Forward: I received a request from a friend that is in a Drugs and Crime class. I spent about two hours on the response and I didn’t want all the typing to go to waste so I decided to throw it in here. Too bad there is no post count here; this would set me for a month.

Question: What are your opinions on the legalization of drugs and why do you feel
that way?

I hope you were expecting a counter argument to the traditional arena of thinking regarding drugs because that is what I am offering. I am currently at work so my research into some of the facts presented may not be completely accurate due to the fact that I am sitting behind the firewall and they don’t take kindly to searches relating to illegal drugs.

“Man must cease attributing his problems to his environment, and learn again to exercise his will - his personal responsibility.” -Albert Einstein

A person’s views on life are shaped by many things. Some are for abortion while others are staunchly against it and will carry out extraordinary measures to show their conviction, such as planting a bomb in an abortion clinic. Views are varied and have many roots. Some come from personal experience, some from religion, and others from family values passed down over the generations. Without varying points of view the world would be a very boring place indeed.

In most things I have a strong Libertarian point of view. My point of view is also strongly shaped by my religious beliefs which are Christian. The above quote encapsulates one of my core principals. A person must take personal responsibility for what they do. One should be able to do anything they want as long as it does not directly affect the welfare of others and the individual takes responsibility for their actions.

Taking these beliefs into reality, all drugs except a few exceptions should be completely legalized. If a person wants to go down to his local street corner and buy a pound of crack cocaine, go straight home to inject all of it, and then die that is his choice and no one should stop him. The above person has invoked personal responsibility and reaped the benefits of their actions. This responsibility swings both ways though. The same person could have also walked by the same dealer and not bought the cocaine and too reaped the benefits of their actions.

The next argument has its roots in personal responsibility and is more of an axiom and not a base theory. It also doesn’t have a good name other than “Society trying to make people not stupid.” A problem that I see America facing is the growing dependency of society to make good decisions for people. It is the belief of some that if something is “bad” then it should be banned, outlawed, and dumped into the sea never to be seen again. But who is to say that something is “bad?” Something that is bad may be considered good by others even though that group may be small. This is related to the drug issue in that the government is trying to regulate behavior or trying to make people not stupid. This particular issue makes me quite mad. I feel like the government is saying to me “hey you are not smart enough to make the right decisions so let us do it for you.” As the core of my personality I need to challenge authority and make decisions for myself. How do I know that this is the right choice if I have not tried it for myself and why should I let someone else make that choice for me?

That is the basis of my theoretical beliefs; I have a few real life examples that have also added to my belief that almost all drugs should be legalized. I have a chronic medical condition that can give me quite a bit of pain on occasions. I have found that the only thing that works for me are opiates (codeine family). It has always been the case but it has gotten much worse in the past few years. If you go or call the doctor and say you need to get some pain relief, you get the run around and are eventually told that you will just have to suffer because they can not prescribe controlled substances. This almost makes me as mad as the above example of being told what to do (not quite as much but still very mad all the same). I am curled up in a ball crying and the doctor can not subscribe a medicine because he has a set quota mandated by the FDA on how much of a certain medicine he can subscribe.

Second example, Ambien. Because of the fore mentioned chronic illness, I have a problem sleeping. Ambien has been the best thing for me since sliced bread. I have even gone to a sleep specialist and he said that Ambien is the best treatment option for me. Here is the problem. I started taking Ambien right before it became a scheduled drug. I had no problems at all getting my prescriptions refilled and the world was good. Apparently about the time Ambien started their national advertising campaign, it was found out that Ambien could be used as a “date rape drug.” This of course sent the government into overtime and Ambien soon became all but outlawed. Suddenly I could not order Ambien through the mail (at a great discount) because every time I put in an order I was on the phone with the mail order company and my doctor trying to get all the paperwork straight. After many hours each time I had a refill, I eventually gave up and had it filled at local pharmacy. Since then I have had tons of problem because the government feel that this drug is a public health hazard and should only be given out under armed guards.

I hope that I have not overwhelmed you with my response but this is an issue that strikes a fire within me. I feel that Codeine should be sold over the counter at Wal-Greens and you should be able to pick up a pack of mary jane cigarettes on your way out the door. It all goes back to personal responsibility. If you want to participate in using currently illegal drug then it should be up to you. Smoke em if you got em!

Drugs should not be "legalized" and there are good reasons for it. LSD is an awful drug with no purpose, heroin while it might control pain in the short run with supervised administration...left unsupervised is addictive and highly destructive in all human fashion...emotionally, physically, and morally.

Pot smokling kills brain and lung cells and inteferes with not just short term but also long term memory and may bring about Alzheimers earlier in life, not to mention the paranoic behavior it produces. No drug that is not prescribed be a medical doctor should be legalized>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>..................PERIOD

I beg to differ here - bigtime Coming from a family of doctors. I'd been educated and made drug-wise/aware from very early on so that I didn't do the same mistake that every second person does - i.e. treat drugs as a taboo subject and dismiss them altogether without knowing the real reason (mostly socio-political) behind the m being labelled as "illegal". I was told to keep away from drugs in general because of the "addiction factor", but not without knowing how each of them affect you physiologically & psychologically.

While I agree with you on the Heroin point - as it's extremely addictive in a physiological manner - none of the other drugs you mentioned are as horrid as you described in real life. Keep in mind that most of the so called "illegal" drugs were actually used as medicine at some point of time or the other but finally struck from the list because of their addictive nature. Problem lies with the fact that people overuse and abuse drugs at will and get dependent on them.

As for pot/weed/marijuana - those claims are entirely baseless. Pot is known to somewhat affect short-term memory but as for long term-memory and Alzheimers - those are just mere speculations. In fact, pot is one of the most ancient & most-widely used healing drugs. It's medical uses cover the following diseases:


Most of the diseases listed above are exactly opposite in nature as to the symptoms/side-effect of marijuana you've described here.

LSD - is a little understood drug and has found it's own niche in the creative world. Many of the modern-day creative and innovative geniuses were known to dabble in LSD or Acid (as it is more popularly known) and draw inspiration from it. Personally I've known some mathematical gurus who've even completed their PhD thesis on an Acid high However, LSD has a trade-off - it's produces some sort of neuro-toxins that do affect your memory - but only if you take it in massive doses.

A little known fact is that there are potentially 100 times more harmful drugs on a medical practitioners list than any of the common street drugs - and these are given out regularly under prescriptions. The difference with them and street drugs is that they're handed out in limited quantity over a short treatment phase and that these drugs don't produce a HIGH as the street drugs do. The drug-high is what gets people hooked onto them. For example, did you know that the common cough syrup if taken with the same regularity as marijuana (smoking daily) can cause severe liver damage comapred to the negligible side-effects of pot !!

If the classification of drugs were left to doctors alone - they'd rank it far below alcohol in terms of harmfulness.


Errrm.. maybe I should stop now If I were left to this - I'd go on rambling for ever and ever... I was looking for a good conclusion - but being unable to find any I'll quote a passage from the drugs policy library that kind of summarizes the point I wished to put forward.

I agree that some "illegal drugs" or contrabands actually do help, on certain levels. However, this doesn't mean that people should touch these drugs if they don't need to use it to cure themselves.

The reason is, is that it will damage their health. Pot will damage brain cells by overactive brain. Cocaine will do the same effect, it even changes your hormones making you "less of a man" (if done by a male), you'll lose the lust that you might want usually.

Many people die from drug overdose and that shouldn't happen. It's costing our economies a lot of money to "repair" them, and I am against it.

xboxrulz

Houdini,

I all fairness of discussion, Can I ask you to elaborate on your opinion? What makes you think this way? I know there has to be some reason you are so anti-drug. Have you or a family member had personal experiences with drugs that make you feel this way.

In taking this to the extreme should we also outlaw such drug as Aleve and Tylenol? I have heard that an overdose of either one is quite nasty and we should keep anyone from such a fate.