Drugs!

[Open]

Do you agree or disagree? What are your thoughts.

1/ If pot grows naturally, we can therefore one can assume is God given.

2/ If it was not illegal it would be moral for a christian to indulge from time to time as long as one was not putting ones health at risk.

Can the same logic can be applied to other drugs, cocaine, opium, alcohol, tobacco? Discuss.

 

[max1120]

I think weed is completly harmless and should be legalized!

 

[geekgirlkelli]

Here in the U.S. I think the "war on drugs" has done way more damage than good. The only thing it's done is create a black-market economy for the stuff and all the shady dealings and violence that comes along with it.

I have never, ever done any kind of drug ever in my life (well, if caffeine counts, then yes I have). But I know people who smoke weed and really I don't think that for adults it's a big deal. I don't know a lot about other drugs, but quite frankly if you really want to fry your brain on the harder stuff, who am I to say that you can't?

 

[Angel4Truth]

Poison oak grows naturally therefore we should roll around it.

 

[ThatRobGuy]

I think that the moderation rules should apply for marijuana.

I personally don't use it (personal preference), but I do feel that it's less harmless than alcohol in many cases.

--you can overdose on alcohol in one night of binging, can't happen with pot.
--more vehicle crashes are attributed to alcohol than pot.
--alcohol & cigarettes (according to many studies) are more addictive than pot.

It comes down to one word....taxation.

If the US government could come up with forms of regulation and taxation for pot, they wouldn't only make it legal, they would promote it ($$$)

Right now, it pretty much grows wild in so many places that they would have a hard time keeping track of it.

It becomes dangerous when people start lacing it with other more harmful drugs (PCP, LSD) and selling it to unknowing high school kids.

In my opinion, pay the .40 cent tax on it, slap a 21 year age requirement on it, and make it legal for those who want to kill their brain cells...

(Just don't come back and try to get early social security payments because you're now "handicapped" )...don't laugh, people have tried it in court and won...

 

[max1120]

GeekGirlKelli...I think you are right. The war on drugs has not and will not work. Weed is no more dangerous than alcohol. Alcohol is legal.

Angel4truth, As far as poision oak...I am pretty sure smoking poision oak would not be a lot of fun..lol

 

[Angel4Truth]

Angel4truth, As far as poision oak...I am pretty sure smoking poision oak would not be a lot of fun..lol

The point being that just because something grows naturally it doesnt make it fit for use on or in the human body. But im sure you get that.

 

[HollandScotts]

Drugs? Where?!

 

[unedave]

It seems to me that you hit the nail on the head miniverchivi. The government will never make it legal unless they have the ultimate control.

I am a Christian and i have a wonderful evergrowing realtionship with Jesus. I also smoke. I am often torn in my views of whether it is wrong or not. I believe that God did put the plant on the earth for soothing, but as it is with many things, overuse and misuse rules and casts such an ugly shadow. I also think that pot is much like alcohol...a beer is not bad, getting wasted is. God wants us to keep our bodies in the shape needed to spread his word and no matter if your poison is booze or pot, the Lord cant like us putting anything harmful into our bodies. That said, God is great and if you do choose to smoke, do it safe and smart.

 

[Washington]

The point being that just because something grows naturally it doesnt make it fit for use on or in the human body. But im sure you get that.

I assume you feel pot is not fit for use "on or in" the human body. If so, got a good reason? I mean one that would support making it illegal to possess. Or, if my assumption is correct, doesn't your feeling go that far?

 

[Robbie_James_Francis]

Drugs? Where?!

My thoughts exactly!

As far as the ethics of taking drugs...the main thing I'd like to say is that if you're going to take cocaine, be sure to donate to an environmental organisation that plants trees. Cultivation of the coca plant results in the destruction of South American rainforests.

Sniff responsibly.

 

[Allegory]

Poison oak grows naturally therefore we should roll around it.

It's not illegal to roll around in it, is it? I don't know why anyone would want to but if they did nobody would arrest or fine them for it.


On the other hand, the "it grows naturally" pro-weed argument is pretty stupid too. Heroin, cocaine, and an awful lot of other drugs are perfectly natural. Cocaine is to the Coca plant as THC is to the Marijuana plant.

So I would say legalizing drugs based on 'naturalness' is something that can't be done. Perhaps if there was an honest rating system created based on addictiveness, physical and mental side effects, and the nature of the intoxication it would be easier to decide which drugs to legalize and which to keep illegal.

The problem is that nobody in most governments want to be honest about drugs.

 

[HollandScotts]

As far as the ethics of taking drugs...the main thing I'd like to say is that if you're going to take cocaine, be sure to donate to an environmental organisation that plants trees. Cultivation of the coca plant results in the destruction of South American rainforests.

That's largely because we use chemical warfare on the people growing those crops, forcing them to retreat deeper into the jungle just to get some crops that will make the people enough money to live off of.

On the other hand, the "it grows naturally" pro-weed argument is pretty stupid too. Heroin, cocaine, and an awful lot of other drugs are perfectly natural. Cocaine is to the Coca plant as THC is to the Marijuana plant.

Um, no. You have to go though a chemical process to make cocain from coca. THC develops naturally in the plant and requires no chemical extraction methods. Same with heroin and morphine from Opium.

 

[Allegory]

Um, no. You have to go though a chemical process to make cocain from coca. THC develops naturally in the plant and requires no chemical extraction methods. Same with heroin and morphine from Opium.

Mmm, no, cocaine is in the leaves and just chewing on the leaves can be a bit of a stimulant. The concentration of cocaine within coca is not anywhere near what you get with THC (hence the isolation of the alkaloid).

Anyway you can consider many strains of Marijuana unnatural if you want to be so picky about it. The stuff has been bred to be more potent.

The perceived naturalness of a drug is a fallacious way of trying to categorize it. In my opinion most drugs should be legal, the government shouldn't control the substances that people put in their bodies unless they are directly putting others at risk.

 

[Robbie_James_Francis]

That's largely because we use chemical warfare on the people growing those crops, forcing them to retreat deeper into the jungle just to get some crops that will make the people enough money to live off of.

Good point.

Yay guilt-free Friday nights!

 

[ThatRobGuy]

I'm not sure why people are debating the "natural" aspect of any drug.

Who cares if it's natural or not..."Is it harmful" should be the question that people are asking. Pot isn't that harmful. No more harmful than alcohol. It just needs responsibility and self control to accompany it.

You can OD and die from cocaine and heroin by accidentally doing a bit too much, those should be illegal.

 

[max1120]

Correct weed/pot is harmless. Eating fast food is worse for you than smoking a joint in my view. Holland and many other countries have decrimilalized it. We should see the facts and do the same!

 

[HollandScotts]

Mmm, no, cocaine is in the leaves and just chewing on the leaves can be a bit of a stimulant. The concentration of cocaine within coca is not anywhere near what you get with THC (hence the isolation of the alkaloid).

I was talking of powdered cocain. There's nothing harmful about chewing on the coca leaves. A lot of workers use it to get a boost of energy in the fields.

Anyway you can consider many strains of Marijuana unnatural if you want to be so picky about it. The stuff has been bred to be more potent.

Yea, but that still isn't man-made. Breeding it to get certain aspect out of it is natural, we've been doing it for ages with all sorts of things.

The perceived naturalness of a drug is a fallacious way of trying to categorize it. In my opinion most drugs should be legal, the government shouldn't control the substances that people put in their bodies unless they are directly putting others at risk.

Least we agree on what's important.

 

[Robbie_James_Francis]

Cannabis isn't completely "harmless". I think it's important not to fall in to that trap, because it gives ammunition to the prohibitionists. There are risks with cannabis, as there are with any substance you put in your body. Cannabis as harmless isn't the basis for the legalisation argument.

I'm not sure why people are debating the "natural" aspect of any drug.

Who cares if it's natural or not..."Is it harmful" should be the question that people are asking. Pot isn't that harmful. No more harmful than alcohol. It just needs responsibility and self control to accompany it.

You can OD and die from cocaine and heroin by accidentally doing a bit too much, those should be illegal.

You can die from ODing with alcohol: should that be illegal? The real question shouldn't be "is it harmful?" but "on what grounds can the government have authority over the choices consenting adults make about their own bodies?" The answer is that there are no grounds, so no drug ought to be criminalised.

 

[ThatRobGuy]

Cannabis isn't completely "harmless". I think it's important not to fall in to that trap, because it gives ammunition to the prohibitionists. There are risks with cannabis, as there are with any substance you put in your body. Cannabis as harmless isn't the basis for the legalisation argument.

You can die from ODing with alcohol: should that be illegal? The real question shouldn't be "is it harmful?" but "on what grounds can the government have authority over the choices consenting adults make about their own bodies?" The answer is that there are no grounds, so no drug ought to be criminalised.

They have have made alcohol illegal to a degree. If you have 2 sips of a beer (far from intoxicated) and you get pulled over driving home, you get to spend the night in jail and get your license taken away for 90 or more.

If you get pulled over with an open bottle in your car, you get license suspension for that as well.

If you get pulled over with personal use marijuana, they take it away and give you and $80 fine that you can pay by check (no worse than a speeding ticket).

And yes drugs do impact other people than just the users. When the cocaine head roaches out his brain so much that he has self inflicted retardation and isn't coherent enough to have a job, he gets to go on unemployment/social security and we (the tax payers) get to finance his cost of living for the rest of his life.

Look at a guy who's been a drinker for 40 years (like my uncle) and a guy who's been doing cocaine and meth for 5 years (like my cousin), and you can visibly tell that my cousin is far worse off mentally than my uncle.