Decriminalization of drugs

[farvas#1]

Hello all. I have learned much from the opinions and facts presented on this site that will help me with my career in the future, so first of all THANKS for that.

On to the bread and butter of the post. I am doing a paper on the decriminalization of drugs and could use any input anyone wants to give me. If you know of any good websites with stats, countries that have tried this has it worked/failed, or what your ideas are to fix the problem.

Since I am asking your opinions it is only fair that you get mine. In my opinion if someone wants to sit in thier house and smoke reefer and be unproductive at life then have at it, maybe we could have some way to put sanctions on driving while all "reefered" up. I personally have never smoked anything or done any drugs of any kind. Then of course you have the people that are very productive and just like to smoke down every night. Which they are not hurting anyone if they stay in thier house.

I know the topic of drugs has been discussed on here before but I am looking for solutions or web sites with good info. Thanks for playing and stay safe.

Jeff

[Newsfilman]

I think some states have a legislation going through about decriminalizing MJ for medicinal use.I know in Canada it's legal to own up to an ounce for medicinal purposes.

I really don't care what a person chooses to ingest in their own home.It's what they do while under the influence that concerns me.

[malka881]

http://www.rand.org/multi/dprc/pubs/

Interesting stuff here...

[2Adam29]

personally I think it is bad to legalize the currently illegal drugs unless they are medically needed. From what I hear, some smells from those things can permanently stain any fabrics in the house, making it difficult to sell, or unfair to the new owner.

[malka881]

personally I think it is bad to legalize the currently illegal drugs unless they are medically needed. From what I hear, some smells from those things can permanently stain any fabrics in the house, making it difficult to sell, or unfair to the new owner.

Less concerned about that than the social effects. I've been to Amsterdam. They have decriminalized (not legalized) soft drugs and have a much more lenient version of our methadone program. There are people laying all over the parks stoned out of their minds on government-sponsored heroin. It's an absolutely frightening concept.

[VA Dutch]

Drugs are not a good thing, but we should keep in mind that the improper use of legal drugs can be just as harmful as using illegal substances. Unfortunately, we have been fighting the "drug war" with very little success....much the same as the war on poverty. Throwing money at it is clearly not the answer, and we don't have enough prison space for really, really bad people because our jails/prisons are filled up with non-violent drug offenders.


Say what you want about the issue (as there are passionate and well-reasoned arguments all around), but I can't help but believe that a decriminalization of many drugs is going to cripple the criminal enterprise that thrives on the illicit drug market. In other words, take out the profit motive and drug-related crime (fighting over territory, etc.) will decline sharply.

For decades, we have been trying to fight this problem on the supply side - while failing to realize or admit that the problem is with demand. So long as there is a demand, it will 'create' its own supply. The more the supply is restricted, either through interdiction or prosecution, the more profitable it becomes for those who traffic in narcotics. We end up like a dog chasing its own tail.

I am just an average dolt and don't have all of the answers......but I often wonder why we are treating this more as a criminal problem than as a social one. We have paid lip service to a "just say no" mentality, but it appears as though 40 years of the same mentality just is not working. Is the percentage of people using drugs much lower than it was 'back in the day'? I doubt it.

It sounds awfully "bleeding heart liberal" of me, but I cannot help but believe that education & treatment for non-violent users would cost far less than wasting precious court time & prison space on the town pothead.

I predict this is going to be a very long thread.


P.S. Sorry for being un-PC tonight.

[JPatrick]

The way we go about things in the USA, it's clear that whenever drugs get into a neighborhood, especially drug dealers, property crimes follow and so do violent crimes and prostitution.

Would decriminalizing or legalizing drugs like marijuana, heroin, cocaine, and methamphetamine reduce the other crimes that follow? That would be a good research topic. I guess I wouldn't be surprised if you could show that decriminalizing drugs had a long term effect of shrinking law enforcement and the penal system. Whether that's "better" is anyone's guess and beyond my judgment.

[JPatrick]

I often wonder why we are treating this more as a criminal problem than as a social one. We have paid lip service to a "just say no" mentality, but it appears as though 40 years of the same mentality just is not working. Is the percentage of people using drugs much lower than it was 'back in the day'? I doubt it.




P.S. Sorry for being un-PC tonight.

I can't think of a criminal problem that isn't a social problem, but maybe you meant "cultural". If you bring culture into the mix then you can compare drug use and crime rates from.....say Seoul and Detroit. Guess what? I've been to Seoul a few times, and there's just not a lot of street crime. I chalk it up to cultural factors.

Maybe we can learn something.

[leopold99]

as a man in the streets and one time user of marijuana i present the following opinion.

i feel marijuana should remain illegal except when carrying 3 or 4 joints, in that case it should be treated as a traffic ticket. any amount over the above should be treated as dealing.

all hard drugs are to remain illegal in any amount.

why should marijuana be illegal? let's examine that question.
let's suppose that we want a national drug.
let's also suppose we have eliminated all comers except alcohol and marijuana.
what is a national drug? what criteria must it satisfy to be so?
let's draw up a list and find out.
1. the national drug must be well known.
2. the national drug must have effects that are easily predicted.
3. the national drug should do the job of being the national drug.
4. the national drug must have nasty side effects to prevent widespread rampant use.
5. the effects of the national drug must be easily regulated by the user.

if you compare the two drugs mentioned you will notice that alcohol passes all 5.
marijuana passes the first 2, possibly the third. it falls flat on its face on 4 and 5.

[bigislander72]

Less concerned about that than the social effects. I've been to Amsterdam. They have decriminalized (not legalized) soft drugs and have a much more lenient version of our methadone program. There are people laying all over the parks stoned out of their minds on government-sponsored heroin. It's an absolutely frightening concept.

I too think of this when contemplating the idea of drug decriminalization. However, if our version did not have the lax methadone programs, would this problem arise? I think a lot of people would approve of marijuana only decriminalization. Its definitely not socially benign, but comparable to alchohol.

[cst.sb]

Less concerned about that than the social effects. I've been to Amsterdam. They have decriminalized (not legalized) soft drugs and have a much more lenient version of our methadone program. There are people laying all over the parks stoned out of their minds on government-sponsored heroin. It's an absolutely frightening concept.

Bingo...

Every actual real life study has been a failure. A great one to read about, that the stoners love to tout is the Swiss Heroin Study. It's just to bad that they don't get by the first few lines to see what kind of mess it actually was.

The study showed - more addiction, longer addiction, and twice the fatalities. Yup, sounds like a great thing to me!! Freaks the lot of them

[Bearcat357]

My .02 cents.....no.

MJ is a gateway drug. I don't care what some studies have said. I know for a fact that every hardcore user that I have had to deal with professionally started with MJ.....then went to other things (in my neck of the woods Meth is King) to get a greater buzz/high..........as it came out of their mounths when I was interviewing them.....

[djack16]

Marijuana is not that different to me than alcohol. I drink on the weekened and even then it's not every weekend. I've met people who smoked marijuana and they were very bright people that were responsible with it.

One thing I remember reading about was the rampant addiction to opium way back in American history when it was legal. That is just one case study that has shifted my opinions against legalization of hard drugs. Marijuana is just another get buzzed drug and doesn't pose a significant danger to society.

[Bighead]

Marijuana is not that different to me than alcohol. I drink on the weekened and even then it's not every weekend. I've met people who smoked marijuana and they were very bright people that were responsible with it.

One thing I remember reading about was the rampant addiction to opium way back in American history when it was legal. That is just one case study that has shifted my opinions against legalization of hard drugs. Marijuana is just another get buzzed drug and doesn't pose a significant danger to society.

Accidents involving DUI drivers are responsible for approximately 17,000 fatality collisions annually in this country. That number speaks only to the death toll from motor vehicle collisions. Then consider the injuries from DUI accidents, simple assaults, domestic violence, child abuse, and the wealth of other human tragedy that is directly linked to peoples inabililty to control themselves. Ask a cop how many family disturbance calls he has been on where someone wasn't drunk.

We do a **** poor job in this country of combating the damage done by one legalized drug, why would we want to expand the use of others?

[andrewmedina]

personally i'd rather avoid the whole thing (as i like to pay little for rent so i live in worse parts of town than my paycheck would have you believe) because well, if we legalize it then my neighborhood (and several others) would look like an industrial sector in china. besides that who would want to constantly be getting minor contact highs while going to the mall? who would want their kids around that stuff from the get go?