BiscuitTrouser said:
Youve obviously never spoken to a teenager. You know. The prime target market for drug dealers?
Never talked to teenagers?! My brother is a teenager. My girlfriend is a teenager. I just graduated from a highschool full of 2,000 teenagers.
I AM A TEENAGER! And the only "rebellious" teenagers I met were in ISS all the time and eventually dropped out of school.....there were only about 10 of them in the whole student body that didnt shape up. It is just a stereotype that teens are trying to be "edgy" and disobey authority.
Hazy992 said:
Can I least convince you on ecstasy too? It's less dangerous than alcohol. At the very least it shouldn't be class A.
That depends. Does it:
1) Make you agitated and dangerous after a short time on the drug?
2) Does it seriously reduce your reaction time in all instances?
If it doesnt do either, MAYBE. I am not in favor of legalization at all for anything that is currently illegal. I dont think it is the right way to fix the problem. Marijunia is currently the only one I wouldnt throw a major fit over, but I still think it should be illegal, or at least, more strickly regulated than alcohol. However, I am ok with Decriminalizing drug use (Dealing should still be very much illegal). That should help keep drug users out of prision, and may convince them to seek help since they would only get a small fine and a slap on the wrist, no worse than a speeding ticket.
Of course they would, gangs will always find ways to make money, but one of the most violent and dangerous ways they go about it would plummet. Surely that's still a bonus? It's no coincidence that homicides went up drastically during prohibition and back down again when alcohol was legalised.
But again, I dont think Legalization is the right way to solve the problem. We need to make it profitable for dealers to rat out others. I am sure there are dealers who hate what they are doing and are only in it because they had no other choice. Grant them protection, pay them, get them a new job, give them amnesty...if they help take down thier old network. Get more police on the job. Start taking the fight to the druglords themselves. Send in a SEAL team and capture him or kill him. We say it is a War on Drugs. Lets start treating it like one.
And did you know that around 90% of the world's opium comes from Afghanistan and that it accounts for around 1/3 of the country's economy? You know where that money goes? Local warlords and insurgents. Now if production of opium was legalised in Afghanistan, it could be government regulated, which not only would put a significant dent in the funding of groups like the Taliban, but imagine what the Afghan government could do with that extra revenue.
What would be a better method is to make it profitable for farmers to plant wheat and corn, or other legal crops, and pay them to get rid of illegal crops like opium poppies.
Of course you're right there, but the reason drugs are so expensive is because they're illegal. It costs a hell of a lot of money to make drugs and smuggle them without being caught.
Yes, but do you really think it would be any cheaper? Things like alcohol and cigarettes are still VERY expensive, and you could expet weed to be even more expensive, due to higher "sin taxes" (which are what make up most of the cost). Plus, they are addicting, meaning you know would actually consider paying for drugs rather than your heating bill, or house payment, etc.
The revenues from cigarettes more than make up for the money we spend on cigarette related illnesses. Same principle would probably apply here but on a smaller scale.
You have a source for that? Last I heard we lost money healthcare wise from people being on cigarettes.
Yes and everyone who drinks alcohol obviously drinks and drives(!)
Alot of people do. And that is the problem. Until we refine the way this things are passed out at bars, there will continue to be problems, especially in college towns like mine. Afew days ago, some college students got drunk at the bars in town, then proceeded to drive home anyway. They didnt care, and unfortuantely, no cops caught them. When they got on the highway, they drifted into the other lane, and hit a car headon at 70 mph (in a 50 mph zone, I might add). They were in a beefed-up pickup truck, so they only got minor injures, but the people in the car they hit died on impact. And you want to tell me you want people like that to legally be able to get thier hands on something that reduces thier reaction time EVEN MORE THAN ALCOHOL?!
I don't get what you mean. You mean doing drug tests if they think they're under the influence? What's wrong with that?
It will take money to train cops to identify if someone is on drugs, and some cant even be identified without a major test that cant be done on the side of the road.
OK I'll concede that, but again the same could be said for legal drugs. Why make them more dangerous than they need to be? People will take them regardless so you may as well make them as safe as possible.
Yes, but there are some that would still be so dangerous they shouldnt be legal. I dought you could delute Meth much more than it is now, and it would still be highly flammable, making it too dangerous to be legal.
They would still be taboo even if they were legal. Alcoholics aren't exactly held in high regard.
On what planet? Where I live, you could get drunk, and as long as you dont do something stupid like drive or hit someone, no one gives a shit. But if you are taking even weed, expect to be treated less than human, and it gets worse the worse the drug is. Then again, the Midwest has even more people against legalization than the South does, so maybe that has something to do with it. Last poll I saw said only 23% of Midwesterners are Ok with just WEED being legal. It gets lower if you say all drugs, like 15%.
