  |
 Marijuana / drug decriminalization |
| Track this thread - Email this thread - Print this thread - Download this thread - Subscribe to this forum |
 Dec 27 2009, 09:38 AM
Post
#1
|
|
 BuzzJack Platinum Member
Joined: 30 September 2006
Posts: 10,659 User: 1,513 
      
|
I don't have a specific article to post along with this; I just got into a pretty heated debated with a friend and I was curious as to the opinions of BJ members.
In general, should marijuana be legalized, yes or no (medical included)? And then, to take it further, should all drugs, such as ecstasy, mushrooms, cocaine, etc. be legalized? |
 |
 
|
|
Dec 27 2009, 10:02 AM
Post
#2
|
|
|
im all clares!
Joined: 7 March 2006
Posts: 16,421 User: 5
|
mushrooms shouldnt be illegal, they are a naturally occuring fruit of the countryside like blackberries, nuts or 'edible' mushrooms are. theres no criminal connections.
its a difficult one, yes, you could remove the criminal fraternity out of the equasion and thus crime figures would drop. but would it work? having a state sponsored legal drugs system? im not so sure... because like the decriminalising of prostitution, there WOULD be a criminal underclass undercutting the 'official' legal trade. you get this already with cigarettes and alcohol. so if the legal drugs could be produced/sold cheaply enough then thats the only way to beat the criminals who wreek misery on thousands as adicts theive to fuel their adiction. but what about the consequences of legal drugs? how could abuse and adiction be avoided? surely if cheap drugs were widely available there would be more adicts. this aint an easy thing to answer |
|
|
|
|
Dec 27 2009, 10:15 AM
Post
#3
|
|
|
BuzzJack Platinum Member
Joined: 30 September 2006
Posts: 10,659 User: 1,513
|
It's definitely true that it's a tricky issue; of course it isn't so black and white as legal or illegal, as if all drugs were made legal the question arises as to how they are distributed and how to deal with the further abuse / addiction etc. I wanted discussion obviously.
Despite all of the issues with legalizing drugs, I think, ultimately, the issue on the 'war on drugs' and the criminalization of drugs in general is that the government is treating sick citizens as criminals (not that those who indulge in drugs are sick, mind), and we're focusing our efforts and money on imprisoning people who are hurting no one but themselves. I'm not trying to argue that drugs like crack or heroin are not harmful or anything of the sort, but wouldn't these people be far better off in some sort of rehabilitation program rather than in a prison where they're likely to only fuel their addiction? And only get worse? I think marijuana should clearly be legal if drugs such as cigarettes and alcohol, which cause far more deaths than reefer ever will; I think ecstasy and shrooms should be as well (which can be trickier but are pretty much proven to not be overtly dangerous if taken responsibly). I'm not as certain with harder drugs, but I think the current laws in the US (and the UK, as I think our drug laws are fairly similar?) need changing. I mean, one can buy a gun and shoot oneself in the head legally, not that suicide equates with hard drug use, but tons of things are available legally that one can destroy oneself with. I think if drugs were made legal, we could begin to tax and control how they're distributed, decreasing crime and murder rates, and then subsequently begin open discussions on how to take these responsibly and what is healthy and not healthy to do. Educating kids from a young age without bias would be another step in getting kids to make responsible decisions when it comes to drugs. We know from sex education that abstinence only programs just get gets pregnant; it's the same with drugs. By telling people not to do them you create a culture around drugs that makes them seem more appealing. Not that if they were legal, people wouldn't do them. I'd say the same amount that do them would continue to do so, maybe slightly more, but not enough for it to be an issue. It's not like drugs are incredibly hard to come around, specifically marijuana. People just need the information, rather than the government getting involved and imprisoning good-hearted people. |
|
|
|
|
Dec 27 2009, 10:20 AM
Post
#4
|
|
 BuzzJack Platinum Member
Joined: 28 August 2008
Posts: 6,223 User: 6,934
 
|
QUOTE(Mushymanrob @ Dec 27 2009, 10:02 AM)  mushrooms shouldnt be illegal, they are a naturally occuring fruit of the countryside like blackberries, nuts or 'edible' mushrooms are. theres no criminal connections. its a difficult one, yes, you could remove the criminal fraternity out of the equasion and thus crime figures would drop. but would it work? having a state sponsored legal drugs system? im not so sure... because like the decriminalising of prostitution, there WOULD be a criminal underclass undercutting the 'official' legal trade. you get this already with cigarettes and alcohol. so if the legal drugs could be produced/sold cheaply enough then thats the only way to beat the criminals who wreek misery on thousands as adicts theive to fuel their adiction. but what about the consequences of legal drugs? how could abuse and adiction be avoided? surely if cheap drugs were widely available there would be more adicts. this aint an easy thing to answer I think the opposite would happen tbh Kids take drugs to be rebellious, to look hard/cool, to stick 2 fingers up at society so if they were readily available in shops/cafes they would lose their coolness/rebel factor which I think would result longer term in less taking drugs If drugs were available openly in shops/cafes etc then the government would be getting tax from them which in turn would be able to be put towards treatment I am not convinced that there is such thing as a drug addict as such, it is just people who have addictive personalities and if they were not addicted to drugs they would be to alcohol or gambling or something else |
|
|
|
|
Dec 27 2009, 07:14 PM
Post
#5
|
|
|
BuzzJack Legend
Joined: 7 March 2006
Posts: 22,001 User: 53
|
My opinion is that all drugs should be illegal and it's as simple as that. There should be no class A, class C etc. They're all dangerous and no-one needs to take them to enjoy a night out or to enjoy their life. I've never touched drugs in my life and doubt my daughter will.
To suggest in the above post that they should be available in shops, cafes etc is just ridiculous. We should be discouraging drug use not openly allowing it. This post has been edited by Victor Meldrew: Dec 27 2009, 07:14 PM |
|
|
|
|
Dec 27 2009, 08:09 PM
Post
#6
|
|
|
DROTTNING!
Joined: 15 April 2006
Posts: 63,953 User: 480
            
|
QUOTE(Victor Meldrew @ Dec 27 2009, 07:14 PM) My opinion is that all drugs should be illegal and it's as simple as that. There should be no class A, class C etc. They're all dangerous and no-one needs to take them to enjoy a night out or to enjoy their life. I've never touched drugs in my life and doubt my daughter will. To suggest in the above post that they should be available in shops, cafes etc is just ridiculous. We should be discouraging drug use not openly allowing it. How precisely is marijuana dangerous? You clearly have no knowledge on the issue aside from a general 'DRUGS ARE BAD' thing. Wars on drugs are counterproductive. - The war on drugs hands one of the biggest industries in the world into the hands of criminal gangs. By distributing softer drugs through government-mandated suppliers and harder drugs to addicts through the NHS then you end both the horrific side-effects of wars between the gangs over the massive profit margins drugs offer, as well as the side-effects of dangerous use by having nurses supervising, as well as providing tax revenues to the government. - Under prohibition, drug use becomes more hardcore: QUOTE Before alcohol prohibition, most Americans drank beer and wine. After prohibition was introduced, super-strong moonshine became the most popular drink, as booze rapidly became 150 percent stronger. Why? The writer Richard Cowan called it “the iron law of prohibition”: whenever you criminalize a substance, it gets stronger. Because they are smuggling and stashing a substance, the dealers condense their product to give the biggest possible kick while taking up the smallest possible space. It’s at work today: it’s why dealers invented crack in the 1980s. The researchers Matthew Robinson and Renee Scherlen found: “The increased deadly nature of drugs under prohibition led to 15,000 more deaths in 2000 [in the US alone]than [if] prohibition had not made drugs more dangerous.” - The drug war doesn't reduce drug usage: QUOTE On July 1st 2001, Portugal decriminalized the possession of all drugs, including heroin and cocaine. You can have and use as much as you like for your own needs, and if you are caught, the police might refer you to a rehab programme, but you will never get a criminal record. (Supplying and selling remains illegal.) Overall drug use actually fell. A major study by Glenn Greenwald for the Cato Institute found that among teenagers the fall was fastest: 13 year olds are 4 percent less likely to use drugs, and 16 year olds are 6 percent less likely. As the iron law of prohibition predicts, the use of hard drugs has fallen fastest: heroin use has crashed by nearly 50 percent among the young, who were not yet addicted. The Portuguese have switched the billions that used to be spent chasing and jailing addicts to providing them with prescriptions and rehab. The number of people in drug treatment is now up by 147 percent. Almost nobody in Portugal wants to go back. Indeed, many citizens want to take the next step: legalize supply too, and break the back of the gangs. Portugal is no fluke. It turns out that wherever the drug laws are relaxed, drug use stays the same, or – where spending is switched to treatment – falls. Between 1972 and 1978, eleven US states decriminalized marijuana possession. The National Research Council found that the number of dope-smokers stayed the same. In Switzerland, a decade ago the government started providing legal centres where people could safely inject heroin – for free. Burglary rates fell by 60 percent, and street homelessness ended. A study by the Lancet – one of the most respected medical journals in the world – found that the rate of people becoming new heroin addicts fell by 82 percent. Why? Heroin addicts didn’t need to recruit new addicts to sell to in order to feed their habit. The pyramid scheme of heroin addiction was broken. We shouldn't spend money on a drug war which also penalises casual users, it's just wasting money and taking it away from money that is better spent treating people that become addicts (of which there will be fewer if drugs are legalised). Drug use is inevitable, and will never be stamped out; the sooner we realise this, the sooner we can stop the damage that the war on drugs is doing and deal with the damage that drugs CAN cause. |
|
|
|
|
Dec 27 2009, 09:43 PM
Post
#7
|
|
|
Everything goes numb
Joined: 16 October 2007
Posts: 20,238 User: 4,561
|
I cant be bothered to get in depth on it, but my personal opinon is:
Majijuana should be leaglised, because tbh it's just as much harm, if not less harm, than ciggerettes, and having it legalised brings up a whole new industry/economy, more jobs, more money made etc, although I might be a bit biased due to how much I may or may not enjoy it. As for other illegal drugs, I dont think any should be legalised, unless any can be used medically, any that can should be legal to use for medical terms but not personal use. Ectasy wouldnt be that bad being legal but people can go very overboard with it, and tbh it's not worth it anyway, due to the come down. |
|
|
|
|
Dec 28 2009, 09:40 AM
Post
#8
|
|
|
im all clares!
Joined: 7 March 2006
Posts: 16,421 User: 5
|
QUOTE(Victor Meldrew @ Dec 27 2009, 07:14 PM) My opinion is that all drugs should be illegal and it's as simple as that. There should be no class A, class C etc. They're all dangerous and no-one needs to take them to enjoy a night out or to enjoy their life. I've never touched drugs in my life and doubt my daughter will. To suggest in the above post that they should be available in shops, cafes etc is just ridiculous. We should be discouraging drug use not openly allowing it. alot of drugs are less harmful then alcohol.... if alcohol was discovered today it too would be illegal.. sugar, salt, tobacco, as well are harmful to the human body if used excessively ... should they be banned? and dont be so sure about your daughter, coming from such a miserable home she is prime to try drink/smoke/drugs and sex. |
|
|
|
|
Dec 28 2009, 09:44 AM
Post
#9
|
|
|
im all clares!
Joined: 7 March 2006
Posts: 16,421 User: 5
|
QUOTE(B.A Baracus @ Dec 27 2009, 10:20 AM) I think the opposite would happen tbh Kids take drugs to be rebellious, to look hard/cool, to stick 2 fingers up at society so if they were readily available in shops/cafes they would lose their coolness/rebel factor which I think would result longer term in less taking drugs If drugs were available openly in shops/cafes etc then the government would be getting tax from them which in turn would be able to be put towards treatment I am not convinced that there is such thing as a drug addict as such, it is just people who have addictive personalities and if they were not addicted to drugs they would be to alcohol or gambling or something else i dont agree .... kids try drugs for kicks and will do especially if they are more widely available, just look at the underage drink problems, getting hold of drink doesnt take the rebelliousness out of it. erm, some drugs ARE addictive, yes people with addictive personalities will always find something to get addicted too.... but some drugs make anyone dependant on them whether or not they have a predisposition for addictiveness. |
|
|
|
|
Dec 28 2009, 10:34 PM
Post
#10
|
|
|
BuzzJack Platinum Member
Joined: 27 April 2008
Posts: 9,962 User: 5,964
   
|
I definitely think marijuana should be legalized. I know plenty of people who use it and they've never had any issues at all. Alcohol and cigarettes are far more harmful to their health than marijuana will ever be. Alcohol kills people on a daily basis, either through related diseases or drink driving. I don't think I've ever heard of anybody dying from marijuana.
I don't know enough about heroin or any of the hard stuff, but what Tyron posted seems like a good way to go. |
|
|
|
|
Dec 29 2009, 01:54 AM
Post
#11
|
|
|
✌🏻️
Joined: 7 March 2006
Posts: 48,100 User: 43
 
|
I think marijuana should legalised, definitely. It's harmless, and incredibly easy to get hold of (I'd say it's easier to get hold of than alcohol & fags, if you're young and don't know anyone 18 or your parents won't buy it for you, then you're stuck. However, there are countless of teenagers/young adults who sell it). I don't think it's that bad of a drug either, it doesn't really do much. The outcome and long term of effects of taking weed is nothing compared to a violent drunk person, or in the long course, someone's who's organs have shut down as a result of too much alcohol consumption.
I heard that in Holland (where marijuana is legal (?)), they have the lowest marijuana consumption rate in all of Europe. |
|
|
|
|
Dec 29 2009, 10:50 PM
Post
#12
|
|
|
I've got an iPod classic and I'm gonna use it!
Joined: 7 March 2006
Posts: 39,988 User: 72
 
|
No question Marijuana should be decriminalised as tests have shown it is less harmful or addictive than either alcohol or the nicotine in cigarettes.
As for the other illegal substances I'm on the fence, but I'll stick to my harder line principles because we know what damage and misery they cause even though the Government would probably significantly gain from the financial benefit of legalising these substances might result in an increase in the adverse social effects. |
|
|
|
|
Dec 30 2009, 01:07 AM
Post
#13
|
|
|
BuzzJack Platinum Member
Joined: 14 March 2006
Posts: 7,830 User: 213
  
|
Well done to Portugal - we could surely learn a lot from them.
As for the Crazy one's viewpoint - I suppose prescription drugs are, in your strange brain, somehow more 'acceptable'? If you're as sick as you say - I can only imagine the concoction of prescription drugs you're currently addicted to. And what they're doing to your internal organs. Marijuana being illegal is one of those silly laws that, in reality, nobody takes a blind bit of notice of - same as downloading music and recording TV shows. Whilst the powers that be waste millions trying to persuade us we'll all end up in lunatic asylums if we smoke it, many more millions are being spent buying the stuff - by quite a sizeable percentage of the population. You just have to shake your head and smile at the law, really. The only people who speak real sense about drugs and their increasing usage tend to be stifled and hushed-up by the government... and until we're adult enough to have a reasoned, sensible debate on drugs and their true effect on people and society - then the majority will dabble - be it with weed, ecstasy, coke, ketamine, amphetamine, LSD and on.... |
|
|
|
|
Jan 7 2010, 01:57 PM
Post
#14
|
|
|
livin' legend you can look but don't touch
Joined: 18 November 2007
Posts: 7,978 User: 4,844
 
|
Tbh I think cigarettes and alcohol should be made illegal too
|
|
|
|
|
Jan 19 2010, 12:29 PM
Post
#15
|
|
|
Always wear a clean pair of knickers, cos you never know when th
Joined: 12 March 2006
Posts: 18,586 User: 190
 
|
Prohibition aint working.... Simple as... It's about as effective as the 1920s Volstead Act... And look what happened there... That led to the creation of the Mafia and organised crime... The Ecstacy explosion of the late-80s did exactly the same thing here in UK, organised, criminal gangs became far more prominent in the drug trade, you started getting gang "turf wars", drug-related killings.. In other words, more or less EXACTLY LIKE the US of the 1920s.....
Legalising ALL drugs would pretty much eradicate the gangs and "turf wars" overnight, that simple, it would certainly stop the vast majority of drug-related killings, a purer product where you knew what you were getting would likely lead to less deaths also.... If drugs were legalised and taxed, then the money from taxation could be ring-fenced for the NHS and rehab facilities, and also drug education programmes.... It's true that many do take drugs to "escape" reality, but if you were living in the reality of some hell-hole estate, you'd sure as hell want to "escape" as well...... |
|
|
|
|
Jan 19 2010, 12:51 PM
Post
#16
|
|
|
BuzzJack Legend
Joined: 7 March 2006
Posts: 22,001 User: 53
|
QUOTE(russt68 @ Dec 30 2009, 01:07 AM) As for the Crazy one's viewpoint - I suppose prescription drugs are, in your strange brain, somehow more 'acceptable'? If you're as sick as you say - I can only imagine the concoction of prescription drugs you're currently addicted to. And what they're doing to your internal organs. Only just seen the above comment. Yes I take 7 prescription pills a day. They're necessary for my health though and I'm not taking them for the fun of it. Tell me how marijuana or any drug is NECESSARY. It's not. Alcohol and tobacco may be addictive too but there's no huge illegal trade importing them and supplying them is there? Anyway, legal or not, if the idiots who take drugs want to then let them carry on and ruin their lives. I've never taken any as I've got more sense. This post has been edited by Victor Meldrew: Jan 19 2010, 12:54 PM |
|
|
|
|
Jan 19 2010, 03:42 PM
Post
#17
|
|
|
DROTTNING!
Joined: 15 April 2006
Posts: 63,953 User: 480
|
QUOTE(Victor Meldrew @ Jan 19 2010, 12:51 PM) Alcohol and tobacco may be addictive too but there's no huge illegal trade importing them and supplying them is there? Erm, of course there isn't. They aren't illegal!  There wouldn't be an illegal trade in drugs if they were legalised and brought under governmental jurisdiction...
|
|
|
|
|
Jan 19 2010, 04:13 PM
Post
#18
|
|
|
BuzzJack Legend
Joined: 7 March 2006
Posts: 22,001 User: 53
|
QUOTE(Tyrina Diamandis @ Jan 19 2010, 03:42 PM) Erm, of course there isn't. They aren't illegal! There wouldn't be an illegal trade in drugs if they were legalised and brought under governmental jurisdiction...Yes but why are they illegal? Because they're dangerous and can kill you. All recreational drugs can. They're illegal for a reason don't forget. |
|
|
|
|
Jan 19 2010, 05:06 PM
Post
#19
|
|
|
BuzzJack Regular
Joined: 17 January 2010
Posts: 406 User: 10,460
|
QUOTE(nickthenoodle @ Jan 7 2010, 01:57 PM) Tbh I think cigarettes and alcohol should be made illegal too Say wha?? 
|
|
|
|
|
Jan 19 2010, 05:07 PM
Post
#20
|
|
|
DROTTNING!
Joined: 15 April 2006
Posts: 63,953 User: 480
|
QUOTE(Victor Meldrew @ Jan 19 2010, 04:13 PM) Yes but why are they illegal? Because they're dangerous and can kill you. All recreational drugs can. They're illegal for a reason don't forget. Oh dear. On the same basis, should we ban alcohol and cigarettes? And you're also a complete moron. Marijuana can't kill you... |
|
|
|
|
| Time is now: 18th April 2024 - 08:29 AM |
Copyright © 2006 - 2024 BuzzJack.com
About | Contact | Advertise | Privacy Policy | Terms of Service
