re: Should All Drugs be Legalized?

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Talk to someone (I am sure many on here) that grew up with alcoholic parents and see how that worked out for them. Think about how much worse it could have been if you subbed black tar heroin for beer.

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This is some dumb shite even for this place. You are displaying your ignorance on the subject.

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If cocaine became illegal (and subsequently companies didn't drug test for it) I would definitely go buy some to try . Does that mean id abuse it? No.

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So you don't think you should have the right to make that decision yourself then?

Companies would never lose their right to drug test.

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Ultimately, stupid people will do stupid things. You can't stop that no matter how hard you try.

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People also make much less informed decisions when young because they feel invincible. As we age we tend to grow wiser. Would some 18 and 19yr olds try heroin if it were legal that would not have tried it were illegal? I don't know the answer I am simply asking a question.

Make all drugs legal.

Make all drug related crime punishable by death.

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I'm sure there is, but they are probably doing something just as foolish as heroin right now that is legal.

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Such as?

Yes, here's a thread on the subject.

LINK

Here's a link with some good information.

LINK

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We are joined in our judgment by Ethan A. Nadelmann, a scholar and researcher; Kurt Schmoke, a mayor and former prosecutor; Joseph D. McNamara, a former police chief; Robert W. Sweet, a federal judge and former prosecutor; Thomas Szasz, a psychiatrist; and Steven B. Duke, a law professor. Each has his own emphases, as one might expect. All agree that the celebrated war has failed, and that it is time to go home, and to mobilize fresh thought on the drug problem in the context of a free society. This symposium is our contribution to such thought.

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There are over 2 million people incarcerated in local, state, and federal prisons in the United States, an incarceration rate of 743 per 100,000 people, which is high for a democracy (the incarceration rate is 325 in Israel, 217 in Poland, 154 in England and Wales, 96 in France, 71 in Denmark, and 32 in India). The number of people in jail has increased dramatically since the 1980s. According to the Center for Economic and Policy Research, incarceration rates between 1880 and 1970 ranged from about 100 to 200 prisoners per 100,000 people. After 1980, the inmate population began to grow much more rapidly than the overall population and the rate climbed from about 220 in 1980 to 458 in 1990, 683 in 2000, and 753 in 2008.

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Nonviolent drug offenders now account for about one-fourth of all inmates in the United States, up from less than 10 percent in 1980. The costs, of course, are staggering: State correctional spending now totals $52 billion a year, consuming one out of 14 general fund dollars; spending on corrections is the second fastest growth area of state budgets, following Medicaid.

The real tragedy is that so many children’s lives are destroyed along with those of their incarcerated parents. Over 50 percent of inmates are parents with minor children, including more than 120,000 mothers and 1.1 million fathers. One in every 28 children has a parent incarcerated, up from 1 in 125 just 25 years ago. Two-thirds of these children’s parents were incarcerated for nonviolent offenses.

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Bottom line, we fear liberty, love spending money on failed policy and are screwing society up in the process.

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I helped out 3 kids this morning with some stuff - all in their 20's - all on drugs. They're trying to pay their light bill by picking up scrap metal anywhere they can get it.


What did you do to "help" these 20 year olds on drugs, desperate to get it anywhere they can?

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No. I had a bunch of old iron on my farm property I'd been wanting to get rid of for years. Let them come onto the property and haul it off.

One more point... brief history on these kids.

Kid #1 - both brothers are drug addicts serving time for grand theft.

Kid #2 - mother died of overdose a few years back. She grew up in a very respected family. Uncle was sole heir in line to inherit a 1000 acre farm - got hooked on crack and lost everything. Living in a $1500 trailer on a canal now.

Kid #3 - Single mom with 3 kids who got hooked on meth by dating Kid #1 - now about to lose her kids and looking at jail time for arrest.

If you think legalizing all drugs is the smart thing to do you're high on something and not thinking straight.

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If you think legalizing all drugs is the smart thing to do you're high on something and not thinking straight.

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So, you hate liberty and love big government. You prefer armed gangs to drug users.

Right now you have both. Legalizing drugs would take power away from the underground economy.

Short answer: yes

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You're making the points for everyone. If drugs are illegal now, then what has the legal status of drugs done to help those 3 families? Nothing at all.

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Negative. That's extremely naive thinking.