems with people abusing alcohol without adding more narcotics into the mix.
    That said, if we believe in freedom then getting the law involved isn't the answer.
    We should be more interested in encouraging people to make rational decisions for themselves.
    Alcoholism, gambling, drug addiction, obesity, these are all down to bad lifestyle decisions, decisions that people need to make for themselves.
    Finding ways to improve people's own judgement on doing what's good for them is where the answer lies.



    So am I preaching basic common sense here or is there a glaring error in my reasoning?
     
  2. Moi

    Moi Warriors live forever x



    The government won't let you?
     
  3. Strafio

    Strafio Trying again...

    I'll get you to it then.
     
  4. Custom Volusia

    Custom Volusia Valued Member

    Selling the 'hard' stuff won't lead to the government offering treatment IF necessary. It will lead to them HAVING to offer it. In the states it could also lead to lawsuits due to them providing an addicting product and charging for it. *see cigarette suits*

    The 'hard' stuff RUINS lives. It's not a maybe or a possibility. It's guaranteed.

    I agree about the 'soft' stuff though. The only reason weed hasn't been legalized for the general public in the states is because it would be so difficult to tax. Really. That's it. Anyone can grow it successfully and that would cut into taxes. The other 'soft' stuff hasn't been because the Government couldn't legalize speed and the like and still justify banning weed.

    If they legalized even just the 'soft' stuff, that would put a CONSIDERABLE dent into gang/cartel profits. It would also free up any capital that the Governments spend on attempting (unsuccessfully) to get those particular drugs off the street and allow them to refocus on the REAL problem drugs.

    Oh well. Probably will never happen.
     
  5. cheesypeas

    cheesypeas Moved on

    I have been banging on for years, to anyone who would listen, that all illegal drugs now in use should be legalised and sold freely from secure premises (so they can't be stolen and sold on the street)

    At a stroke, users would be able to buy unadulterated drugs, the purity and strength of which would be constant. No more accidental overdoses. Freely available clean equipment would cut infectious diseases.

    The money from the sales could be used directly to assist those who want to quit and their families, etc.

    Crime rates would fall dramatically, as, if the figures are to be believed, most crime is drug related.


    Don't get me started on prostitution!
     
  6. davethekodiak

    davethekodiak Valued Member

    Not sure if they should legalize something that can get a room full of people high, even the people not smoking.
     
  7. Strafio

    Strafio Trying again...

    Smoking is illegal inside public places anyway.
     
  8. davethekodiak

    davethekodiak Valued Member

    Not everywhere lol.
     
  9. Strafio

    Strafio Trying again...

    Then I guess that's something we're going to need to change before we set this drugs thing into motion! ;)
     
  10. Cowardly Clyde

    Cowardly Clyde Valued Member

    What would all the dealers & drug barons do instead? Sign on?

    Something doesn't quite sit right about the NHS handing out heroin along with a brochure on how to quit!
     
  11. kingoftheforest

    kingoftheforest It's Good to be the King

    There are a lot of governments of the world that would be extremely ****ed if drugs were legalized.

    Governments not only make money off the sales of controlled substances, but the seizure of land, property and money, that illegal drug dealers have when arrested.

    Some governments would go bankrupt without the illegal drug trade.
     
  12. Fish Of Doom

    Fish Of Doom Will : Mind : Motion Supporter

    i agree with MD and kingoftheforest, and i would add, that's not even counting the governments which are actually involved with the illegal drug trade, whether it's a single governor or senator or the head of state him/herself.
     
  13. koyo

    koyo Passed away, but always remembered. RIP.

    I think they would undercut the price the government charged.In the barras in Glasgow you can buy cheap cigarettes. other drugs would be no different.

    heroin plus a brochure on how to quit sounds like lunacy to me.


    regards koyo
     
  14. CannibalCrowley

    CannibalCrowley Valued Member

    Too many government jobs depend on drugs being illegal for politicians to take legalization seriously.
     
  15. Custom Volusia

    Custom Volusia Valued Member

    Wouldn't it be interesting to see it happen though?

    It's not like the people that commit crimes due to drugs are going to just STOP. A criminal is a criminal. They will just figure out something else to blame their behaviour on.

    I agree with what has been said before about drug trade being tied into gov. profit though.
     
  16. slipthejab

    slipthejab Hark, a vagrant! Supporter

    Funny enough I just saw some news item that Holland is doing away even further with their legalized drugs programs/laws. Apparently it's not ever been quite the success that dope smoking tourists and idealists want to make it out to be. So they're slowly but surely cutting it off and clamping down. Interesting.

    I dunno... I grew up around all the stuff and can't imagine how making it legal would make it better. Even in places where it was legalized (Amstetdam etc.) they still had problems with organized crime etc. So it wasn't any cure all by any stretch.

    On the other hand... if someone wants to smoke a bit of dope then by all means. I prefer to have more people in a vegetative state thinking they're uber creative. Far less competition for me. :D

    oh wait...

    lol... you've classed speed as 'softer drugs' interesting. That was one of the drugs that led to epidemic problems and crime when it hit Cali way back.
     
    Last edited: Jan 6, 2009
  17. slipthejab

    slipthejab Hark, a vagrant! Supporter

    exactly
     
  18. Yatezy

    Yatezy One bad mamba jamba

    The Aussies have a big problem with Speed, from speaking with the Aussie's on holiday. New Zealand had a massive problem with it but produced a legal alternative, which seems to have helped the problem. So ive read anyway.

    Although i can see were you coming from classing speed as a softer drug but its still causes problems in high usage. If speed were to be legalised then there would be huge calls for E to be leagalised.

    Not aimed at slip obviously :)
     
  19. Cowardly Clyde

    Cowardly Clyde Valued Member

    Not sure what the alternative to speed was in NZ, legal party pills perhaps? these were massive business for a couple of years but now banned. As for easing the speed issue.....not sure about that. I do know that legal party pills brought with them a lot of new issues.
     
  20. Polar Bear

    Polar Bear Moved on

    You cannot fix the drug problem by legalising it. The reason we have a drug problem in the first place is because the society we have created if fundamentally damaging to humans. This is why so many people live on drugs and alcohol to escape from it. Fix the problem don't play with novel ways to mask the sympthoms.

    The Bear.
     

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