Ferguson, MO

You don't work at the UT vet hospital? They don't have drugs you could find your way into contact with? I'm going to call bullshit.

 

Difference between something being legal and being able to get it at your local 711 than getting it thru a drug dealer or even having to go to a doctor to get a medical marijuana card. Maybe it only increase usage by say 5 percent, but it has to increase usage,

 

I'm not there right now

 

Legalize anything that can be used straight from the ground and is not addictive - weed, mushrooms, etc. The tax revenue and enforcement savings would be astronomical. There is no reason to legalize cocaine, meth, heroin, etc. not in this country. We are not Portugal or holland. Use would go up and the consequences would not be favorable. Regarding the notion that we should be free to do whatever, why even have doctors write prescriptions? Should oxy, percoset, morphine all be legal as well?

 

**** real world examples, folks just "know" in this thread.

 

Portugal has legalized recreational drug use?

 

You want to make more drugs even more readily and legally accessible - to be bought, sold, taxed, possesses and used.

And you're arguing that this is the solution to the drug epidemic, or that it would stem use, or what, exactly? Or are you arguing that legalizing drugs is just the right thing to do, from a libertarian perspective?

Maybe I don't get it - highly possible - so walk me through what it is that you believe will be accomplished by legalizing drugs.

As to supporting my statement that it's better for a child to be with their parents and well-cared for, and not in State's custody - do you really need me to provide a link to something that is so self-evident?

Or do you take exception to my saying that drugs is the far and away leading cause of parents abusing and losing their kids to state's custody? If so, simply do this:

1. Find the phone number of the local or state number of any DCS office in the U.S. - Alaska, Maine, LA, Tuscaloosa, Denver, Detroit or Danville, pick it at random. Better, pick any 10, or 1,000.

2. Ring that number. When they answer, introduce yourself and ask, "Out of 100 children who are currently in your state's custody, how many are there as a direct result of drug and alcohol use / abuse in the home?"

3. Believe whatever it is that they tell you, IP.

Because I can tell you that in TN, it hovers at about 80%.

 

I almost, kinda sorta, get an implication that you think America would be smart to look at somehow curbing alcohol as well in your post.

 

Drinking of alcohol went up in the US after it was made illegal.

That said, I know where you are coming from, Tenny. Drug use (and alcohol use) doesn't just affect the person that is using. It affects all those around them, as well. We are all interconnected and what I do affects you, whether you know it or not. I am all for legalizing pot. But when it comes to the hard drugs, I just have a very hard time being OK legalizing cocaine, heroin, meth, etc. I am just not sure it would be good.

But, intellectually I know that they are going to get it anyway, might as well legalize it, tax the shit out of it and control its quality, and then take that money and educate. But I would have a very, very hard time pulling that trigger. I just don't know if I could be OK with it morally.

 

Take a chance

Custer did

 

I try to take morals out of it because that's subjective. I hate parents that abuse drugs or any other vice in front of their responsibilities at home.

 

Of course it will increase usage. It's not that they're too stupid to get that, but that they prefer not to admit that necessarily inconvenient reality.

And how anyone, particularly intelligent people like these guys, can walk down the street, read the paper or watch the news and think - "This place needs more drug use." is simply beyond my ability to comprehend.

 

There's a huge difference between drug use and drug abuse. I think if drugs were legal that soft drug use would increase, but I think the amount of hard drug use would decrease.

 

More usage equals means more jobs and more tax revenue

We could finally end the stupid drug war

 

The sheer amount of money that would be freed up by this is staggering. I don't want to seem callous, because it isn't all about money. But the drugs fund so much illegal activity in the country, as well, and it would cripple criminal organizations as well as let towns and cities relax their police force.

Drugs scare the hell out of me because I have two little boys. My one big fear is that they will grow up and decide one day to try drugs. Meth alone is the scariest thing on the planet. And because it is far more addictive than alcohol, I am not for legalizing it. But that might be my simple need for some illusion of control.

And I doubt very seriously you could go into the 7-11, pick up a pack of gum, some milk and a gram of crack. I imagine it would require things much like the package stores, stuff that is closely monitored and regulated.

But again, on moral grounds, I am just not sure that I could pull that trigger.

 

Do you realize the mountainous amounts of data which show how "abuse" necessarily derives from "use"?

You're suggesting that cancer is a suitable cure for the obesity epidemic. We just need enough cancer for weight loss, and science and common sense aside, we'll just trust that it stops with that, and doesn't lead to more serious consequences.

 

Here, at this post, you have officially escaped the bounds of reason, and fly unfettered from the constraints of all common sense.

It's even more unbelievable, considering all that you must regularly encounter, in your daily travels.

 

What changes?

There will still be drug babies like Freddie Gray who have a zero shot at life.

Society deserves to get some sort of return.

 

Legal or not, you can get hard drugs at the 7/11 now.

Nothing changes, nothing.

 

What is funny is, that as I was writing that, I realized that half the 7-11s are probably fronts, anyway...