Quote:
Originally posted by YourNeverThere
Look at gin in the early 20's, It was bigger than heroin is now, and it's legel,
Alright pick a drug, lets start small, in fact lets start with a drug we all do, oxygen, it makes us slower, burns our lungs slowly, and it's morbidly addictive. Point here is that everything is a drug.
Next one, Alcohol, it's legel, it's abused, it's way way worse for us then pot, and the government makes tons from it.
Next one, pot, it's illegal, the government makes tons of money from it by staging a 'war on drugs' so that they can keep a war economy and spend vast amounts of money to enforce the superfluous rules.
An other side effect, pot becomes a gateway drug, people go to thier dealers and buy pot, then they know the dealers and since the drug has it's own community becuase of the fact that smoking it is 'rebelous' the members of that venerable community end up trying harder and harder drugs, all becuase of it's illegality.
One more side effect of pot that would evaporate if legalized is that people who get perscribed pot for medical purposes wouldn't have to resort to buying it on the streets when the supply from the government falls apart.
Next shrooms, these, when not smoked arn't really that bad for you, they are addictive in high doses, I've only ever heard of one person going to rehab for it, a friend of mine who was doing then every other day for a while, thing about then is that after you come down you feel really dirty and you don't want to take them again, which is good becuase you build up a tolerence fast.
Next Acid, and really anything harder. these are the ones that we all agree are bad, they will fuck up your life no amount of justification could overcome the facts on these, schedule I drugs, the worst. Thing is, the people doing them are going to be doing them with or without the law, so if there were legal then the government could enforce some quality control to the drugs and people dying from dealers cutting the meth with rat poison would still be alive and have a chance at life. Also, we could set up FUNCTIONAL rehabilitation centres, insteed of the half assed methadone clincs of today. [/B]
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There's just so many things wrong with this post it's hard to know where to begin.
First off, it's hard to equate Gin and Heroin... I mean the Heroin producers don't have too many lobbyists in congress, now do they? Not to mention the fact Heroin is many many times more deadly. I'm not talking about how many lives are lost yearly, but about the size of a lethal dosage.
Next statement about oxygen, show me anyone with a scientific degree that believes Oxygen is a drug (fake on-line degrees don't count). A drug is something other than food or water that affects our mind. Oxygen is something our body REQUIRES just like food and water, so it falls into that category. Oxygen certainly isn’t addictive, either. Of course not breathing is fatal, but that’s a stupid reason to call something a drug. And how exactly does oxygen burn our lungs in the standard amounts we breathe on a day to day basis (and not other elements in the atmosphere)?
Just because Alcohol is legal here doesn’t say much. These things vary from country to country depending more on social beliefs than on anything else. The alcohol industry has very powerful lobbyists in congress, and it’s socially acceptable to drink, therefore it’s legal.
About pot and the government making money off of it… your argument makes exactly zero sense. In fact, you prove yourself wrong by saying they spend vast amounts of money in the war against it. If they taxed it (like they do alcohol) then they could have an income of money from it, but otherwise it’s all expenses, so no profit possible. And any fines they collect from criminals are nothing compared to the expenses of just catching said criminals.
As far as it being a gateway drug, I don’t believe it’s the drug itself but the people you buy it from and use it with that cause you to go on to harder drugs. Just making it illegal however wouldn’t solve this problem. People are always searching for ways to feel better, I mean look at rollercoasters. They’ve always been legal, and riding a small one makes you want to ride a bigger faster one without any help from anyone else. That’s just human nature.
If pot was legalized people would still have to sneak around and be secretive about it, because it’s not entirely socially acceptable. Even if it was legal you would still be looked down upon for using it, might lose your job, etc. That’s something that wouldn’t change for a LONG time.
As far as shrooms and acid goes, I don’t know much about those drugs so I’m not going to pretend I do and argue with anyone over them. However I don’t believe the quality-controlled mass-production of acid or heroine, etc. would solve the problem of people dying from their use. Those drugs are just dangerous by definition.
I definitely agree with JTC on the fact that you can’t trust people to control themselves. Even if currently illegal drugs are not dangerous when used in moderation, as soon as you legalize them people will believe that means they’re perfectly safe, and proceed to completely screw up their lives with them. I mean, if people need to be told that they shouldn’t use a toaster in their bathtub, then we need to be cautious as to how much we trust them to use potentially dangerous or lethal drugs.
Remember, common sense isn't common.