Padawanbater2
Well-Known Member
Do you think legalizing all drugs would increase the amount of overdose deaths that would occur or decrease the amount of overdose deaths that would occur? Why?
To the first point, I think it would be my business if my tax dollars went to supplying you with drugs. I think if the war on drugs was ended, and all of a sudden the DEA's budget was freely available to allocate any which way the government decided, people would still feel very against that money going towards a drug users high. If you want to get high, go for it, do what you want, but using my money to do it is not OK, imo, what makes it even less OK is if I don't let you do it I go to jail or face fines, i.e. government coercion.Interesting.
My position is that I see overdose deaths as acceptable loss. I don't know (or even care) if legalizing all narcotics will increase or decrease drug abuse deaths. I do, however, think that all drugs should be legalized.
I would even take things further than legalization. Controversially, I would make all drugs available to all adults completely freely, at government's cost. I don't think government should interfere with the freedom of choice I have when it comes to putting something into my body. I feel the only thing government should be concerned with is my activities 'under the influence' of narcotics. If I'm not involved in any criminal or antisocial activities other than simply taking drugs, what business is it of anyone what I'm doing in the privacy of my own home?
I feel most drug-related crime is tied to money - either committing crimes in order to fund a drug habit, or committing crimes in order to protect your drug-selling business. By making all drugs completely free to all users, you completely eradicate the need to steal in order to buy drugs, and drug barons instantly lose all their customers to free drug centers.
I feel much more money is wasted on drug wars and fighting drug-related crime than it would cost to produce drugs in a laboratory environment. Drug users would have to sign wavers stating that government is not responsible for any side-effects or deaths caused by the drugs they are handing out, and that all users should be aware of and are solely responsible for any outcome.
I don't see that there should be an issue with taking drugs or being an addict, but I have a massive problem with the crime surrounding the narcotics industry. If you remove money from the equation, you squeeze drug lords out of the trade, and you reduce the need for addicts to commit crimes to fund their habit. Any crimes committed while intoxicated should be met with the most strict punishments we can muster. As long as it's victimless, what's the problem with being a junkie? Freedom of choice and all that..
Maybe I'm being too naive.
The message should be clear: Take these drugs we offer for free if you wish (don't buy them from dealers on the corner), but if you die or suffer crippling side-effects, it isn't our fault. If you commit crimes before, during, or after you've taken these drugs, we're going to lock you up for a very long time. Intoxication will never be an excuse for crime. We have free drug treatment centers for addicts wishing to kick the habit.
The money saved from fighting drug wars could be redistributed to improve drug education and to fund treatment centers.
but you are ok with the government spying on you with tax dollars??To the first point, I think it would be my business if my tax dollars went to supplying you with drugs. I think if the war on drugs was ended, and all of a sudden the DEA's budget was freely available to allocate any which way the government decided, people would still feel very against that money going towards a drug users high. If you want to get high, go for it, do what you want, but using my money to do it is not OK, imo, what makes it even less OK is if I don't let you do it I go to jail or face fines, i.e. government coercion.
It's an interesting point because I agree with you about the profit motive fueling the black market, but I just don't see how our society could offer such a thing to its citizens via taxpayers dollars without it being coerced by the government, and that's something I'm much more personally morally against than keeping drugs illegal, as much as I detest the war on drugs...
I know what you mean. It isn't an easy sell, but it has to be acknowledged that what we've been doing hasn't worked. Therefore, I think we need to be adopting more progressive tactics. Would people prefer having their house burgled by a meth-head, or allowing that meth-head to go pick up his crystal from a medical center and walk home? Or even to fund that meth-head's rehabilitation so that he/she can reintegrate themselves into society? Tax payers are currently contributing more than they should to law enforcement. Fewer crimes because drugs are free means less money spent on law enforcement.To the first point, I think it would be my business if my tax dollars went to supplying you with drugs. I think if the war on drugs was ended, and all of a sudden the DEA's budget was freely available to allocate any which way the government decided, people would still feel very against that money going towards a drug users high. If you want to get high, go for it, do what you want, but using my money to do it is not OK, imo, what makes it even less OK is if I don't let you do it I go to jail or face fines, i.e. government coercion.
It's an interesting point because I agree with you about the profit motive fueling the black market, but I just don't see how our society could offer such a thing to its citizens via taxpayers dollars without it being coerced by the government, and that's something I'm much more personally morally against than keeping drugs illegal, as much as I detest the war on drugs...
Exactly! Let Darwinism sort it out. People are allowed to jump out of planes, swim with sharks and all other kinds of life threatening thrill seeking, why stop someone from putting something into their body if they want.I support nature, evolution and everyone's right to remove themselves from the gene pool. We need to stop 'saving' 'special snowflakes' from evolution. God knows our parents didn't with us. If they lost a few of us they considered that the cost of building a better kid.
Because we have all witnessed how successful the concept of prohibition has been. The US is already Sodom and Gomorrah. We need to knock all the political shit off and deal with the public health issue dispassionately and logically.Who wants to turn the US into Sodom and Gomorrah ? Are we suggesting that junkies have some kind of redeeming qualities ? Should we let narcotics be legal so junkies can continue to be junkies ? Who the F` wants to tolerate and live with junkies ? Should we legalize it and make 70% of the fixes lethal poison and let them take their chances ? Who said junkies have any kind of value ?
Can the people who don`t tolerate them and despise them get free shots at will to rid us of them ? You gotta give the other half something !i
I`ve lived around junkies all my life and there`s not much else worse than those phony F`s
To the bolded: do you think for one hot second that legal or moral disapproval will dissuade a junkie?Who wants to turn the US into Sodom and Gomorrah ? Are we suggesting that junkies have some kind of redeeming qualities ? Should we let narcotics be legal so junkies can continue to be junkies ? Who the F` wants to tolerate and live with junkies ? Should we legalize it and make 70% of the fixes lethal poison and let them take their chances ? Who said junkies have any kind of value ?
Can the people who don`t tolerate them and despise them get free shots at will to rid us of them ? You gotta give the other half something !i
I`ve lived around junkies all my life and there`s not much else worse than those phony F`s
Murder is prohibited, How`s that failing ? I`d like to off some.Because we have all witnessed how successful the concept of prohibition has been. The US is already Sodom and Gomorrah. We need to knock all the political shit off and deal with the public health issue dispassionately and logically.