Drug addiction and legalization

[Riders]

One of problems with not legalizing pot and soft drugs is this. I never see it being talked about so I will bring it up. It's making things worse for drug for drug addicts. In prison they not only get drugs and stay addicted, but they sometimes learn to sell drugs.
There is a lot of rape and violence, and the prison teaches them to become comfortable with being prison and our state spends tons of money we don't have paying for their expenses and prison.
We have no business locking up drug addicts for possesion.

It also saves a lot of money for the state and courts not to have to house them in prison.

 

[Valjean]

Government spends a lot of time, money and effort on symbolic issues, maybe to garner support from conservative patrons, maybe to suppress problematic demographics, as when Nixon enacted extreme drug laws specifically to suppress the uppity blacks and anti-war hippies.
Drug laws reflect conservative social values, not sociological reality.

The US should pull its head out of the sand and look around. We're an insular and parochial country.
Other countries are dealing with these problems too. What approaches have worked, and which haven't? Hint: "tough on" and "war on" policies have never worked.

 

[Riders]

You'd think if nothing else they could legalize pot, Acid and mushrooms.

 

[Eddi]

Imagine all the revenue a tax on weed would generate for the government

And it being illegal clearly doesn't stop people from smoking it

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

You'd think if nothing else they could legalize pot, Acid and mushrooms.

Yeah, at least all psychedelics should be legalized/decriminalized as they're relatively low risk even compared to many pharmacuticals.

 

[Kathryn]

One time, I was working as an art therapist in a maximum security prison for the criminally insane. Good times! Anyway, one of the patients or inmates there went to college WITH MY DAD of all people. He was not insane at all, but he was determined to grow marijuana, not to sell but for his own personal use. So the powers that be eventually sent him to a maximum security prison for the criminally insane. They warned him that it was his next stop and I don't guess he believed them. Oh well. He was still there when I left.

 

[Twilight Hue]

You'd think if nothing else they could legalize pot, Acid and mushrooms.

Do you really want people to be high out in public?

I'm not saying it couldn't be illegal necessarily as long as a person's on their private time and in their own private place but a lot of times there's conflicts between using substances that can alter your mind because that person decides to go out in public in that condition.

It's why alcohol is so contentious, it's fine when it's just you and maybe some friends but not so fine when it compromises public safety and security.

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

Do you really want people to be high out in public?

I'm not saying it couldn't be illegal necessarily as long as a person's on their private time and in their own private place but a lot of times there's conflicts between using substances that can alter your mind because that person decides to go out in public in that condition.

It's why alcohol is so contentious, it's fine when it's just you and maybe some friends but not so fine when it compromises public safety and security.

They're already high out in public. People are smoking weed everywhere. Drugs from the doctor can make you feel high, too, like benzos.

 

[Twilight Hue]

They're already high out in public. People are smoking weed everywhere. Drugs from the doctor can make you feel high, too, like benzos.

That's what makes it the whole point where this kind of activity is in constant conflict with the public.

We know what alcohol has done and it's been demonized so much that even though people still drive drunk and killing people, it's not as much as it used to be.

The same thing needs to be done with any mind altering substance that aside from pure medical reasons , it's just not that cool to go out and put people at risk because you choose to be high.

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

That's what makes it the whole point where this kind of activity is in constant conflict with the public.

We know what alcohol has done and it's been demonized so much that even though people still drive drunk and killing people, it's not as much as it used to be.

The same thing needs to be done with any mind altering substance that aside from pure medical reasons , it's just not that cool to go out and put people at risk because you choose to be high.

I don't know the answer to this, honestly. There's no practical way to stop it. Also, people can still function generally when they're stoned on cannabis, especially if they're used to it, so it's not quite the same as being drunk. Many people at my old job were stoners and would use it to get through the day at work and there weren't any problems there. Should people be driving while stoned? No, but there's not even a realistic way to test for THC if you're pulled over by the cops as it stays in the system for so long. You could have ingested it the day before and it would be still show a positive. Drunk driving is still very common, too. Most of these college students seem to have done it at least once. They're always driving drunk on the weekends and swerving around. It's a reason why I don't leave the apartment much.

 

[Riders]

i smoked pot for 3 months with my guy friend Raymond who was a drug addict, it made me sick all the time. I coughed and had bronchitis every other week. SO, I quit.

 

[TagliatelliMonster]

One of problems with not legalizing pot and soft drugs is this. I never see it being talked about so I will bring it up. It's making things worse for drug for drug addicts. In prison they not only get drugs and stay addicted, but they sometimes learn to sell drugs.
There is a lot of rape and violence, and the prison teaches them to become comfortable with being prison and our state spends tons of money we don't have paying for their expenses and prison.
We have no business locking up drug addicts for possesion.

It also saves a lot of money for the state and courts not to have to house them in prison.

The glaring problem in this post, is that pot (cannabis) isn't actually physically addictive.

Pot isn't more addictive then french fries.
In fact, soft drinks like coca cola are more addictive then pot.

The problem I see with keep cannabis illegal, is that it pushes users into underground networks where they will come into contact with things that are far worse.
Dealers who sell pot will generally be gangsters who also sell other stuff like cocaine, heroine, etc... And these gangsters will much more prefer you to buy those things then some pot.... as it makes them more money and since those things ARE addictive, it will have much higher chances of yielding recurrent revenue.

Weed is not a "gateway drug" for the reason american war-on-drugs propaganda claims it is.
In as far as it can be said to be a "gateway drug", it actually is because it moves you into circles where dealers will offer you other things also. And some will bite.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

Do you really want people to be high out in public?

I'm not saying it couldn't be illegal necessarily as long as a person's on their private time and in their own private place but a lot of times there's conflicts between using substances that can alter your mind because that person decides to go out in public in that condition.

It's why alcohol is so contentious, it's fine when it's just you and maybe some friends but not so fine when it compromises public safety and security.

Marijuana has been legal in Canada for 6 years now.

I'll occasionally see people having a joint while they're out walking, but other than that, you don't see it in most public places. Smoking pot is prohibited anywhere that smoking tobacco is prohibited, so you don't really get people smoking pot in public buildings, restaurants, or even parks.

Meanwhile, the big marijuana greenhouses around here are helping to fill the void in employment and tax base since some other major employers closed.

 

[TagliatelliMonster]

Do you really want people to be high out in public?

I'm not saying it couldn't be illegal necessarily as long as a person's on their private time and in their own private place but a lot of times there's conflicts between using substances that can alter your mind because that person decides to go out in public in that condition.

It's why alcohol is so contentious, it's fine when it's just you and maybe some friends but not so fine when it compromises public safety and security.

I think there's a very huge difference between people being stoned in public vs people being high on hallucinogenic drugs like shrooms or LSD

 

[Riders]

Marijuana has been legal in Canada for 6 years now.

I'll occasionally see people having a joint while they're out walking, but other than that, you don't see it in most public places. Smoking pot is prohibited anywhere that smoking tobacco is prohibited, so you don't really get people smoking pot in public buildings, restaurants, or even parks.

Meanwhile, the big marijuana greenhouses around here are helping to fill the void in employment and tax base since some other major employers closed.

A bar I use to frequent with my boyfriend Robert had a place out back that had several tables and benches where folks smoked pot and cigarettes.

 

[David Young]

There is one barrier to the legalisation of narcotics, whether you call them 'hard' or 'soft'.

Drug addiction is currently regarded as a form of victimhood and drug users are not willing to lose this status. When drug use is not accepted as a defence in a court of law and is not something the medical profession is required to treat at other people's expense, you may find the staunchest supporters of the war on drugs are willing to switch sides.