Let's talk about the war on drugs

[Rize]

Do you think it is right? If so, why?

 

[MaryS]

There are two wars in my lifetime that I don't think will ever be won: Johnson's "war on poverty" and Nixon's "war on drugs".
No wonder Nixon appointed 3 liberal judges to the Supreme Court and only one conservative. The only conservative judge appointed by Nixon was William Rehnquist and he was in line with Clarence Thomas in wanting the feds to stay out of drug control and leave the issue with the states.

I stand with Justice Clarence Thoms on the issue of drugs....the issue belongs with the staes and the feds should not be involved.

 

[ApocryphaNow]

let's talk about a huge waste of money and the lives of youth

I live in PA. I think I'd rather the state sell crack cocaine than set up the new slot machines.

 

[JamieGraham]

As long as people choose to get cheap money for expensive debts - drugs in society...
they will continue.

In fact - now we have a surge of whilte collar drugs- pain pills - Oxicotin and so on,.

People need to learn that there are great joys in life that bring natural highs.
The drugs numb that so they lose the natural capability to produce this naturally - so they get in a spiral to get it through unnatural means. This also causes depression...
anxiety and fear. Which in turn propetuates the problems.
They choose to run with people that condone it...so it just keeps on and on and on...

this is kind of not right on your threads....just venting a bit...

It seems that when I was in school marijuana was bad...speed was thug like...
Now it is marijuana is like a beer, speed is too and so is Heroin and meth.

it is a very sad state we are in.

I pray for all of them - I see them often...this type of corruption has spread to the norm in many schools...

@;-(

 

[Rize]

let's talk about a huge waste of money and the lives of youth

I live in PA. I think I'd rather the state sell crack cocaine than set up the new slot machines.

Quite true. Gambling is no more destructive and wasteful a habit than drug use when abused. That doesn't stop a number of states from setting up casinos. Of course, not just any business person can apply to start a casino in most states, only the special state sanctified giant casino's are good. But the little ones can set up a bunch of video poker (as if that is somehow different from slot machines).

I think that gambling should be legal, but is the height of hippocracy for it to be legal and not drugs. Actually its the height of cowardice. I think a lot of politicians would like to see drugs legalized for a number of reasons, but it would be a risk move politically.

 

[Rize]

As long as people choose to get cheap money for expensive debts - drugs in society...
they will continue.

In fact - now we have a surge of whilte collar drugs- pain pills - Oxicotin and so on.

People need to learn that there are great joys in life that bring natural highs.
The drugs numb that so they lose the natural capability to produce this naturally - so they get in a spiral to get it through unnatural means. This also causes depression...
anxiety and fear. Which in turn propetuates the problems.
They choose to run with people that condone it...so it just keeps on and on and on...

this is kind of not right on your threads....just venting a bit...

It seems that when I was in school marijuana was bad...speed was thug like...
Now it is marijuana is like a beer, speed is too and so is Heroin and meth.

it is a very sad state we are in.

I pray for all of them - I see them often...this type of corruption has spread to the norm in many schools...

@;-(

Well it's one issue. Some people abuse drugs. But guess what, that's only some people. I smoked marijuana and did LSD in high school. I graduated with over nearly a 3.8, got two scholarships, graduated college with a 3.6, got an assistantship to grad school and currently have a 4.0 there. I did most of my experimenting in high school and things tapered off a bit in college. It just got old. Although I'd still like to casually smoke cannabis now and then still, I can't because it's not legal and I lost touch with my old friends who I could have safely received a small amount from.

The worst thing is that the people who are most likely to abuse drugs, are the closest to the people who are most likely to sell them (i.e. poorer people). The war on drugs does nothing useful. It just puts poor people in jail for no particular reason, encourages violence and gang activity and prevents responsible people from using recreationally.

I'm not saying Christians should support casual drug use of course. I just think it's wrong to prohibit it. Not everyone is a Christian. What social problems are caused by drug use (and they are already present because the war on drugs doesn't really work) could be assuaged by tax dollars taken from the legal sale of drugs. Products would be regulated and thus relatively safe (fewer accidental overdoses, less transmission of STD's via needles). Relatively speaking we're in the dark ages right now.

 

[blueapplepaste]

Do you think it is right? If so, why?

It's a waste of time and money. People are going to do it regardless if its legal or not if they really want to. Some would argue that if drugs are legalized or decriminalized that everyone would start shooting heroin and snorting coke. Wrong. People who don't do drugs now don't do them because of health, personal beliefs, whatever, not because of a lack of availability. They are no more a threat to society than alcohol or tobacco are. Both of these legal drugs cause far more damage than the illegal ones do. And before someone jumps in and says "illegal drugs are sooooo dangerous, its for their own good," more people die each year (about 2x's as many) from perscription drugs than from illegal ones. Also, the war on drugs wastes too much of our judicial process and carries out rageous prison sentences that also waste tax money. I'd rather our judicial system and law enforcement be used for capturing murderers, rapists, terrorists, sleazy politicans, not some goofy 21 yr old who sold an ounce of pot and now is serving time.

We should legalize all drugs and regulate them and tax the hell out of them. However, if you go out and drive a car while tripping on LSD and run over 27 kids, you should face mega punishments, just as you would if you drove drunk. Everyone wins if they're legalized; the government would get a ton of money from the revenue of their sale and it would also free up a ton of resources and money that could better be served by providing better health care, helping the poor, fighting terrorism; the list goes on.

[/soapbox]

 

[TeddyKGB]

I stand with Justice Clarence Thoms on the issue of drugs....the issue belongs with the staes and the feds should not be involved.

The problem with that strategy is that some states inevitably will repeal some prohibitions, while others will retain strict anti- laws. Then, any transportation or purchase across state lines will have to be mediated by the federal government anyway.

 

[reverend B]

the war on drugs is the best example of how we refuse to learn from history. there is an exact corollary to this in prohibition. when alcohol was outlawed, it became very cool to drink and consumption went way up. i believe the same allure exists today with drugs. that was part of the fun when i was young. it was naughty! i was a rebel and bucked authority with every joint i smoked. wasn't drinking more fun when you were underage? prohibition created an underworld that profited on the folly of government. we will always be supplied with the things there are markets for, even if the market turns black. the government wastes money on the war that is impossible to win, costs billions of dollars and gives up who know how much in potential tax revenue. on top of all this, the constitutional justification for making them illegal is dubious at best. as blueapplepaste made clear, it is the impact that my being on drugs may have on someone else that is the potential crime, and those crimes should not be excused. but my being high in my home is anyone elses concern because....?

 

[blueapplepaste]

the war on drugs is the best example of how we refuse to learn from history. there is an exact corollary to this in prohibition. when alcohol was outlawed, it became very cool to drink and consumption went way up. i believe the same allure exists today with drugs.

I forgot to mention this in my post, but murder rates skyrocketed when alcohol was made illegal, they immediately fell once prohibition was revoked. Consequently, the murder rates began to sky rocket again when the "war on drugs" was launched in the late 60's early 70's and remains about the same today. Many people argue that drugs cause violence; wrong. Illegal drugs cause violence. Legalize drugs and murder rate will decline because drugs won't be such a "hot item" so to speak.

 

[reverend B]

there is no question of this, as it creates an underworld. there is only one form of control in the underworld, and that is force.

 

[CaligulaNero]

The war on drugs is insane. As pointed out already, it creates a black market that "self regulates" the competition through force b/c it is such a racket (illegally). At the very least pot should be legal. As far as "concern for the children", your childern are NOT my problem- they are your problem and your children's own problem. I'm sick of living in society that denies responsible people the ability to do what they want so long as it doesn't harm others simply b/c some people cannot control their own behavior.

 

[EverlastingMan]

I think that they should be outlawed, mayhaps not medically, because most people are merely going to abuse them. It is not like achohol, where you don't need to get drunk to feel better, the only reason to use it is to get high.

 

[reverend B]

I think that they should be outlawed, mayhaps not medically, because most people are merely going to abuse them. It is not like achohol, where you don't need to get drunk to feel better, the only reason to use it is to get high.

must disagree with you. that "feel better" is the high. many have the same kind of maintenance with pot. alcohol IS a drug. most people will abuse them both. where is the legal basis to forbid that?

 

[EverlastingMan]

must disagree with you. that "feel better" is the high. many have the same kind of maintenance with pot. alcohol IS a drug. most people will abuse them both. where is the legal basis to forbid that?

Yes it is the high that is entirely right, but whereas a few beers are not going to impair your judgement the amount of a it takes to get a high is most certainly going to. Whatsmore I've yet to here of people making desperate decsions to get a beer but it's rather common that you hear of people doing insane things to get .

 

[blueapplepaste]

Yes it is the high that is entirely right, but whereas a few beers are not going to impair your judgement the amount of a it takes to get a high is most certainly going to.

Alcohol is a drug. It's no better than pot and is a much higher burden on society. Drunk driving, drunk husbands beating their wives/kids. Sure a little in moderation is fine as is a little bit of pot in moderation. But smoking pot won't put you in a violent frenzy whereas alcohol might.

Whatsmore I've yet to here of people making desperate decsions to get a beer but it's rather common that you hear of people doing insane things to get .

When beer was illegal during prohibition, people did desprate things to get it. You're comparing apples and oranges because alcohol is legal and is readily available and drugs are not; at least it's not like I can go to the grocery store and get a dime bag of pot, where as I can go and get a 6-pack. If drugs were legalized and regulated, that would solve many of the problems in one swift motion.

 

[SixClowns]

The war on drugs is a misnomer. I feel the money spent to keep drugs off the streets is unfortunate necessary. Illegal narcotics do add to the social blight we all hate; theft, prostitution, murder. The illegal use of legal narocotics also produces the same effects, that being the case- how can anyone saying legalizing now illegal narcotics would somehow improve these social blights. If the drugs are heavily taxed the price would rise to an amount that the poor would be unable to afford leading to theft, prostitution and murder...seems like a catch 22 to me.

Let's stop fighting the war on AIDS. Let's just heavily tax the medicines that HIV sufferers need, that way those who are thinking about living a lifestyle were riskfactors are greatly increased for HIV would be able to make a kore informed choice and we could use the tax money to fix interstates.

There is nothing worse than a pothead philospher who solves the world ills between tokes.

 

[blueapplepaste]

The war on drugs is a misnomer. I feel the money spent to keep drugs off the streets is unfortunate necessary. Illegal narcotics do add to the social blight we all hate; theft, prostitution, murder.

These arise because they are illegal, not because of the drugs themselves

The illegal use of legal narocotics also produces the same effects, that being the case- how can anyone saying legalizing now illegal narcotics would somehow improve these social blights. If the drugs are heavily taxed the price would rise to an amount that the poor would be unable to afford leading to theft, prostitution and murder...seems like a catch 22 to me.

Even if they were taxed, I doubt they would cost more than they do now, infact way cheaper even with taxation. Your argument fails.

Let's stop fighting the war on AIDS. Let's just heavily tax the medicines that HIV sufferers need, that way those who are thinking about living a lifestyle were riskfactors are greatly increased for HIV would be able to make a kore informed choice and we could use the tax money to fix interstates.

How Christian of you. Don't help those who suffer from disease. I wonder what Jesus would say.

 

[EverlastingMan]

Illegality as demonstrated by achohol-which yes I agree is a and yes I agree adds problems to our society immmense ones- is not the issue. The problems would still happen if it was legal, most anyway.

 

[k]

It's a mythical War meant to drum up billions of funding for a program that was only designed to be an elaborate laundry mat.