The gazillions in taxes is going to get the country out of this deficit, hell, we'll be able to give every American 100,000 coconuts a year.
Do you think this will make people think twice about doing it, or protect the child going forward? If jail time solved this stuff, it wouldn't be around any more. Do we want to solve this stuff? Or just punish?
Those pills you speak of are all legal. Still abused. The heroine and meth is illegal. Still abused. Maybe the legality of these substances doesn't address the issues underlying their abuse at all?
So, 1. It's an unsolvable problem. 2. The problem(s) would lessen, if made legal. 3. There are no victims of drug use / abuse. Have I correctly and completely recounted the tenets of your belief that all drugs should be legalized, in the numbered list, above?
Before this turns needlessly adversarial, urged by an increasing number of popcorn-eating smiley faces, know that I'm not itching for a philosophical fight, here. I think that drug use in this country is both rampant and dire, well beyond posturing, and that no solution should go unexplored or fail to be fully considered. This being said, I am inclined to agree that drug use is a symptom of many and much larger problems.
Heroine and meth are by products of the drug war and would be basically stamped out with legalization.
I'd be willing to see if you're right. I think you know that not all problems would go away. Also, some genies don't go back in the bottle. Even if heroine and meth are products the drug war, that doesn't mean people will forget about meth when they can legally buy something else.
I don't believe in Utopias. I don't think it'd be perfect but would be a hell of a lot better than the current one. If they were legal amphetamines, I doubt a majority would want something cooked up in a Mountain Dew bottle. I still think if you committed a real crime on drugs that should add a harsher penalty to the sentence.
Making it easier to get pot has increased it's usage? Whaaa? Who would have thunk it? http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/22/us/marijuana-use-up/
That's like saying a dry county changing to allowing liquor sales resulted in more casual drinking. Big deal. It's marijuana. It isn't in the same realm as pills, heroine, etc.
I believe in Utopia, even if I don't think it is obtainable overnight or with anything less than 100 % desire for it.
Yes, but there are probably people that wouldn't have done it that are now using pot. That's not a huge problem because it's not addictive. Other drugs you get people trying them once and their life is screwed.
But is there a valid point, there, IP? Do you believe that a legalization of drugs would increase their use?
I'm just guessing, but I think the more hardcore the drug, the less you'd see increases in usage with legalization. Hell, there's probably plenty of people who would've smoked pot but just didn't want to deal with drug dealers.
Having no correction, I'll assume that these are accurate, and say: 1. What makes it "unsolvable", and what other problems should we also abandon trying to solve, if any? 2. Which problems, specifically, would lessen if all drugs were legalized? And how would their legalization be directly and positively correlated to this lessening of ills, exactly - take me through it. Give examples. And what if all current problems were lessened or eliminated - may new ones emerge, and if so, what would those most likely be? Of those that may then emerge, if any, would they be better, worse or about the same as those we now have, if they remain illegal? 3. This is preposterous, on its face. So much so, that I find it to be blasphemous to both reason and intellect. In fact, you actually listed victims (friends and family) in your post, touting it as a "victimless" crime. I think that your argument is indefensibly illogical, as a whole, without substantive merit, and impossible for a reasonable person to believe and espouse. But, you're no dummy, and so, I am wanting to see what I may be missing.
Significantly? No. But it may appear to be an increase because it will be drawn into the daylight and people will be legally able to claim their "user" status. Marijuana was ubiquitous in East Tennessee when I lived there, too.
