Great post

Ok bear with me...there is all sorts of data and all sorts of studies..

Can I ask what drugs these people are using aswell as holding down homes, marriages and raising children...only because I can assure you that meth and heroin and cocaine destroy lives, families, marriages...

My only problem with legalizing is where does it stop?

So does alcohol. So does glue. So does <insert name of latest drug punching bag here> Prescription drugs, etc. Some people are prone to addiction.

The drugs are the ones you mentioned, among others. I do not believe any of them are addictive unless there is something in that user that makes them prone to addiction.

I will agree with alcohol, glue and anything else...but Heroin is highly addictive, as is Meth, has nothing to do with the so called "addictive personality", its all about brain function...

My main issue is this and it should be for all of us...so all drugs are legalized and not controlled anymore (which is why most are currently called controlled substances)...

Our kids come home one day (over 18) and say ok, mom, dad, just stopped by the store and Ill be up in my room shooting up some heroin if anyone calls...think i might speedball so I dont know if Ill join you for dinner tonight...

Do we really think that making access easier and taxing it will reduce the usage? limit the damaging effects? make it more socially acceptable?

I dont buy that....the flip side is the war doesnt work, treatment and does...

Its also worth mentioning that roughly 75-80% of jail inmates test positive for drugs? or is that just a coincidence? Is that the governments fault for making the drugs expensive? resulting in people having to commit crimes to support their habit?

I dont have any answers....making all drugs freely accessible isnt it though...

Not to mention alcohol. In fact alcohol probably does more damage than all the illegal drugs combined.

There are well documented cases of doctors being caught self administering drugs. Statistically speaking there are bound to be some doctors out there addicted to morphine or whatever who are able to carrying on undetected for years. Just one example. Coke and advertising executives? A cliché to be sure, but no smoke without fire perhaps...

A: At least you would know

B: Kids respond to the environment around them. More kids take up smoking if a parent smokes for example.

C: Most kids experiment with drugs of one sort or another at some point, so like sex education its important to educate your kids about the risks and whats expected of them before its too late to do any good. Whether drugs are legalised or not doesnt change that at all. Just like educating about sex, or smoking or alcohol. Very few kids have ever said, Oh, Im not going to take a swig of that strongbow because thats illegal.

Coincidence? Who knows. Whats the drug use rate for those out on the street I wonder. More than likely a high incidence of users inside because many have to steal to support the habit. As I said, the pilot program up north saw local petty crime rates plumet. Plus if you arrest people for drug possession there is a good chance they are users. Plus jail is pretty boring...Id be using if I had that much time to fill!

Now there is something very destructive...no arguement here...

Unless you ask Brad Paisley...

I will buy B and C...as for A...does knowing make it ok? Would you be ok with it...would it set your mind at ease if your kids were using Heroin, at least knowing it was legal...

You miss the point. Kids are going to try stuff, As parents all you can do is try and raise them with a positive example and educate them as best you can about the risks they will face. We do it regarding smoking, we do it regarding drinking, we do it regarding sex. We do it regarding drug use too, even though its illegal. The legality doesnt change anything.

At least is the kids is telling you then you know you have a problem to deal with, better then them just skulking off and doing it anyway in my opinion, but hopefully it never comes to that. At least with a regulated source you dont have to worry so much about what other stuff its cut with or the danger of an accidental OD.


The "war on drugs" uses up vast resources, maybe it could be diverted to education programs and treatment for addicts and removing the stigma associated with addiction. The real harm to society isnt necessarily from the drug use itself, most people are far more affected by the crime and antisocial behaviour thats associated with getting the drugs.

There are allsorts of studies and historical cases that indicate that prohibition does not work.

It’s nice to see that the law enforcement agencies thought history have always believed that they could win, and always believed their leaders that it was just and righteous.

It’s a shame that through history it has only every increased the wealth of organized crime and driven the more vulnerable people in society into the arms of criminals who will more than willingly prey on their weaknesses.

I think any war driven by moralistic ideals is foolish, especially those that historical evidence and human psychology show to be unwinnable, it’s worse still when you know that the main casualties of the war are the weak and vulnerable and that there is an alternative

Half the reason kids try drugs is because what we told them and the reality they see in the friends don’t match

It’s the reason I tried, I was told one thing, the medical books and my fellow students in the tech college (bio-chemists) had other information.

If we were told the truth first and backed it up with honest education
Not all drugs are dangerous, some more than others, addiction is s progressive risk, and very few are lethal in their own right. But street drugs aren’t pure, you can’t check what your getting and are often cut with poisons and impurities.

If my kids came home and told me they were using hard drugs, I’d know I’d failed as a parent to given them the real information they needed to know.. Hoping some police force could prevent that would be foolish. But knowing that if that choice was made in a legal environment at least I’d know he wasn’t also in very dangerous company , and that a pharmacist would be much more likely to recommend help than a profit driven street drug dealer. And a pharmacists drugs would be clean safe and dosed!

[QUOTE=SDDep;8721108


Our kids come home one day (over 18) and say ok, mom, dad, just stopped by the store and Ill be up in my room shooting up some heroin if anyone calls...think i might speedball so I dont know if Ill join you for dinner tonight...

Do we really think that making access easier and taxing it will reduce the usage? limit the damaging effects? make it more socially acceptable?

I dont buy that....the flip side is the war doesnt work, treatment and does...

Its also worth mentioning that roughly 75-80% of jail inmates test positive for drugs? or is that just a coincidence? Is that the governments fault for making the drugs expensive? resulting in people having to commit crimes to support their habit?

I dont have any answers....making all drugs freely accessible isnt it though...[/QUOTE]

To really know for sure what the effects of drugs are we'd need to test the general population - i.e. random sample. Testing jail inmates doesn't really prove anything.

I pretty much agree with everything Iain has said. I'll add this though. If drugs were legal and controlled, I'd be much less worried about my kid coming home and saying they were off to snort some coke. At least I'd know that it wasn't cut with some crappy stuff like draino by some dodgy dealer. Part of the risk factor right now is that you don't know what's in it half the time.

The fact is drugs are appealing because they make you feel really really good. There's nothing wrong with feeling good. NOTHING.

And I dont' buy people are going to be shooting up left right and centre. Yuck, needles!

Cross posted - but yes. The war has failed in part because it's based on a lie: that there are 'gateway' drugs and just one try is GOING TO TURN YOU INTO AN ADDICT! OMG THE HORROR!


So, when it becomes clear that is rubbish, it undermines the whole premise of the "war".

Its ironic... but aren't all wars based on lies

Hmmm, not sure I agree with this. How many cocaine/heroin addicts went straight in to those drugs without trying something else first?
I dont know the answer, but I suspect there's more than a little truth in the argument that if you start with say, weed, there's an increased chance of you moving on to something harder.

Personally though, I'm in favour of drugs being legalized, regulated and controlled, for all of the reasons given by others; the war was lost before it began, it'd be safer, and there's a ton of tax revenue to be had that pay for better education, better treatment etc.