Drugs!

[Allegory]

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.

Time isn't as important as degree of abuse. If your uncle who has been drinking for 40 years only has a couple drinks a week it's not exactly the same as someone who habitually abuses meth (which tends to be the case because meth is a terrible drug).

I know people who use cocaine recreationally, maybe once a month, and they are perfectly normal well-functioning members of society.

 

[Robbie_James_Francis]

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.

That's solely your experience, however. I know people who take cocaine, and people who have done for decades, and have great careers, are productive members of society and are otherwise law abiding. I also know drinkers who are so ill from daily alcohol use that they are in and out of hospital and living on benefits because they can't work.

It's a matter of personal responsibility--yes, you can take a couple of grams of cocaine every day and destroy your life and brain, just as you can wake up every morning and drink a bottle of vodka and do the same. Or, like the vast majority of people, you can use either or both responsibly as part of a productive life.

If alcohol isn't going to be criminalised, neither should other drugs be. And the idea that the prohibition of drunk driving amounts to making alcohol illegal to any extent is absurd. It's a whole other issue.

 

[TSMaria]

Well, we use morphine, which is essentially iv opium, for pain. Most patients who use it are still perfectly mentally stable. Heroin is made from the opium poppies, and it has essentially the same effects of morphine. So if someone without pain were to use a tiny bit every once in a while, it wouldnt be that bad. However the problem is the person becomes more and more dependant if it is not regulated. if someone needs morphine for a year in a hospital, they will be addicted to heroin even if they havent taken it before. All drugs must be properly regulated, not just the heroin/morphine example.

 

[ThatRobGuy]

That's solely your experience, however. I know people who take cocaine, and people who have done for decades, and have great careers, are productive members of society and are otherwise law abiding. I also know drinkers who are so ill from daily alcohol use that they are in and out of hospital and living on benefits because they can't work.

It's a matter of personal responsibility--yes, you can take a couple of grams of cocaine every day and destroy your life and brain, just as you can wake up every morning and drink a bottle of vodka and do the same. Or, like the vast majority of people, you can use either or both responsibly as part of a productive life.

If alcohol isn't going to be criminalised, neither should other drugs be. And the idea that the prohibition of drunk driving amounts to making alcohol illegal to any extent is absurd. It's a whole other issue.

Here is a listing of some of the long term effects of cocaine use

Repeated cocaine use can cause the following health consequences:
Irregular heart beat.
Heart attack.
Chest pain.
Respiratory failure.
Stroke.
Seizures and headaches.
Abdominal pain and nausea.

Whether you do a little or a lot, it still gets crystallized in the brain and and contributes to the effects shown above.

Lets look at this from practicality as well.

Give me one good rational reason why a person would need to partake of cocaine socially???

 

[Allegory]

Here is a listing of some of the long term effects of cocaine use

Repeated cocaine use can cause the following health consequences:
Irregular heart beat.
Heart attack.
Chest pain.
Respiratory failure.
Stroke.
Seizures and headaches.
Abdominal pain and nausea.

Whether you do a little or a lot, it still gets crystallized in the brain and and contributes to the effects shown above.

Lets look at this from practicality as well.

Give me one good rational reason why a person would need to partake of cocaine socially???

What does that site say about alcohol use?

I'm not a drug user by any means, but I can see no reason for keeping most drugs illegal. The "war on drugs" is a tremendous failure and has only led to a waste of taxpayer money, thousands of people in jail for very minor crimes involving the prohibited drugs, and widespread public misconception about the effects of drugs.

The only reason most people would agree to keep drugs illegal is because they are illegal.

Both alcohol and tobacco are terrible for you, but you won't see those made illegal.

 

[allhart]

Most people idolize drugs habitually and when the the habits end up hurting you, it hurts others emotional(for they love you) and for some physically. I have been on both sides of the fence. I have done everything ,but shoot up in the drive to get high. You start out with the more easy stuff building to the heavy. In which I played with fire and burned everybody in my path. To only slowing down by switching to a more lighter drug to hide and deceive that I got high.,so I was married,but No one wants to be with a drug addict.(unless they are them selves) I had to stay away from the harder drugs, but habitually every drug takes its toll on the persons body and psyche. Just like beer and the hard stuff. None of its normal. Would you drink a case of soda in a couple hours?,but you do it for beer. To only blow snot bubbles or throw up or to eventually get to where if someone makes you angry you can't control yourself and you terrorize everyone you love.How about a Dui comes around in a black out and you kill someone driving under the influence. Also educate yourself on the true effect it has on your brain medically. Somethings are ill reversible and have a long term effect. Meth, destroys your short term memory. Acid, destroys your reality. Pot, slows you down and make you stupid. like drawled out words(hayyyy duuuude) after awhile you stay that way because your high all the time and your brain knows nothing else. It shows physically and mentally. Drugs are fun ,but they end up controlling you and depending on the drug of choice the monkey on the back can be a howler or gorilla and you can't hide it from the one's most closest to you! That love you. I thought it wasn't hurting no one ,but myself (that's not true) This isn't a one line or a paragraph of word that can explain the hurt and devastation that drugs have on family's and society. Most prisoners are in prison on some drug reason. In that their mind is cloudy or hooked on drugs. My guilt is my own but don't fool yourself into thinking its remotely normal or O.K. People die from the effect of drugs directly or indirectly. Drugs addiction is more mental than it is or can be physical.

 

[max1120]

Allhart..sorry but I do not see most drugs as bad you have painted them to be. Weed for example is not going to make you crazy or anything. I have plenty of friends with normal lives who have and do occassionally smoke weed. Some drugs crack or heroine I admitt are not things anyone needs to be doing. But the OP had to do with pot not crack or heroine.

 

[ThatRobGuy]

What does that site say about alcohol use?

I'm not a drug user by any means, but I can see no reason for keeping most drugs illegal. The "war on drugs" is a tremendous failure and has only led to a waste of taxpayer money, thousands of people in jail for very minor crimes involving the prohibited drugs, and widespread public misconception about the effects of drugs.

The only reason most people would agree to keep drugs illegal is because they are illegal.

Both alcohol and tobacco are terrible for you, but you won't see those made illegal.

I don't think the legality of substances has anything to do with health concerns from the government perspective, I mention before that for them it's all about the $$$.

But to to try to compare getting drunk and smoking with hard drugs that can kill you in a matter of a few hours is ludicrous.

 

[allhart]

Allhart..sorry but I do not see most drugs as bad you have painted them to be. Weed for example is not going to make you crazy or anything. I have plenty of friends with normal lives who have and do occassionally smoke weed. Some drugs crack or heroine I admitt are not things anyone needs to be doing. But the OP had to do with pot not crack or heroine.

The drug pot helps you put you in a unmoral state of judgment, As you build up an a tolerance you might gain back some self control,but as I said it did helped me along to other drugs in the party atmosphere. For I was already compromised and unmoral. Looking for fun and drugs start out fun. Teens are more like to wind up out of control, but I have seen 50 year old people throw away everything as well. I didn't wake up one day or as a child say I will become a drug addict. One thing leads to another. Just like alcohol can give you false courage. Where in you right mind you wouldn't say anything. I have lived it and anyone that plays with drugs is to be playing Russian roulette.

 

[Allegory]

I don't think the legality of substances has anything to do with health concerns from the government perspective, I mention before that for them it's all about the $$$.

But to to try to compare getting drunk and smoking with hard drugs that can kill you in a matter of a few hours is ludicrous.

Alcohol can kill you very quickly. I'm willing to bet more people drink themselves into a coma than overdose on cocaine or heroin...not to mention all the car accidents

 

[allhart]

People keep doing drugs after the fun is gone because they can't deal with the messes they have made. Plainly they can't deal with life and they don't know where to start or to say they don't have a safe place to grow in love for themselves and others. You have to love yourself before you can love anyone else and plainly some of us continually love the drug addict while they hurt themselves. In hope they will come around before its destroys everything they hold dear to their mind to their family. I have seen it all and have done it all also it suck not being able to save someone from their own demise. I have experienced both sides of the life in family torn with emotional effects to drugs. You are totally helpless and you have no control of the circumstances of a loved one immersed in drug use.

 

[allhart]

As a Drug addict. You become shallow and empty. Lost to the reality of life and lost to real living. You become lost in a tormented mind of delusion in a emotional roller coaster that will inevitable crash and burn everything you know to be good.

 

[cleansedbytheblood]

Poison oak grows naturally therefore we should roll around it.

Haha I agree

 

[Robbie_James_Francis]

Here is a listing of some of the long term effects of cocaine use

Repeated cocaine use can cause the following health consequences:
Irregular heart beat.
Heart attack.
Chest pain.
Respiratory failure.
Stroke.
Seizures and headaches.
Abdominal pain and nausea.

Whether you do a little or a lot, it still gets crystallized in the brain and and contributes to the effects shown above.

Sorry, by taking cocaine I wouldn't be forcing those problems on others, but on myself. As a consenting adult no authority has the right to tell me what I can't do with my own body.

Lets look at this from practicality as well.

Give me one good rational reason why a person would need to partake of cocaine socially???

I don't recall saying anything about need. Most people who enjoy a few drinks on Friday evening don't need to drink, they just want to. Why would a rational person need to go on to an internet forum to discuss the legality of drugs? There is no reason, but there are many reasons why you and I want to do this.

 

[revanneosl]

From the age at which we are toddlers, spinning around & around in circles 'till we're dizzy and fall down, some people just find it enjoyable to get their perception all bent out of shape.

From the age at which our parents tell us not to do that, threaten to spank us if we keep doing it, give us a "time out" and actually do spank us to make us quit spinning around & around in circles until we're dizzy and fall down, some people just find that they can't do "just a little bit" of getting their perception all bent out of shape.

Most people who enjoy bending their perception out of shape, and even most people who can't do "just a little bit" of it, still manage to hold down jobs, pay their bills, pay their taxes & lead contributive lives.

Those who can't or don't are not helped by being incarcerated. They are helped only by treatment, and not very often by that.

The war on drugs is stupid & useless. Everyone knows this. The American taxpayers have, for the past 30 years, been spending almost exactly the same amount to interdict the drug supply as they've been spending on drugs. We (the taxpayers) are funding both sides of the war. It's insane.

After three decades can we say that our criminalization strategy isn't working? Can we try something else now? NO! Of course not! We must keep doing the same thing, over and over again, even though we know it doesn't work!

If we don't, the other side will call us "soft on drugs", "soft on crime".

Idiocy.

 

[Allegory]

As a Drug addict. You become shallow and empty. Lost to the reality of life and lost to real living. You become lost in a tormented mind of delusion in a emotional roller coaster that will inevitable crash and burn everything you know to be good.

Do you have anything other than hyperbole to add to this thread?

 

[ThatRobGuy]

Alcohol can kill you very quickly. I'm willing to bet more people drink themselves into a coma than overdose on cocaine or heroin...not to mention all the car accidents

That's is partially because you can find alcohol at any gas station, if cocaine were that accessible, you'd see more OD's and accidents from that as well...

 

[ThatRobGuy]

Sorry, by taking cocaine I wouldn't be forcing those problems on others, but on myself. As a consenting adult no authority has the right to tell me what I can't do with my own body.

Okay fine you should be allowed to do whatever you want to your body...but under the following terms.

-you shouldn't be allowed to get any government funding when your brain gets fried and you can't function enough to hold a job
-you shouldn't be able to take up space in any hospital for any health conditions related to the drug use, those spots should be reserved for people with heath problems that were not caused by illegal activity.
-you should waive the right to have health care benefits because if you want to continually partake in a activity that makes you a higher risk, you shouldn't burden the system for the rest of us (or you should at least pay elevated rates like a lot of insurance companies charge for smokers and drinkers)

Quote from the white house's website

Recent estimates suggest that the abuse of alcohol and drugs costs taxpayers more than $294 billion annually in preventable health care costs

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/11/20011109-27.html

 

[HollandScotts]

-you shouldn't be able to take up space in any hospital for any health conditions related to the drug use, those spots should be reserved for people with heath problems that were not caused by illegal activity.

The solution: Druggies offing a whole buncha non-druggies so there will be space in the hospitals for us. I think it's only fair that if someone is trying to kill us, we kill them first.

 

[angellica]

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?

If you are a transgender, don't you take drugs every day (for hormones or whatever)??