Infanteer said:
Considering most of the inner city problems stem from hard core drugs, I don't think legalization will be the great saviour you're portraying it to be.
Interesting. I have never heard of marijuana being called a hard core drug before. The problem arises with drug dealers. The drug dealers primarily sell marijuana because it is the easiest to get, and most people smoke it, so it is easy to sell. They then use the money they make to further their other criminal activities, get illegal weapons, what have you.
If marijuana (and a handful of other non addictive, but currently unjustly illegal drugs) is completely legalized, and sold in government run businesses like the LCBO, people will go to these stores to buy it, where the quality and purity can be assured, and the sale can be taxed, and have the taxes go to whatever (like the taxes on alcohol).
Stiffer sentences should be given to anyone buying or selling marijuana on the streets, for example mandatory 20 year jail time, in order to force people to buy from the stores, and put the drug dealers out of business.
Licences would be issued to parties who want to grow amounts for sale at the stores, and they would be watched closely by the government to ensure they are doing everything correct.
If people had a legal way of obtaining these drugs, they would use it. But the way the laws are now, force people to break the law, and in turn the laws do not serve in the best intrest of the people. Alcohol is the perfect example. When it was illegal, people had to use bootleggers to get it. They did not stop using it because it was illegal. Now that alcohol is regularly available, when was the last time you heard of anyone going to a bootlegger to get it? Are all people raging alcoholics? The government lets many more dangerous things be legalized, such as alcohol and cigarettes, so there is really no reason to have some drugs legalized.
The problem with drug use, stems from overuse. Like your mum surely always told you "too much of anything is not good". Lots and lots of people use drugs recreationally, and it is only a very very very small amount of them who have issues with them. This leads one to the probablility that the problem lies with the people's own addictive personalities and personal problems, then the drugs being the problem. If you have more serious underlying issues, then anything can be abused and things will turn out negative for the person. Some people abuse alcohol, some abuse painkillers, some abuse food. Rush Limbaugh abuses all three. Should these things be made illegal just because a small minority abuse them? No, of course not, after all people need food to live, people can use painkillers to medicate themselves, people can use alcohol to enjoy themselves. Well the government has already shown that they believe marijuana can be used to medicate people. Many safe drugs can be used by people to enjoy themselves, and some drugs can help feed one's mind and improve their life.
People in this hemisphere have been conditioned to think all drugs are the same and all drugs are evil. This is of course, not a realistic assumption. A plant or chemical can not posess personality charicteristics. People need to be more properly educated about drugs. If and when they are legalized, scientists and researchers can find out much more about them, then they are currently allowed to, and not be forced to write false, biased reports on them.
Everything in the universe has a "good" and "bad" side. Drugs are no exception. Some drugs, the "good" side outweighs the "bad" side, and some it is vice versa. I can give examples. Crack cocaine is what I would call a "bad" drug. It is quite easy to overdose and kill yourself, the high is short, and it is physically addictive--your body goes into withdrawl after only using a small amount. This kind of drug should be banned, and its useage condemned. Other drugs such as heroin, and basically any opiate, PCP, and any other physically addictive drug, should be banned outright, and stricter laws should be in place for those who would sell or buy these drugs. The negative side of these drugs outweigh the positive side, so these are overall negative drugs. Again, "too much of anything is no good".
However if you accept this, then you must accept that some drugs have a positive side that outweighs the negative side. Marijuana is the most widely used. The only real negative effect is that smoking marijuana can harm your lungs, and the usual factors including imparing judgement, as alcohol or other legal drugs do as well. Some other drugs that I would classify as "positive" drugs, include things, such as LSD, DMT, Psilocybin mushrooms, cacti and soforth. These again, are not in the least addictive, and in fact, the experiences are usually so intense and often life altering, that one does not want to use them more then maybe a few times a month at the absolute most. Effects also disapate with overuse, so the drug itself prevents abuse. Not to mention these drugs are much more difficult to overdose on, and problems really only arise with people who are not prepared for the experience, and they end up losing too much of their judgement, as they were not expecting the trip that they got and became overwhelmed and tried to kill themselves or the like. Prohibitionists like to "sex up" unusual phenomenon like LSD "flashbacks" to try and scare people out of using drugs, when in actuality very little is known about these occurances, and more research should be given to understand why, in rare instances, they do occur. If people can figure out if they happen when used in combonation with other drugs or whatever, then they can be prevented (or enhanced, depending on what one desires). There is very little reliable research done on drugs, and it is a disservice to all, not having this information available so that people can make informed decisions about what they want to do to themselves.
With legalization, these "good" drugs can be packaged and sold to the public. The government can research, and develop proper education to inform the people. Tell how much to take, when to take, how much is too much, what to do if you have taken too much, what to expect when you take the drug and so on. The taxes from selling the drugs can go to addiction treatment programs to treat the small minority of people who do become addicted, or need help. It can also educate people that they should not be taking drugs with a negative mindset, or to escape problems in their lives, but rather to enjoy, and experience and enhance all that life has to offer.
