|
PoisonCrazy
Stranger


Registered: 02/27/10
Posts: 635
Last seen: 8 years, 11 months
|
5 Easy, LegalThings To Help Drug Legalization
#16551396 - 07/18/12 08:01 PM (11 years, 6 months ago) |
|
|
I know most of us want to legalize our favorite substances, and may of us believe all substances should be illegal. What isn't talked about as much is what we can do to help them become legal. I though I would start out with some easy and legal things we can do:
1.) Register to Vote (and vote!)--  While the options aren't that great, politicians rely on polls of likely voters. Polling companies know that young people, poor people, and many groups currently unsatisfied with the system do not vote as much as the middle-class elderly or middle-aged types. Because of this politicians cater to the second group.
Before you go thinking politicians don't care about votes, or that their minds can't be changed think about this: Politicians take kickbacks and give out political favors for donations and such, they can only do this if they are in office. Politicians will do what voters want even if it is only to stay in office taking bribes (not often direct bribes, but a similar principle) longer.
2. Serve on a jury- They only call people for jury duty who are registered voters. Showing up for jury duty is the only way you get on a drug case jury. If you don't show up, you don't get to decide a case. Hope you get onto a drug case and vote to acquit for drug charges. If prosecutor's know drug cases are hard to convince jury's on, they will bring fewer or make better deals. They don't like losing cases (though they will if they have to).
3. Help a friend who is using in a problematic way- Ultimately, the behaviour of all drug-users is held against drugs by mainstream society. This is not fair, but that doesn't mean it is not true... Help someone around you who is going through the same problem you have gone through. Sometimes helping means saying something, sometimes it means being there for when they figure it out themselves. Encourage a healthy relationship with substances and down the road they can be a good example for someone else.
4. Review Erowid trip reports- Erowid.org accepts volunteers to edit their trip reports. They are a non-profit and can use all of the free help they can get. Also, Erowid is a very conscientiously neutral source, but let's face it, a neutral source will favor legalization. Many large media outlets and other professionals are using Erowid to learn more about drugs and their effects. Help keep Erowid up-to-date with a wealth of new material.
5. Buy something from the shroomery sponsors- Shameless plug, I know. But I do not work for any of them. These sponsors keep the Shroomery servers up and support the community in general. They deserve your business in return.
What ideas do you have? What easy legal things are there for people to do, TODAY, to help out the movement?
|
Enlil
OTD God-King




Registered: 08/16/03
Posts: 65,485
Loc: Uncanny Valley
|
Re: 5 Easy, LegalThings To Help Drug Legalization [Re: PoisonCrazy]
#16553204 - 07/19/12 05:46 AM (11 years, 6 months ago) |
|
|
I think you missed the most important thing:
If you want to change a law, the way to start is by obeying the current law.
People who use drugs illegally have zero credibility in the legalization argument. For non-users, these people are a prime example of why drugs are so harmful. If activists can't even control themselves with respect to drugs, what chance does the average person have? Or the children.
I realize that this is an unpopular sentiment on this site, but mainstream america will notice 1 non-user standing up for legalization more than 100 users doing so.
-------------------- Censoring opposing views since 2014. Ask an Attorney Fuck the Amish
|
PoisonCrazy
Stranger


Registered: 02/27/10
Posts: 635
Last seen: 8 years, 11 months
|
Re: 5 Easy, LegalThings To Help Drug Legalization [Re: Enlil]
#16555619 - 07/19/12 05:22 PM (11 years, 6 months ago) |
|
|
Quote:
Enlil said: I think you missed the most important thing:
If you want to change a law, the way to start is by obeying the current law.
People who use drugs illegally have zero credibility in the legalization argument. For non-users, these people are a prime example of why drugs are so harmful. If activists can't even control themselves with respect to drugs, what chance does the average person have? Or the children.
I realize that this is an unpopular sentiment on this site, but mainstream america will notice 1 non-user standing up for legalization more than 100 users doing so.
I agree that a non-user has more credibility than a user in this debate. Pen Gillette is a good example of someone with a lot of credibility as a complete non-user (he was raised mormon, and though now an atheist, he still uses no illegal substances recreationally).
HOWEVER, I think when you say "For non-users, these people are a prime example of why drugs are so harmful. If activists can't even control themselves with respect to drugs, what chance does the average person have?" you hide an assumption: that all drug use means you cannot control yourself.
I think that if a drug user comes up with a professional job, dressed well, and a pillar-of-the-community type then this sends a message that moderate drug use is not inconsistent with being a decent human being. In this way I think a lot of drug activists are harmful to the cause because they look like that segment of society that many members of the older middle class voting population fear.
Now there are some people who say that any use is abuse, and that if you use at all you have no credibility, but these people are already much less likely to support the movement AND the people willing to look at the harm done by a drug will be persuaded by a clean-cut, polite, employed drug user.
One of the hurdles, however, is that the people with problematic drug use are the people whose drug use is the most visible. The investment banker who does lines of coke in his penthouse isn't seen by everyone, likewise with the kid who trips every few months at his buddy's farm in the country. But the heroin junkie 'wandering the negro streets looking for an angry fix' as Ginsburg put it, it very much in the public eye.
|
Enlil
OTD God-King




Registered: 08/16/03
Posts: 65,485
Loc: Uncanny Valley
|
Re: 5 Easy, LegalThings To Help Drug Legalization [Re: PoisonCrazy]
#16555647 - 07/19/12 05:30 PM (11 years, 6 months ago) |
|
|
That assumption is one that is often made....think about it...drug users face possible prison time but care more about using their substance of choice.
I'm just telling you what I hear people say.
-------------------- Censoring opposing views since 2014. Ask an Attorney Fuck the Amish
|
PoisonCrazy
Stranger


Registered: 02/27/10
Posts: 635
Last seen: 8 years, 11 months
|
Re: 5 Easy, LegalThings To Help Drug Legalization [Re: Enlil]
#16555667 - 07/19/12 05:34 PM (11 years, 6 months ago) |
|
|
Quote:
Enlil said: That assumption is one that is often made....think about it...drug users face possible prison time but care more about using their substance of choice.
I'm just telling you what I hear people say.
Fair enough, if people say it then it must be how some people see it and must impact the legalization debate.
It's just interesting, for a nation of outlaws and lawbreakers and freedom fighters (or at least many consider us a nation of these things) we sure do expect people to shut up and do what they're told...
|
JacksonMetaller
Stranger


Registered: 03/13/11
Posts: 13,361
Last seen: 1 year, 1 month
|
Re: 5 Easy, LegalThings To Help Drug Legalization [Re: Enlil]
#16558986 - 07/20/12 08:50 AM (11 years, 6 months ago) |
|
|
Quote:
Enlil said: I think you missed the most important thing:
If you want to change a law, the way to start is by obeying the current law.
People who use drugs illegally have zero credibility in the legalization argument. For non-users, these people are a prime example of why drugs are so harmful. If activists can't even control themselves with respect to drugs, what chance does the average person have? Or the children.
I realize that this is an unpopular sentiment on this site, but mainstream america will notice 1 non-user standing up for legalization more than 100 users doing so.
i think this is why it's important to educate non-drug users, so they can stand up for us too. i understand your point, but civil disobedience has also been very effective in the past. it needs to be shown that these things aren't affecting our ability to function in society. i think what's important is that we also portray ourselves as people with other interests and hobbies that don't just include drugs. we need to show people that drugs are just something that comes into our life on the side, not something we completely define ourselves by.
maybe... i had to get up really early this morning to let the at&t guy in to fix my internet so i hope im making sense/saying what i mean to say.
anyways good post PoisonCrazy. glad we're starting to get a little bit of a move on
|
Enlil
OTD God-King




Registered: 08/16/03
Posts: 65,485
Loc: Uncanny Valley
|
Re: 5 Easy, LegalThings To Help Drug Legalization [Re: JacksonMetaller]
#16558995 - 07/20/12 08:53 AM (11 years, 6 months ago) |
|
|
Quote:
JacksonMetaller said: it needs to be shown that these things aren't affecting our ability to function in society.
Unfortunately, in many, many cases...drugs do affect one's ability to function in society. Denial of that basic truth doesn't help one's credibility either.
-------------------- Censoring opposing views since 2014. Ask an Attorney Fuck the Amish
|
PoisonCrazy
Stranger


Registered: 02/27/10
Posts: 635
Last seen: 8 years, 11 months
|
Re: 5 Easy, LegalThings To Help Drug Legalization [Re: Enlil]
#16559068 - 07/20/12 09:17 AM (11 years, 6 months ago) |
|
|
Quote:
Enlil said:
Quote:
JacksonMetaller said: it needs to be shown that these things aren't affecting our ability to function in society.
Unfortunately, in many, many cases...drugs do affect one's ability to function in society. Denial of that basic truth doesn't help one's credibility either.
I agree completely.
However, the laws apply to all use. That is the problem. Many people do not use intelligently, they allow drug use to interfere with childrearing, obtaining and maintaining steady employment, etc. and this is a shame. Still, they continue to use drugs. They use drugs that cost more (pushing them to commit crimes) are adulterated (more medical issues) and are hard to obtain (they have to spend time and energy acquiring drugs instead of doing other productive things). I think that even people with problematic use can benefit from legalization.
I do see the other side, people who use in ways that hurt society make the drug-naive worry that increased usage they anticipate will follow legalization will mean more street crime, more people with ruined lives.
The problem is that if you are caught by some quirky happenstance (and you are much less likely to be) even though you are a 'responsible' drug user, this won't let you out of the laws. The neurobiologist I know who uses mushrooms, the woman runing a sociology lab who enjoys her MDMA, these people could be severely harmed by a conviction. Harmed in a way these drugs are very unlikely to harm them...
These are people who monitor their own use, whose primary reason for use isn't that it is 'rebellious' and 'cool', but that it benefits them, as they see it. Criminal prosecution of them makes the world a worse place, period, full-stop. 
Enlil, you put us to the hard questions that legalization supporters rarely face in a place like this. You articulate them well and fairly, keep it up man. It can only force us to be more careful and deliberate in articulating our position.
|
Enlil
OTD God-King




Registered: 08/16/03
Posts: 65,485
Loc: Uncanny Valley
|
Re: 5 Easy, LegalThings To Help Drug Legalization [Re: PoisonCrazy]
#16559129 - 07/20/12 09:35 AM (11 years, 6 months ago) |
|
|
Quote:
PoisonCrazy said: The neurobiologist I know who uses mushrooms, the woman runing a sociology lab who enjoys her MDMA, these people could be severely harmed by a conviction. Harmed in a way these drugs are very unlikely to harm them...
Whether or not you agree with prohibition, these people are unquestionably taking the risk with full awareness of the possibility of prosecution. My opinion is that it is extremely foolish to take such risks for what I consider to be the marginal benefits of drug use. For them, the balance obviously tips the other way.
In the case of some substances, however, the odds of addiction and the damage likely to be done by addiction are extremely high. It is the rare heroin user that can responsibly manage his heroin use over the long run. In that sense, this is a very dangerous substance...It is simplistic to say that heroin does not pose a harm to society. Clearly, it does. The only real argument lies in how to strike the balance between individual freedom and reducing the harm to society.
-------------------- Censoring opposing views since 2014. Ask an Attorney Fuck the Amish
|
PoisonCrazy
Stranger


Registered: 02/27/10
Posts: 635
Last seen: 8 years, 11 months
|
Re: 5 Easy, LegalThings To Help Drug Legalization [Re: JacksonMetaller]
#16559137 - 07/20/12 09:38 AM (11 years, 6 months ago) |
|
|
Quote:
JacksonMetaller said:
Quote:
Enlil said: I think you missed the most important thing:
If you want to change a law, the way to start is by obeying the current law.
People who use drugs illegally have zero credibility in the legalization argument. For non-users, these people are a prime example of why drugs are so harmful. If activists can't even control themselves with respect to drugs, what chance does the average person have? Or the children.
I realize that this is an unpopular sentiment on this site, but mainstream america will notice 1 non-user standing up for legalization more than 100 users doing so.
i think this is why it's important to educate non-drug users, so they can stand up for us too. i understand your point, but civil disobedience has also been very effective in the past.
I don't think our private use is civil disobedience. As I understand it, civil disobedience needs to be public, it needs to force the system to act. Mixed in with this is the principle of non-violent resistance. Think of the lunch counter sit-ins. The disobedience in sitting at a white counter worked because it forced the officers to drag the people out. It worked because people saw this defiance and had to come to terms with it. It forced a debate, even and especially when the prevailing social conditions discouraged one.
The obstacles to endorsing psychedelics through civil disobedience is pretty large:
Public use will scare people- Large numbers of people on a hallucinogenic drug will terrify the masses. This would be true even just as an idea, but if one person flips out, and someone will as they are arrested while tripping, then that person will become the poster-child for the opposition.
Private use will change little/nothing- Our prison population has skyrocketed while the nation remained virtually silent on it. We have such an enormous prison population, that even if you did use private as some kind of protest, they could quietly lock you up and convict you.
The punishment is too large- One of the benefits of sitting at a lunch counter you shouldnt is the punishment is relatively light, in formal terms. These people were brave because informally they would beat you, burn you with cigarettes, etc. But if there were a drug (excepting marijuana because I think you CAN effectively use civil disobedience for marijuana) 'sit-in' and they convict very many people, then these people COULD be sent away for a long time. And don't think that just because you ate all the drugs before they caught you that they cannot charge you. In many states, they can.
Quote:
JacksonMetaller said:it needs to be shown that these things aren't affecting our ability to function in society. i think what's important is that we also portray ourselves as people with other interests and hobbies that don't just include drugs. we need to show people that drugs are just something that comes into our life on the side, not something we completely define ourselves by.
I agree in part, namely, that some of us are not affected by our use, we live otherwise normal lives. Drugs are one part of the broad spectrum of things we enjoy. These people need to stand up as shining examples of drug use. However, because they are able to hide, they do not often stand up. The consequences for speaking out can be quite severe.
Quote:
JacksonMetaller said: anyways good post PoisonCrazy. glad we're starting to get a little bit of a move on
Thanks Let's get this going
|
PoisonCrazy
Stranger


Registered: 02/27/10
Posts: 635
Last seen: 8 years, 11 months
|
Re: 5 Easy, LegalThings To Help Drug Legalization [Re: Enlil]
#16559354 - 07/20/12 10:23 AM (11 years, 6 months ago) |
|
|
Quote:
Enlil said:
Quote:
PoisonCrazy said: The neurobiologist I know who uses mushrooms, the woman runing a sociology lab who enjoys her MDMA, these people could be severely harmed by a conviction. Harmed in a way these drugs are very unlikely to harm them...
Whether or not you agree with prohibition, these people are unquestionably taking the risk with full awareness of the possibility of prosecution. My opinion is that it is extremely foolish to take such risks for what I consider to be the marginal benefits of drug use. For them, the balance obviously tips the other way.
Quote:
Well I disagree on the marginal nature of the benefits. But I can see why one would hold your position.
Quote:
Enlil said: In the case of some substances, however, the odds of addiction and the damage likely to be done by addiction are extremely high. It is the rare heroin user that can responsibly manage his heroin use over the long run. In that sense, this is a very dangerous substance...It is simplistic to say that heroin does not pose a harm to society. Clearly, it does. The only real argument lies in how to strike the balance between individual freedom and reducing the harm to society.
I disagree in the strongest terms with the bolded statement.
Making drugs illegal creates some harms, diminishes other. I think it creates and exacerbates far more than it diminishes. This, I believe is a serious dispute.
If heroin addicts in a legalized system did not have to commit crimes to acquire the money required to fund a habit, they might do much less harm than they presently do. If they did not overdose as frequently as they do now, then they would not be as large a burden on th emedical system. Adulterated drugs of uncertain and varying quality lead to overdoses.
If this were a pure freedom vs. harm argument, I would be less interested. The system of prohibition creates many many drug-related harms that it them uses to justify its continuation.
|
Enlil
OTD God-King




Registered: 08/16/03
Posts: 65,485
Loc: Uncanny Valley
|
Re: 5 Easy, LegalThings To Help Drug Legalization [Re: PoisonCrazy]
#16559428 - 07/20/12 10:38 AM (11 years, 6 months ago) |
|
|
Quote:
PoisonCrazy said: Making drugs illegal creates some harms, diminishes other. I think it creates and exacerbates far more than it diminishes. This, I believe is a serious dispute.
If heroin addicts in a legalized system did not have to commit crimes to acquire the money required to fund a habit, they might do much less harm than they presently do. If they did not overdose as frequently as they do now, then they would not be as large a burden on th emedical system. Adulterated drugs of uncertain and varying quality lead to overdoses.
If this were a pure freedom vs. harm argument, I would be less interested. The system of prohibition creates many many drug-related harms that it them uses to justify its continuation.
I think this is an incredibly narrow-minded opinion. It is also a false dichotomy between legalization and the current system of prohibition. There is a great deal of ground between the two.
I also think that one has to be living in a fantasy world to believe that cheaper heroin or purer heroin would reduce the harm done by heroin...
Society functions when people in society are incentivized to do the right thing. This also works the other way with disincentives to do the wrong thing. Most people respond to those incentives and disincentives by generally doing the right thing. Addiction can nullify that entire system. Addiction to something like heroin has proven itself to be an incredibly strong motivator of human behavior. Stronger than fear of punishment...and even fear of death...many times it is stronger than a woman's maternal instincts...
When anything alters a person's priorities to the extent that they are willing to compromise everything else for that one thing...that is a threat to society...It is also completely antithetical to any rational notion of "freedom."
Drug addiction is a large problem. It is a societal problem which causes societal harm. It is absolutely in the best interests of a society to do what it can to reduce the amount of addiction and mitigate the damage of addiction. I disagree that legalization is the best way to do that. I also don't think that the current system of prohibition is.
-------------------- Censoring opposing views since 2014. Ask an Attorney Fuck the Amish
|
PoisonCrazy
Stranger


Registered: 02/27/10
Posts: 635
Last seen: 8 years, 11 months
|
Re: 5 Easy, LegalThings To Help Drug Legalization [Re: Enlil]
#16559708 - 07/20/12 11:53 AM (11 years, 6 months ago) |
|
|
Quote:
Enlil said:
Quote:
PoisonCrazy said: Making drugs illegal creates some harms, diminishes other. I think it creates and exacerbates far more than it diminishes. This, I believe is a serious dispute.
If heroin addicts in a legalized system did not have to commit crimes to acquire the money required to fund a habit, they might do much less harm than they presently do. If they did not overdose as frequently as they do now, then they would not be as large a burden on th emedical system. Adulterated drugs of uncertain and varying quality lead to overdoses.
If this were a pure freedom vs. harm argument, I would be less interested. The system of prohibition creates many many drug-related harms that it them uses to justify its continuation.
I think this is an incredibly narrow-minded opinion. It is also a false dichotomy between legalization and the current system of prohibition. There is a great deal of ground between the two.
I also think that one has to be living in a fantasy world to believe that cheaper heroin or purer heroin would reduce the harm done by heroin...
Society functions when people in society are incentivized to do the right thing. This also works the other way with disincentives to do the wrong thing. Most people respond to those incentives and disincentives by generally doing the right thing. Addiction can nullify that entire system. Addiction to something like heroin has proven itself to be an incredibly strong motivator of human behavior. Stronger than fear of punishment...and even fear of death...many times it is stronger than a woman's maternal instincts...
When anything alters a person's priorities to the extent that they are willing to compromise everything else for that one thing...that is a threat to society...It is also completely antithetical to any rational notion of "freedom."
Drug addiction is a large problem. It is a societal problem which causes societal harm. It is absolutely in the best interests of a society to do what it can to reduce the amount of addiction and mitigate the damage of addiction. I disagree that legalization is the best way to do that. I also don't think that the current system of prohibition is.
Ok, there are shades of grey between legalization and prohibition. However, I know of no shade of grey that would allow for cheap pharmaceutical grade drugs to be available widely. I think this availability will solve many of the problems.
Further, I should clarify something, I meant it would reduce societal harm and by that I mean harm done to the fabric of society by interpersonal behavior. I acknowledge that cheap legal heroin would do great harm to specific individuals, sure. And it does overwhelm general incentive structures, HOWEVER, that is partially the point.
You cannot expect detterrence to work when people are using something like heroin. You MAY be able to stop people from starting, but I don't think the calculus comes out to determining you sacrifice the people not realistically deterrable.
So your point seemed to be that because it overwhelmed incentives, heroin would have to mean people run around breaking the rules and such. But much of the tension between drug use and society is created by prohibition. You're right, if drug costs are high, they will steal because their need for drugs is greater than their ratinal evaluation of potential punishment.
I guess I was dividing out the 'lost potential' factor. If society believes that it has a right to compel behavior so that people do not waste their abilities, then this is a different argument and one many people would have a hard time stomaching...
|
Enlil
OTD God-King




Registered: 08/16/03
Posts: 65,485
Loc: Uncanny Valley
|
Re: 5 Easy, LegalThings To Help Drug Legalization [Re: PoisonCrazy]
#16559754 - 07/20/12 12:07 PM (11 years, 6 months ago) |
|
|
The desire to have "cheap phamaceutical grade" heroin available is not one I share. I think the availability of such a thing gives it a veneer of safety which can easily lead to more addiction.
Further, I firmly believe that it does not matter how cheap heroin becomes...a person who will prostitute her daughter out for a $50 hit of heroin will do the same thing for a $25 hit. To assume otherwise is optimistic to the point of irrationality...The extra $25 is not the factor that suddenly makes the difference...
The current system tends to pit the drug addict against the government. It is inherrently adversarial, and this makes it inefficient at tackling the addiction problem. Alternatives to the current system are numerous, however. I see no reason for the state to give it's stamp of approval by legalizing heroin any more than I see a reason to suddenly allow the use of asbestos again. Money currently being spent on arrest and prosecution of drug addicts could be much better spent on treatment, education, and supervision.
-------------------- Censoring opposing views since 2014. Ask an Attorney Fuck the Amish
|
PoisonCrazy
Stranger


Registered: 02/27/10
Posts: 635
Last seen: 8 years, 11 months
|
Re: 5 Easy, LegalThings To Help Drug Legalization [Re: Enlil]
#16560100 - 07/20/12 01:26 PM (11 years, 6 months ago) |
|
|
Quote:
Enlil said: The desire to have "cheap phamaceutical grade" heroin available is not one I share. I think the availability of such a thing gives it a veneer of safety which can easily lead to more addiction.
Further, I firmly believe that it does not matter how cheap heroin becomes...a person who will prostitute her daughter out for a $50 hit of heroin will do the same thing for a $25 hit. To assume otherwise is optimistic to the point of irrationality...The extra $25 is not the factor that suddenly makes the difference...
I'm not talking about $25 a hit, I am talking about a few cents. It is an agricultural product that is not processed in particularly difficult ways. The cost of it if it is mass-produced would be so low that very very very few people would not be able to get the funds to supply even pretty severe habits. That is why I think they won't prostitute their daughter, because it will cost very very very little.
Also, I personally have no stake in heroin being legal other than my belief that total drug legalization will prove the better route. I have never used any opiate rereationally, and only medically used it for a dental procedure once 5+ years ago...
|
JacksonMetaller
Stranger


Registered: 03/13/11
Posts: 13,361
Last seen: 1 year, 1 month
|
Re: 5 Easy, LegalThings To Help Drug Legalization [Re: Enlil]
#16562000 - 07/20/12 09:14 PM (11 years, 6 months ago) |
|
|
Quote:
Enlil said: The desire to have "cheap phamaceutical grade" heroin available is not one I share. I think the availability of such a thing gives it a veneer of safety which can easily lead to more addiction.
Further, I firmly believe that it does not matter how cheap heroin becomes...a person who will prostitute her daughter out for a $50 hit of heroin will do the same thing for a $25 hit. To assume otherwise is optimistic to the point of irrationality...The extra $25 is not the factor that suddenly makes the difference...
The current system tends to pit the drug addict against the government. It is inherrently adversarial, and this makes it inefficient at tackling the addiction problem. Alternatives to the current system are numerous, however. I see no reason for the state to give it's stamp of approval by legalizing heroin any more than I see a reason to suddenly allow the use of asbestos again. Money currently being spent on arrest and prosecution of drug addicts could be much better spent on treatment, education, and supervision.
have you heard of the canadian heroin clinics? i think such an idea is what we need. the problem with drugs becoming popular is not that they're legal but that we advertise them on billboards and commercials. Nitrous oxide, dxm, morning glories, kratom and many other substances are legal and barely used. if they regulated heroin they should do it off the radar in one of these clinic type scenarios where only junkies would come across it rather than waving it in the face of every teenager who walks to his nearest QuikTrip to buy a pack of smokes. i think walking down an isle of malnurished junkies to buy your drugs might force a few kids to walk back out the door.
Quote:
Enlil said:
Quote:
JacksonMetaller said: it needs to be shown that these things aren't affecting our ability to function in society.
Unfortunately, in many, many cases...drugs do affect one's ability to function in society. Denial of that basic truth doesn't help one's credibility either.
sorry, like i said i was half asleep. i didn't mean that drugs have no effect on peoples functioning... but that us drug users ARE society. i remember before i started using drugs, i always thought drug users were the unseen outcasts who hid away in dark valleys and broken down apartment buildings. never would i have at the time guessed that drug users were doctors, business men, politicians, artists, cooks, store managers, etc.
|
Enlil
OTD God-King




Registered: 08/16/03
Posts: 65,485
Loc: Uncanny Valley
|
Re: 5 Easy, LegalThings To Help Drug Legalization [Re: PoisonCrazy]
#16563433 - 07/21/12 07:38 AM (11 years, 6 months ago) |
|
|
Quote:
PoisonCrazy said: I'm not talking about $25 a hit, I am talking about a few cents. It is an agricultural product that is not processed in particularly difficult ways. The cost of it if it is mass-produced would be so low that very very very few people would not be able to get the funds to supply even pretty severe habits. That is why I think they won't prostitute their daughter, because it will cost very very very little.
It would cost very little until addiction skyrocketed...then it would be taxed to shit like cigarettes are now in an effort to curb usage.
I think it's an unrealistic solution which has the wrong priorities. The priority should be to stop addiction from occurring and treating addiction that has occurred...making cheap, pure drugs available serves neither of those goals...Even the most optimistic view of it is that it will only reduce harm to those already addicted and possibly reduced drug motivated crimes.
In addition, how can you say with a straight face that cheap, pure heroin would not result in more addiction? Without question, the biggest drug problem in america is prescription painkillers. The very thing that makes the problem so large is the availability of the painkillers mixed with the stamp of approval given to those painkillers by the government...put that same stamp on heroin, and use will increase.
-------------------- Censoring opposing views since 2014. Ask an Attorney Fuck the Amish
|
Annapurna1
liberal pussy


Registered: 05/21/02
Posts: 5,646
Loc: innsmouth..MA
|
Re: 5 Easy, LegalThings To Help Drug Legalization [Re: Enlil]
#16581285 - 07/24/12 05:38 PM (11 years, 6 months ago) |
|
|
6) buy guns...the drug war is merely a symptom of the cancer of global neoliberalism.. which cannot be cured with politics as usual...
--------------------
"anchor blocks counteract the process of pontiprobation..while omalean globes regulize the pressure"...
|
|