War On Drugs

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Don't just decriminalize drugs. Legalize, Nationalize and subsidize the manufacture and distribution of all illicit drugs. Give them away for free and on demand.

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If we give them away for free, on demand, what is going to pay for their manufacture?I can't say I want to pay taxes to subsidize the production of heroin. I have known several people who died of heroin overdoses. I've known several others who came to work high all the time (before they were fired) and jeopardized their own and other people's safety, let alone hurt the business.I certainly already pay taxes which subsidize tobacco companies, and I don't think that's OK either. I've seen several people die of smoking related diseases, and my parents are slowly dying, and currently in poor health, all due to smoking.

Where does the money we currently spend on the War-on-Drugs come from?Does the crime related to drug aquisition increase costs to you?Does the crime relted to the organization currently marketing drugs, the corporate overhead have a cost you help pay for?

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

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Fat is not good for the heart.

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Pedant mode on:Actually, that is inaccurate.It's only saturated fat that is bad for the heart. Poly- and Mono-unsaturated fats such as thoses found in cold water fish, certain nuts, and olive oil are very good for the heart.There is no correlation between overall diatary fat and arterial sclerosis.Pedant mode off.

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Where does the money we currently spend on the War-on-Drugs come from?

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From taxes, of course.

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Does the crime related to drug aquisition increase costs to you?

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Does the crime relted to the organization currently marketing drugs, the corporate overhead have a cost you help pay for?

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Yes, and yes.However, I still do not want to subsidize, through my tax money, the easy distribution of heroin to anyone.It is harmful. It is highly addictive. It often leads to accidental overdose. It leads to those addicted people wanting to do nothing but get high and stay high all the time. They don't want to go to work, they don't want to eat, they don't want to take care of their children, etc.Have you ever been around heroin addicts, or talked to any recovered addicts?

If the government got in on legalizing drugs, I would most certainly stop at Marijuana. Sell it at a decent price and use the funds to build holistic wellness/fitness centers where people can learn to relax in more healthy ways. Being hooked on Chronix does not work for everyone! To be Blunt about it, cocaine and meth are Satans drugs and should never be tolerated or legalized. Pot is no bigger deal than the government makes it out to be. If it were legal, we would not become a nation of homies chillin on the porch avoiding Debo, but we might actually mellow out as a stressed out people.From a spiritual perspective, however, bonging out does not send you to Hell, but it most certainly does not bring you any closer to Heaven, either! I used to do it, and it was basically nothing more than a pain killer. There is a psychological addiction, and sometimes I realized that I had a problem when I need to get high just so I could relax. Now that I no longer do it, I don't miss it...
but it took my spiritual epiphany to realize that I did not need it.About the War on Drugs: If they can't keep drugs out of prisons, what makes anyone think that they will ever keep them out of the country?

The day that someone presents a valid reason why taking drugs should be considered morally unacceptable, this argument will carry weight.

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"Creationists make it sound as though a theory is something you dreamt up after being drunk all night."
-Isaac Asimov

True drug addiction is ugly, but short of removing all drugs and the plants and chemicals they come from off planet, we will always have drug addicts. It comes down to a cost benifit analysis. Is it better to cut down drug and gang violence by making drugs cheap and legal which may increase the number of drug addicts or do we fight a war on drugs that costs trillions, lose anyway, put millions of non-violent people into prison, have hundres of violent durg related shootings and still have large numbers of drug addicts? I would prefer less violence and less money spent on pointless wars on drugs myself. People will always use drugs.We can teach them that they're bad, but they will use them anyway. If you make them illegal, you just turn users into criminals without addressing the fact that to pursue pleasure is part of being, man or animal. I don't believe we will ever be able to solve the drug problem short of rewiring the human brain.

Yes on both counts and you can include other drugs as well. Now that that is out of the way, let's try to go on. Agreed. Heroin addiction (as are many things) is very distructive. That's a given. Problems can range from mild to severe. Far too little is done to provide support and medical care and alternatives.Now back to the question of giving away drugs for free.If we gave away drugs for free, what effect would it have on those currently in the Drug Trade, the pushers, the cartels, the Drug Lords, the street thugs?

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

Why? Everyone I know who's taken Cocaine has been fine with it.

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Heroin addiction (as are many things) is very distructive

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I'm not sure that's true - recently in the UK there has been much interest in long-term professional heroin addicts (those who can afford their fix without having to steal). Many of those seem to lead perfectly normal lifes that are no different to that of their neighbours.

CK, can't really disagree. As is so often the case the problem is in the extremes.But I don't want this to get bogged down in an argument about drugs-good or bad. The use of drugs is a reality and nothing will stop folk from using them.The key is how best to minimize adverse effects.

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

The taxes I was talking about would ONLY be for the drugs that get you high and thus have addictive properties. Similar to what they are doing with cigs now. The people are going to buy these drugs either way, so wouldn't it be better for us to gain something from their addiction?

Except of course, that a number of drugs that get you high aren't addictive. Marijuana, shrooms, and LSD all leap immediately to mind.Unless we're back on "emotional addiction", in which case I hope we're ready to enact similar legislation on television and chocolate. And how about some of those deadbeat alcoholics getting off their ass and taking care of those whose lives aren't wrecked by substance abuse?Like the one who lives in the alley near my apartment... I swear, that wino's had it too good for too long.

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"Creationists make it sound as though a theory is something you dreamt up after being drunk all night."
-Isaac Asimov

The problem is, much of the reason our society doesn't minimize adverse effects is because of the "drugs are bad" stigma involved. The assumption is that if you're suffering ill effects of substance abuse, you deserve it for your moral failure of getting involved in drugs in the first place.The result is that drugs are treated like any taboo subject... very few people are educated in an open and honest way on how to go about the matter responsibly. And then... big surprise, they mess themselves up when they fly in blind. And once they're messed up, very few people really put any energy into helping them.So really, I'd say smacking down the whole "drugs are bad" mentality is the first step in minimizing bad effects. Similar to teaching children "use a condom" instead of "the baby Jesus will smite your nether regions with leprosy if you even think about sex".

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"Creationists make it sound as though a theory is something you dreamt up after being drunk all night."
-Isaac Asimov

My "Marijuana Solution" is quite simple. Make it illegal to sell, illegal to buy, but make it LEGAL to grow and smoke on your own property. If you want to smoke, you can smoke. You still have the same penalties for selling to minors, and to adults as well. No one is profiting from marijuana, unlike the current problem with the supposed "Drugs Fund Terrorism" that supposedly exists. Just my view.As to "harder drugs" we need to shift the way in which we look at the problem. Why are we throwing addicts into jail (in the US)? How does this help them? We need to shift our view away from punishing drug use to TREATING drug use. The War on Drugs has clogged our prisons with people that shouldn't be there. We are punishing a heroin addict the same way we are punishing murderers. It makes absolutely no sense to me. I think the "War on Drugs" would see an immediate return if more money was spent on treatment instead of pushing these people through the justice system.