Should drugs, banned ones, be legalised?
 

The War on Drugs is a massive failure. Drugs still get on our streets, people still consume them and 10,000s die every year because of it. The death toll from them being illegal is high, be it Afghan poppy fields funding terrorism, to cartels in S. America killing anyone who stands in their way, to Mexican drug lords.

Then there are the deaths of from bad drugs manufactured with a substance that will harm takers.

The crime associated with drugs is getting worse, the cost of fighting this is hindering our ability to fight real crime.

The loss of tax revenue makes it absurd. The UK drug trade is worth £8 billion, VAT at 20% alone it makes sense to legalise it. In the US it was valued at $350 billion. By making it legal you put it into the hands of big pharma, who then employ people who pay taxes and the company pays taxes.

A levy can be put on the drugs so the sale of drugs funds rehabilitation.

The reason for legalising is fewer people die in the supply chain.

We should be looking to Portugal as a good example of how to do things. Decriminalize it and stop looking at it like a crime problem and start looking at it like a healthcare problem. The money saved from arresting, prosecuting, and incarcerating people is used for education and treatment. They are seeing good results there with fewer users, less crime, and a lot of money saved.

Cut off the demand and the suppliers go with it.

The War on Drugs was another excuse for the federal government to borrow even more money from the Federal Reserve ...at interest.

Ray
Hardlinks.org

Reality is the worst drug is the most widely available and legal, Its the one drug that causes the most issues, is responsible for the most deaths, the most addictions, the most lost work hours, the most broken families. There's not one person in the western world over 20 that this drugs hasn't adversely effected their lives in some way, whether that be themselves or someone they know. EVERYONE IS EFFECTED BY IT>


Yet every western country has no issues making it freely available and taxing the hell out of it, while putting less than 1% of those collected taxes back in to caring for those that are addicted to it.

And that drug is... Alcohol

I always have liked how similar you are to me in your thinking
We need more non imbeciles on this planet
Thank you

Exactly.

We all know how well prohibition ever works on anything in the states.
We all know how much money every government anything makes on the fake war.
Enough said.

Meanwhile the UK has $10,000,000,000 in drug trade and the states is only $350,000,000?!

Wait never mind I missread that and thought someone was insane for a minute
Is 8,000,000,000 the same over there as it is in the states?
I've had people tell me that in Europe they only have 100 in each
I never did really believe that but who knows how would I know

Portugal has stopped short of legalising the supply. I would rather have the supply in hands of legalised companies than these guys. They murder daily the people killed by taking drugs monthly. Only an estimate, still you understand.

Albanian gangs 'controlling' UK drug trafficking market - BBC News

Don't forget cigarettes.

Agree 100%

Paul: Cigarettes, Salt and sugar as also right up there but Alcohol is by far the leader.

BTW I'm a chronic piss head at times, love to puff the weed and in the past have tried any drug that was passed to me.

I just find it amazing as a society that we victimise some drugs while condoning others sort of the same as religion, when the reality is they all are bad.

90% of all crime is directly or indirectly linked to drugs...this is according to the DEA...legalization would effectively drop crime in a big way and make serious money for the state...

Cigarettes kill only those who smoke it, while alcohol affect those which are not consuming it.

I don't see a problem with that. The Earth is already overpopulated. By 2030 we will have population of over 10 billion. There won't be enough food and water for everyone.

Junkies killing themselves off with drugs and idiots who don't want to vaccinate is a much better way to achieve population control than a major nuclear war.

I'm not looking at the moral or ethical reasons. I'm addressing the deaths getting the product to the user, deaths by the user using the product and the loss of tax dollars and jobs. Could be more than Cigarettes easily.

Totally wrong

So legalize drug, people get high, people murdering someone, they rape a child, they rob and kill to sustain their habit.

Make all addictive and recreational drugs legal. Alcohol too ...
Addiction should be looked at as a mental health problem.

Criminal sentencing policies:

General Offenses;

• Committing a misdemeanor while under the influence 1-2 years County, State or Federal Rehab and Work Farm chopping lettuce or picking apples, without migrant labor we need the jobs filled.
• Committing a 1st degree felony while under the influence 2-5 years State or Federal Rehab and Work Farm chopping lettuce or picking apples, without migrant labor we need the jobs filled.
• Committing a 2nd degree felony while under the influence 5-10 years State or Federal Rehab and Work Farm chopping lettuce or picking apples, without migrant labor we need the jobs filled.
• Committing a 3rd degree felony while under the influence 15 -30 years State or Federal Rehab and Work Farm chopping lettuce or picking apples, without migrant labor we need the jobs filled.
• Committing a Capital crime while under the influence 50 years State or Federal Rehab and Work Farm chopping lettuce or picking apples, without migrant labor we need the jobs filled or a death sentence (whichever is greater punishment -- convict's choice)

Vehicular Offenses;

• Second conviction operating a vehicle (with property damage or non fatal injury) while under the influence 10 years State or Federal Rehab and Work Farm chopping lettuce or picking apples ...
• First conviction operating a vehicle (with fatal injury) while under the influence 50 years State or Federal Rehab and Work Farm chopping lettuce or picking apples ...

Put America to work -- MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN

That'd be great if they didn't hand a DUI out like candy to anyone and everyone

We agree on the rest

I can't believe how often I do NOT disagree with you

Everybody has a vice ,some will kill ya in excess

They do that at the moment with the price so high. Legalise, lower the price and then there is a lower crime rate. Also, you have money for rehab centres.

More criminals should be put to work doing work in the community.

Crime in the states has been dropping for 20 years. We could just stay the course.

Smoke 'em if ya got 'em!!

<////////////////////>~~~

420 4ever.

Allow me to misquote you ...

Also, we're (or were) mostly cashing in on people addicted to porn and we want pontify about other types of addictions :1orglaugh :1orglaugh.

Then why aren't your prisons emptying?

My suggestion would save lives, money and make it better for drug addicts. Would you rather have the prohibition, illegal gambling or Las Vegas, legal brothels or illegal, etc.

Another thing with drugs that no one really mentions is the long term mental health problems it causes, even decades after you stop taking them. Illnesses like Anxiety, Depression and Psychosis. Maybe if you legalise them you control how they are made and whats going into them. You can also do better studies and try figure out why they cause these issues in certain people

Not sure why, but for some reason pot is (was) illegal. They've legalized it some states, and use the taxes to support schools. Seems like a win win to me - less tax dollars spent in chasing criminals and locking them up, and more money invested into schools.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passive_smoking

You are an idiot.

I never heard for anyone dieing from passive smoking, while tons of examples people dieing because someone else was drunk. So you are idiot in this case. One thing is theory and second practice.

You never heard of heart attack, stroke but most importantly lung cancer and tens of other types of cancer linked to carcinogens in cigarette smoke? People don't die of that??

You sir are an uber idiot. I have known that since I saw you on NP. The only idiot to compete with you was Seeandsee.

It's not alcohol that kills. It's the irresponsibility of the people who abuse it.

Not much is being done at the moment as drugs are illegal. By making them legal you recognise so many problems and can educate and treat.

I would rather drugs in the control of Roche, Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, etc. Than Guadalajara Cartel, Sinaloa Cartel, Taliban, etc.

There is no winning in the War on Drugs, in fact, we are losing big time and giving money to killers.

There are lots of evidence, you just didn't look.

Well said :thumbsup

:2 cents:

The advocates for weed (which is what these threads are usually about) aren't affected by it and are mostly oblivious to it.

Portugal decriminalised drugs for personal use. It hasn't done the same on the supply side it's still illegal to sell drugs.

I suggest they take the supply side out of the hands of criminals and put it into the hands of Drug Companies.

I knew a guy once who used to be addicted to heroin. He told me that when he was craving it, and had no money to get his next fix, he would not think twice about killing anyone if he knew they had as little as $10 on them. He did not consider or care one bit about any consequences, whatsoever. He was not a very bright person to begin with.

Tthink about all the lowbrow idiots in your community. Every community has them. Now think about all of them being fucked up on heroin, meth, or something similar. Anyone who has any money on them, or anything of value, would be in danger of their lives. For no other reason than idiots are gonna idiot. :2 cents: