Drugs? should they be illegal or legal?

Question

I know many people who take drugs (usualy quite soft drugs), I myself don't even smoke tobacco, but I believe things would be better if recreational drugs were made legal and could be bought from a drug store. At the moment the criminal element is benefiting from the fact that drugs are illegal. It seems to me that the fact that drugs are illegal doesn't seem to stop anyone from taking them who wants to take them, it may even glamerize the drugs. If drugs like canabis or even cocaine were avaliable from drug stores, the government could control the industry much better. The drugs could contain clear warnings, and the drugs could be taxed (to help the government who have to pay from the drug problem in society). Their strength (or weakness) of active ingedents could clearly be labelled, and everything would be far less risky, the chaotic and dangerous trade in drugs at the moment could be made much safer. Obviously there should be a age limit on the buying of the drugs. What do u think?

I still believe people who brake the law while on drugs should be prosicuted to the full extent of the law. They should not be allowed to use "I was on drugs" as a reason to break the law. But it is possible to take drugs and not break any other laws, I know people who take drugs and don't break any other laws.

As to "mr nonalchol", I don't know anyone who doesn't take drugs because they are illegal, I also dont know anyone who takes drugs, and thinks "should i be doing this?, it is illegal". The legal-not legal thing only determines who supplys and regulates the drugs, so it seems.

So far it seems about 4 in 5 people agree with me on the legalize drugs issue. So why hasn't the government who is making the laws listening to the people, who after all vote them into power?

Answer 1

First off we have to realize that legality affects usage rates little. Don't tell me that the only reason most of us don't use heroin or crack cocaine is because we're scared of going to jail. Rather, most of us don't use these drugs for the same reason we don't huff gasoline or glue or even drink liters of vodka everyday: we simply understand the negative health effects of these substances.

To illustrate my point, consider the ease with which one could get away with using heroin or cocaine versus marijuana. Marijuana because of its strong smell and bulk is much harder to conceal than say heroin or cocaine. If the law were truly a deterrent, then one could expect the most popular, most widely used drug to be not marijuana, but cocaine or heroin--the ones most easy concealed and, therefore, the least likely to get you busted. This, as we all know, is not the case, and marijuana is most popular simply because it is the least toxic.

Cannabis (marijuana) should of course be legalized and regulated like alcohol. It's almost entirely non-toxic and non-addictive (and this is not even worth arguing about at this point--simply do some research and/or look at examples abroad), and most Americans (over 2/3) have enjoyed it with no ill effects (except for arrest).

As far as other currently illegal drugs go, they should be medicalized. By medicalized, I mean they should be available in small, cheap, dilute doses from a pharmacy where an adult consumer would be able to buy them and get a doctor's advice about how best to use or not use them based on their own medical history. This approach is called harm reduction and we've been doing it with cigarettes for decades (e.g., we put filters on cigarettes to reduce the harm tobacco does even though we know that it would be best for addicts just to quit). Moreover, medicalizing drugs would improve the quality of these drugs (many deaths are directly attributable to impurities and adulterants) and, perhaps most importantly for the vast non-using population, destroy the criminal black market that is the source of most crime.

Make no mistake, drugs of all kinds are readily available in our society. They always have been (in all societies, even ancient ones such as Rome) and they always will be, but like now, they themselves cause much less harm than one would expect simply because of the strong self-preservation instinct almost all of us have. Most of us don't use drugs, and those of us who choose to usually tend to prefer less toxic drugs like marijuana and alcohol, and even then, to moderate as with all indulgences.

To legalize and regulate drugs would not be to approve of their usage, but rather to respect the choices of individuals and the limitations of coercion in a democracy such as ours.

Despite all our best efforts, drugs are even available in prisons. If we can't keep drugs out of a finite, maximum security facility where one can perform body cavity checks with impunity, then how can we ever expect the free world to be "drug free?"

Answer 2

No they should be legal.
I have been a non drug user all my life, and I still think they should be legal.
All too often we do not see all the consequences of a law. More often then not they cause more problems than they fix. I always ask myself with these kinds of law questions;
Who benefits, who suffers.

Laws have a tendency to protect a group, not society as some like to think. Slavery laws, anti indigenous, anti environment, most laws in communist china, these laws are not to help people.

These laws more often than not keep indigenous people from their traditional medicines and limit our own freedom to heal our selves. In a country where more than half the working people can not afford any medical care, this is even more unfair. It criminalizes non violent people, often the poor, which is a real moral crime. The fact alone that alcohol is legal but not marijuana shows there is a cultural not rational motivation for the law. The paper and cotton industry send home the greed point.

A drug that's known to make one a danger, should have an severe age limit and should carry higher consequences if you act in a harmful way to others under its influence. You made the choice, deal with the consequences.Things like Meth that give people cancer in its creation, and damage people permanently, should be seen as violent crime. Users should be treated.
If they have hurt anyone because of their choice to use the drug, they should pay the consequences for that crime. Than get treated.

Non-violent. Should not be anyones business, plain and simple.

Except with children, and I include behavior modifying pharmaceutical drugs. Drugs of any kind in the body of a minor are unpredictable and often very harmful. Avoid giving children anything but good food, exercise, nature and love.

Answer 3

Legal. If the government has the audacity to make tons of money off of alcohol taxes, and subsidizes nicotine growers without naming nicotine as a narcotic, why shouldn't everything else be legal? Alcohol and nicotine are the two most addictive drugs in the USA. And the government says marijuana can't be legalized because it is a "gateway" drug, which is such a crock of s* H it. That is like saying we attacked Iraq because they did 9/11. Besides, who is the government to tell me what I can and can't put in my body?

Answer 4

The decriminalization of drugs would do wonders. If we moved towards a policy of fines and rehab instead of jail time you would see usage drop and our jails would have real criminals instead of kids that after going to jail for minor drug use become hardened criminals. States that have moved to rehab instead of prison time have seen a sharp reduction in second time offenders.

I don't think true legalization would be feasible or smart but after 30 years of the war on drugs it is time to try something that might work instead of sticking with the same failed policy. Prohibition failed for a reason and created a class of criminal that we are still stuck with. Perhaps we should have learned our lesson, but we didn't.

Answer 5

Well they already have certain drugs legal such as Tobacco and alcohol. It seems to me they would be wasting less of our tax[payers money if they made it legal than tax there use like they do the others. There never going to stop people from using it

Answer 6

I think soft drugs defined as any non-refined drug should be decriminalized. Possession of anything more than a personal amount of hard drugs should carry the drath penilty. It fixed Thailand's drug problem.

Answer 7

I absolutely agree and I am in health care. Some people will go to any length to get high and escape. They commit crimes to get the money to buy drugs.

Legalize drugs and sell them through pharmacies and you will dramatically reduce crime and control the problem. Use the money made in selling them to set up rehab centers for those who want to quit.

Answer 8

I think Marjiuana should be legalize. Its much healthier then you smoking those cancer sticks. =D Put this in the information! Marijuana is NOT a GATE WAY DRUG! People are the ones to choose to use others. there is alot of proof that its not, and i know alot of people that smokes that and they don't use other drugs. that is just an excuse for the people that does other drugs. Yeah blame it on marijuana.

Answer 9

It is a tough decision. The problem is that regular use of many drugs renders a person mentally unsound to be a productive member of society. They become a burden on the rest of us and, often enough, become directly harmful to others.

Legalized alcohol is responsible for horrendous damage to our society. But, that outlet is available to those who wish to get snockered.

I am saddened to see drug addicts wasting away, too often unable to feed themselves properly much less hold a regular job, or smashing their girlfriend's skull in because they don't know what they are doing, impervious to pepper spray and physical blows because the PCP has chemically taken them into a different realm of existence...

Alcohol is bad enough. No more.

Answer 10

Drugs are legal. Caffiene, Nicotine, Alcohol, Aspirin, Xanax, Prozac, etc. Only certain ones aren't. Pot and Coke should be legal and the rest should be decriminalized.