IA, I assume you are a reasonable man also. So why do you make the ridiculous assumption that if we legalized drugs then everybody will suddenly come to the same senses that most of us on this forum are in now and stop taking illegal drugs?
I never said that. It
is a ridiculous assumption. Needless to say there is a strong possibility of the number of addicts going up specially in the first couple of years. Those who are already hooked on drugs will stay on them.
The thing that you either don't seem to understand or intentionally overlook, is that once you removed the illegality, the life of current addicts (and new ones for that matter) will improve significantly. Less fatal ODs, less needle-transmitted infections, and better drugs in terms of both safety and quality. Not to mention that the drugs will be cheaper and more accessible so that the addict doesn't need to suffer financially or be the dealer's bitch.
Now what I can't comprehend is how despite the fact you want to legalize drugs, you still want the state to intervene through any means possible (except legal means) and limit demand for these drugs. Why do you still want the state to behave like a nanny and effectively tell these people what they should and shouldn't do? Now I personally have no problem with this kind of state, as long as the state is a truly democratic one. Clearly we seem to have similar aims here: we want to kill the drug trade. But because of what I can only describe as your fear of laws and rules, you want to concentrate solely on limiting demand, whereas I want to concentrate on limiting both supply and demand.
I want to focus on reducing demand not because I want a nanny state but because it's a more effective method. Focusing on limiting supply is ill-advised and will simply never work.
Also, I don't fear laws and rules. I cherish them, after all they're there to protect me. I like the fact that there are speed limits and that if you speed you risk losing your licence. Likewise I think it's great that smoking on public transport or in public premises is banned, even though I'm a smoker. These are good laws
The laws and rules that I hate and fear are the ones that infringe on the right of citizens to control their private lives. Drug laws are in the second group.
If you were to legalize heroine and cocaine, tell me what you would do about supply. Now, living in a society where profit motivates almost everything, new companies will want to emerge where they will want to sell heroine and cocaine. They'd want to make it as easily accessbile as possible to maximize profits too. So what are you going to do? Lots of people, at least to begin with, are going to buy these new legal drugs just to try them out. This is going to result in a lot more addicts. Don't appeal to ignorance here and say "well there's no evidence that legalizing heroine and cocaine will lead to..." ofcourse there's no evidence because they've never been legal before. I'm working from the rather safe general rule that when a product becomes more easily available, it becomes more widespread.
Two fundamental flaws:
1/ Drugs
are accessible atm. I could acquire heroin if I wanted and I'm sure this is the case where you live too.
2/ Legalizing drugs won't inevitably make them more widespread and I am not "appealing to ignorance". Let's take marijuana. It's decriminalized in
the Netherlands and
Spain yet the prevalence of its use is not higher in these 2 countries than it is in the US, the UK, or Canada. Here see for yourself:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annual_cannabis_use_by_countryhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adult_lifetime_cannabis_use_by_countryAre you not going to let it be sold at all? Well then the underground drug dealers are still going to be in business. The only thing they'll be doing illegal then is murdering those who become indebted to them. The drug problem would still then remain.
They will gonna have to sell them legally just like tobacco companies do
So what are you going to do? Stock these drugs in chemists and make it so that only people who have got a prescription from the doctor can pick up these drugs? Well then there are still going to be room in the market for underground dealers who can give out their drugs with no questions asked.
No. Any adult would be able to purchase the drugs. I thought I already made myself clear.
Society is just not ready to see the legalization of hard drugs. Yes, we do need to concentrate on limiting demand through education, but we also need to hit hard on dealers who supply these drugs.
We're already hitting them. It's bankrupting us and turning our cities into crime scenes while still not helping in solving the problem.
And please talk no more on cannabis. I stated a while ago now that I was for legalizing certain soft drugs (but with a certain amount of caution that I cannot specify without a lot of thought and detail). They do no justification for your claim that heroine and cocaine should be legalized, for these drugs are on another level to cannabis. (Check out your graph - heroine is right up in the corner there!)
The justification for heroin and cocaine legalization is not that they are harmless. I never made such a claim.
And please quit the personal attacks on my intelligence too. Engage the substance of my arguments.
I never made an attack on your intelligence. In fact I just re-read all of my 6 posts so far and honestly I can't find this attack. You need to chill out James, maybe smoke a joint
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Topic: Legalizing Drugs