What are your feelings on the role of drugs in society?

Should drugs, artificial or natural, be used for anything other than strictly medicating?

Perhaps some drugs do not have as much stigma associated with them. We take drugs every day, to do about anything. Caffeine is the big one, and to a lesser extent, Tylenol or Advil. Just low, tolerable levels of these substances we can handle, and indeed use them for enhancing our everyday lives.

But why let it end there? Some drugs, consumed in copious amounts, are riotous fun. Going to the bar on a friday night? A good, time tested social activity.

Oddly enough, humanity chooses through strange reasonings, usually the work of one group of people, that certain recreational drugs are to be banned and made illegal under the law. Sometimes it is with good reason. The Chinese Opium Wars were fought over this very thing, when the British wanted to continue reaping massive profits off a hopelessly addicted populace. The Chinese governors tried to step in and end their suffering, much to the dismay of the East India Co.'s shareholders.

The same thing might very well be said of America's War on Drugs; perhaps it's the same play performed by different actors. The U.S. Government has massive ties to the pharmecutical industry, and traditonally accepted methods of self medication are suppressed. They sure do love their pills and booze!

Well? What say you? What are your feelings on the role of drugs in society?

Negative feelings.

Care to elaborate? You made about as broad a statement as humanly possible right there.

I dunno. I'm so high right now I dont know what's going on:lol:

I'm OK with caffeine if it's not used to the point of being enslaved to it; I also support the use of marijuana if it's used for medical reasons. I don't support the recreational use of things like cocaine, heroin, inhalants, etc.

The first thing is, I think people need to get rid of this negative connotation that drugs are somehow inherently "evil". Then we need to look at why specific drugs are illegal.

I remember getting into this argument with a very strong anti-drug person. It was about giving intense drugs to terminally-ill patients. My view is, if a person is terminally-ill and in intense pain, why not give him cocaine or heroin? His view was "He'll get addicted", "It could kill him instantly," and so on. Really he just believed that drugs were bad under all circumstances and he was looking for any justification to show it as such.

I think drugs should be controlled should they adversely harm health AND pose a threat of epidemic. Hard drugs, heroin, cocaine, I think should be criminalized as they are now, though I believe there needs to be some reform in incarceration methods. I believe monitored detox would be a more effective policy than imprisonment, by this I mean doctors distributing drugs in the case of patients who are already addicts and slowly drawing down their consumption. I also believe in the distribution of clean hypodermic needles, there's no need to compound drug addiction with harful diseases.

As for all other drugs, I believe they should be completely legalized for sale and consumption by adults. Basically cannabis and all other drugs that do not have the potential to create an epidemic or even disconnected behavior in typical adults (there arealways some people who will escape into drugs no matter how addictive they are) should be treated as alcohol is treated. They can be sold in stores with licenses, consumed in designated businesses like liquor is in bars, it should be illegal to consume them in public like alcohol, and it should be illegal to drive while under their influence.

I think that drugs of all kinds have been an integral part of every societyon this earth and the stigma of them being evil has never relied upon any objective facts about them. It has relied on two things: how popular the drug is and how profitable the drug is. Drugs that hurt profits of certain companies are criminalized, drugs that make profits for certain companies are not. Of course, even the most popular drugs can't always be criminalized (prohibition), but lucky for us alcohol falls into the second category of being an easy cash-cow, unlike the non-addictive cannabis (which by the way, is an ironic contradiction, that we keep cannabis criminalized under some moral conviction and alcohol happily legalized, but despite the moral facade the reason why cannabis was criminalized and alcohol was not was because the latter was more addictive and therefore more profitable). Finally, I also believe all the money we spend going after cannabis and other basically harmless drugs is an excessive drain on our tax dollars, and that instead of actually wasting money on a fruitless endeavor of trying to get people to stop using a drug that they continue to use despite its criminality, we could actually be reaping a profit from taxation of the legal sale of these drugs and using that profit to provide more funding for important things like education. I think just about every single part of our nation's drug policy is counter-productive.

Weed should be legalized, but have laws surrounding its use similar to that of alcohol. Not too sure about other drugs like ecstasy, all I know is that the laws are more relaxed about it than marijuana even though they're both illegal. Drugs like heroin and cocaine though, should stay illegal. Cigarettes should be discontinued, or at the very least have them made like back in the old days when there were less toxins in them.

As long as you're not harming anyone else, I don't care what you do.

I don't hold it against someone if they do drugs. I also don't hold it against someone if they don't do drugs. It's a personal choice, and I don't make assumptions. I think that it's highly presumptuous and self-righteous of people to assume that all drug users are bad people, that they're criminals, that they have no 'morals,' that they're inferior in some way, etc. Surely there are some 'bad' people who do drugs, and surely some of thsoe people are criminals, but they don't represent everyone who does any sort of drug.

Even though some drugs like heroin are arguably quite damaging to one's health, I don't care if people do them. I don't think that ANY drugs should be illegal. It's a personal choice. If you want to ingest a certain substance, you should be able to without getting the OK from the government. It's ridiculous to tell people that they can't ingest certain substances. Surely some are bad, but I'd like to be able to make my own damn choices, thank you very much.

Making drugs illegal is a violation of your own ability to make judgments and choices for yourself. It's also a poor choice because it makes drugs even more dangerous. This is WHY we have a 'drug culture' in the first place.

I'm not some druggie or some junkie who's out there on the streets every night, and there are many drugs in which I have ZERO interest. I just don't think that it's right for the government to tell its people that they can and can't put certain things into their own bodies. Disgraceful.

Here I go raging yet again...

As long as you're not harming anyone else, I don't care what you do.

ImaPirate0202

Marijuana sould be legal like it is in Colorado, California, etc when it comes to cancer patients while nothing else changes to the other drugs.

As long as the drug user does not affect me in any way, I'm fin with it, plus 70% of the world is f*****. So rebuilt is not probable.

I don't hold it against someone if they do drugs. I also don't hold it against someone if they don't do drugs. It's a personal choice, and I don't make assumptions. I think that it's highly presumptuous and self-righteous of people to assume that all drug users are bad people, that they're criminals, that they have no 'morals,' that they're inferior in some way, etc. Surely there are some 'bad' people who do drugs, and surely some of thsoe people are criminals, but they don't represent everyone who does any sort of drug.

Even though some drugs like heroin are arguably quite damaging to one's health, I don't care if people do them. I don't think that ANY drugs should be illegal. It's a personal choice. If you want to ingest a certain substance, you should be able to without getting the OK from the government. It's ridiculous to tell people that they can't ingest certain substances. Surely some are bad, but I'd like to be able to make my own damn choices, thank you very much.

Making drugs illegal is a violation of your own ability to make judgments and choices for yourself. It's also a poor choice because it makes drugs even more dangerous. This is WHY we have a 'drug culture' in the first place.

I'm not some druggie or some junkie who's out there on the streets every night, and there are many drugs in which I have ZERO interest. I just don't think that it's right for the government to tell its people that they can and can't put certain things into their own bodies. Disgraceful.

Here I go raging yet again...

t3hrubikscube

Cocaine is illegal because of the way cocaine makes people feel.

Going from buying/selling green to buying/selling coke, there is an indescribable increase in danger, in physical danger. And it isn't because it's higher stakes; it's a result of the drug itself, the way it ****s you with continual use.

If anyone thinks that cocaine being illegal does not deter anyone from buying it, they are insane. If anyone thinks that making cocaine legal will make it any less of an insane, violent drug, and any less dangerous to use/be around users, they are also insane.

Legalize heroin and cocaine; you'll have more people doing it; you'll have legal junkies stealing things from friends to go and buy a dub from the hess station.

It isn't just about freedom to put something in your body; this is an active attempt to try and keep the sort of social structures/behaviors that arise as a result of cocaine from becoming more widespread, and I wholly support it.

[QUOTE="t3hrubikscube"]

I don't hold it against someone if they do drugs. I also don't hold it against someone if they don't do drugs. It's a personal choice, and I don't make assumptions. I think that it's highly presumptuous and self-righteous of people to assume that all drug users are bad people, that they're criminals, that they have no 'morals,' that they're inferior in some way, etc. Surely there are some 'bad' people who do drugs, and surely some of thsoe people are criminals, but they don't represent everyone who does any sort of drug.

Even though some drugs like heroin are arguably quite damaging to one's health, I don't care if people do them. I don't think that ANY drugs should be illegal. It's a personal choice. If you want to ingest a certain substance, you should be able to without getting the OK from the government. It's ridiculous to tell people that they can't ingest certain substances. Surely some are bad, but I'd like to be able to make my own damn choices, thank you very much.

Making drugs illegal is a violation of your own ability to make judgments and choices for yourself. It's also a poor choice because it makes drugs even more dangerous. This is WHY we have a 'drug culture' in the first place.

I'm not some druggie or some junkie who's out there on the streets every night, and there are many drugs in which I have ZERO interest. I just don't think that it's right for the government to tell its people that they can and can't put certain things into their own bodies. Disgraceful.

Here I go raging yet again...

jethrovegas

Cocaine is illegal because of the way cocaine makes people feel.

Going from buying/selling green to buying/selling coke, there is an indescribable increase in danger, in physical danger. And it isn't because it's higher stakes; it's a result of the drug itself, the way it ****s you with continual use.

If anyone thinks that cocaine being illegal does not deter anyone from buying it, they are insane. If anyone thinks that making cocaine legal will make it any less of an insane, violent drug, and any less dangerous to use/be around users, they are also insane.

Legalize heroin and cocaine; you'll have more people doing it; you'll have legal junkies stealing things from friends to go and buy a dub from the hess station.

It isn't just about freedom to put something in your body; this is an active attempt to try and keep the sort of social structures/behaviors that arise as a result of cocaine from becoming more widespread, and I wholly support it.

I completely disagree with really any possible argument against the legalization (or, at the very least, decriminalization) of drugs because of the simple thing of freedoms and personal choices.

You can't stop murders. You can't stop rapes. You can't stop armed robberies. These things will always happen. Saying that you should keep drugs illegal because potentially some people may abuse them or harm others as a result of their drug habits (+ their personalities, mind you) is just silly to me. You can't stop certain things from happening.

Taking away freedoms/personal choices won't do anything to deter such behaviors. You know what? Drugs will always f***ing be there. They're not going anywhere. They've always been there, they'll always be there. Just because they're illegal doesn't mean that it's right and just because they're illegal doesn't mean that they're not being used.

cant we all just agree that drugs make you look like an idiot and eventually turn you into one (not a criminal or anything, just a dumbasstard) and thats why its good theyre illegal?8-Bitterness

[QUOTE="8-Bitterness"]cant we all just agree that drugs make you look like an idiot and eventually turn you into one (not a criminal or anything, just a dumbasstard) and thats why its good theyre illegal?t3hrubikscube

I agree partially, there's this guy used to go to my school, he had a weed dad and he also take weed, and the both look like such a, well... dope, like those white trash around the street corner.

[QUOTE="t3hrubikscube"][QUOTE="8-Bitterness"]cant we all just agree that drugs make you look like an idiot and eventually turn you into one (not a criminal or anything, just a dumbasstard) and thats why its good theyre illegal?stevoqwerty

I agree partially, there's this guy used to go to my school, he had a weed dad and he also take weed, and the both look like such a, well... dope, like those white trash around the street corner.

I'm not insane. I think that keeping things illegal forces them to go underground, creating more danger than necessary. I never said that cocaine is a good thing or that there aren't out of control people who use cocaine. Don't put words into my mouth.

I completely disagree with really any possible argument against the legalization (or, at the very least, decriminalization) of drugs because of the simple thing of freedoms and personal choices.

You can't stop murders. You can't stop rapes. You can't stop armed robberies. These things will always happen. Saying that you should keep drugs illegal because potentially some people may abuse them or harm others as a result of their drug habits (+ their personalities, mind you) is just silly to me. You can't stop certain things from happening.

Taking away freedoms/personal choices won't do anything to deter such behaviors. You know what? Drugs will always f***ing be there. They're not going anywhere. They've always been there, they'll always be there. Just because they're illegal doesn't mean that it's right and just because they're illegal doesn't mean that they're not being used.

t3hrubikscube

You can't stop all rapes and murders and robberies, but I believe the objective is to try your damndest, not to sit back and watch the incident reports pile up. The massive increase in avaliability, production levels, marketing, ease of purchase, and of course, lower prices, would result in far more individuals using drugs.

After a certain point, it ceases to be about "personal choice"; it's not about restraint. Cocaine disallows restraint. Heroin disallows restraint. These drugs swallow up good people who are not ready for them, who don't understand what they're getting into, and the number of people who get ****ed by these drugs would skyrocket if they were legalized.

I agree with you on some levels, but not on a practical one.

[QUOTE="stevoqwerty"]

[QUOTE="t3hrubikscube"] Absolutely not.t3hrubikscube

I agree partially, there's this guy used to go to my school, he had a weed dad and he also take weed, and the both look like such a, well... dope, like those white trash around the street corner.

Well I said partially meaning not all, but majority who take drugs like dope or coke constantly will.

You can't stop all rapes and murders and robberies, but I believe the objective is to try your damndest, not to sit back and watch the incident reports pile up. The massive increase in avaliability, production levels, marketing, ease of purchase, and of course, lower prices, would result in far more individuals using drugs.

After a certain point, it ceases to be about "personal choice"; it's not about restraint. Cocaine disallows restraint. Heroin disallows restraint. These drugs swallow up good people who are not ready for them, who don't understand what they're getting into, and the number of people who get ****ed by these drugs would skyrocket if they were legalized.

I agree with you a some levels, but not on a practical one.jethrovegas

Well I said partially meaning not all, but majority who take drugs like dope or coke constantly will.stevoqwerty

And now before you guys completely marsh my mallow and kill my buzz, I'm going to go finish watching the movie that I started several hours ago. Have a nice discussion!t3hrubikscube

I hate arguing with people on the internet, I ain't gonna do anything.

cant we all just agree that drugs make you look like an idiot and eventually turn you into one (not a criminal or anything, just a dumbasstard) and thats why its good theyre illegal?8-Bitterness

I smoke weed pretty regularly and still manage to go to class and get good grades at my university.

My aunt has smoked since she was a teenager, and now has a high paying job at the state courthouse.

Drugs can make weak-willed people into total failures. Its all about self control.

[QUOTE="t3hrubikscube"]And now before you guys completely marsh my mallow and kill my buzz, I'm going to go finish watching the movie that I started several hours ago. Have a nice discussion!stevoqwerty

I hate arguing with people on the internet, I ain't gonna do anything.

Then why the hell are you on a forum?

cant we all just agree that drugs make you look like an idiot and eventually turn you into one (not a criminal or anything, just a dumbasstard) and thats why its good theyre illegal?8-Bitterness

Legalize marijuana man

[QUOTE="jethrovegas"]You can't stop all rapes and murders and robberies, but I believe the objective is to try your damndest, not to sit back and watch the incident reports pile up. The massive increase in avaliability, production levels, marketing, ease of purchase, and of course, lower prices, would result in far more individuals using drugs.

After a certain point, it ceases to be about "personal choice"; it's not about restraint. Cocaine disallows restraint. Heroin disallows restraint. These drugs swallow up good people who are not ready for them, who don't understand what they're getting into, and the number of people who get ****ed by these drugs would skyrocket if they were legalized.

I agree with you a some levels, but not on a practical one.t3hrubikscube

Well I said partially meaning not all, but majority who take drugs like dope or coke constantly will.stevoqwerty

justa gonna voice my agreement with tehrubikscube.

oh, side note to the people screaming that legalizing drugs would lead to dramatic increase in useage. I believe it was Spain or Portugal, that either de-criminalized or made totally legal Marijuana a year or two ago (much to the dismay of America and the World Police). you know what happened? used droppd off CONSIDERABLY.

also alot of people fail to realize that at one point, most of these illegal drugs ere LEGAL in the USA (Marijuana, Cocain, and I believe Heroin as well). Marijuana became illegal as a political scheme to keep the cotton industry (at the time the US's big industry) strong during the 20's. can't remember the other two, but that's probably due to sincere lack of interest.

back to the topic, I think everyone can agree (regardless of what side of the fence you are on) is that the system is flawed as it is right now.

People are getting shot and dying because of this stuff. It also messes up people's social lives. For example last week one of my mums friends knocked on my door high on crack asking to speak to my mum I was shocked and scared so I had to say she weren't in. It may have seemed evil and rude but if you saw the state she was in you wouldn't want her near your close one's either, because who knows what she capable of.

Well California is on the verge of legalizing weed completely so I support that and hope it goes through. It will have a ripple effect on every other state governments decision on whether or not to legalize weed. After it goes through California's systems and ends up making California debtless, I highly doubt more states won't follow suit.

Other drugs I think should be moderated and controlled for obvious reasons. The truly dangerous drugs can end up killing and addicting people to the point of death and disease. They have a very real negative effect.

Well California is on the verge of legalizing weed completely so I support that and hope it goes through. It will have a ripple effect on every other state governments decision on whether or not to legalize weed. After it goes through California's systems and ends up making California debtless, I highly doubt more states won't follow suit.

Other drugs I think should be moderated and controlled for obvious reasons. The truly dangerous drugs can end up killing and addicting people to the point of death and disease. They have a very real negative effect.

starfox15

The U.S. needs to change it's "war" on drugs, stop throwing tax payers money down the toilet and help fix the over crowded prisons.

[QUOTE="stevoqwerty"]

[QUOTE="t3hrubikscube"]And now before you guys completely marsh my mallow and kill my buzz, I'm going to go finish watching the movie that I started several hours ago. Have a nice discussion!Uncle_Uzi

I hate arguing with people on the internet, I ain't gonna do anything.

Then why the hell are you on a forum?

To share some funny stories, posts some news, lurk some moar, lol at pics, have fun. That most of the reason.

I think drugs should be controlled should they adversely harm health AND pose a threat of epidemic. Hard drugs, heroin, cocaine, I think should be criminalized as they are now, though I believe there needs to be some reform in incarceration methods. I believe monitored detox would be a more effective policy than imprisonment, by this I mean doctors distributing drugs in the case of patients who are already addicts and slowly drawing down their consumption. I also believe in the distribution of clean hypodermic needles, there's no need to compound drug addiction with harful diseases.

As for all other drugs, I believe they should be completely legalized for sale and consumption by adults. Basically cannabis and all other drugs that do not have the potential to create an epidemic or even disconnected behavior in typical adults (there arealways some people who will escape into drugs no matter how addictive they are) should be treated as alcohol is treated. They can be sold in stores with licenses, consumed in designated businesses like liquor is in bars, it should be illegal to consume them in public like alcohol, and it should be illegal to drive while under their influence.

I think that drugs of all kinds have been an integral part of every societyon this earth and the stigma of them being evil has never relied upon any objective facts about them. It has relied on two things: how popular the drug is and how profitable the drug is. Drugs that hurt profits of certain companies are criminalized, drugs that make profits for certain companies are not. Of course, even the most popular drugs can't always be criminalized (prohibition), but lucky for us alcohol falls into the second category of being an easy cash-cow, unlike the non-addictive cannabis (which by the way, is an ironic contradiction, that we keep cannabis criminalized under some moral conviction and alcohol happily legalized, but despite the moral facade the reason why cannabis was criminalized and alcohol was not was because the latter was more addictive and therefore more profitable). Finally, I also believe all the money we spend going after cannabis and other basically harmless drugs is an excessive drain on our tax dollars, and that instead of actually wasting money on a fruitless endeavor of trying to get people to stop using a drug that they continue to use despite its criminality, we could actually be reaping a profit from taxation of the legal sale of these drugs and using that profit to provide more funding for important things like education. I think just about every single part of our nation's drug policy is counter-productive.

theone86

Best post in the thread.

[QUOTE="theone86"]

I think drugs should be controlled should they adversely harm health AND pose a threat of epidemic. Hard drugs, heroin, cocaine, I think should be criminalized as they are now, though I believe there needs to be some reform in incarceration methods. I believe monitored detox would be a more effective policy than imprisonment, by this I mean doctors distributing drugs in the case of patients who are already addicts and slowly drawing down their consumption. I also believe in the distribution of clean hypodermic needles, there's no need to compound drug addiction with harful diseases.

As for all other drugs, I believe they should be completely legalized for sale and consumption by adults. Basically cannabis and all other drugs that do not have the potential to create an epidemic or even disconnected behavior in typical adults (there arealways some people who will escape into drugs no matter how addictive they are) should be treated as alcohol is treated. They can be sold in stores with licenses, consumed in designated businesses like liquor is in bars, it should be illegal to consume them in public like alcohol, and it should be illegal to drive while under their influence.

I think that drugs of all kinds have been an integral part of every societyon this earth and the stigma of them being evil has never relied upon any objective facts about them. It has relied on two things: how popular the drug is and how profitable the drug is. Drugs that hurt profits of certain companies are criminalized, drugs that make profits for certain companies are not. Of course, even the most popular drugs can't always be criminalized (prohibition), but lucky for us alcohol falls into the second category of being an easy cash-cow, unlike the non-addictive cannabis (which by the way, is an ironic contradiction, that we keep cannabis criminalized under some moral conviction and alcohol happily legalized, but despite the moral facade the reason why cannabis was criminalized and alcohol was not was because the latter was more addictive and therefore more profitable). Finally, I also believe all the money we spend going after cannabis and other basically harmless drugs is an excessive drain on our tax dollars, and that instead of actually wasting money on a fruitless endeavor of trying to get people to stop using a drug that they continue to use despite its criminality, we could actually be reaping a profit from taxation of the legal sale of these drugs and using that profit to provide more funding for important things like education. I think just about every single part of our nation's drug policy is counter-productive.

coolbeans90

Best post in the thread.

Hmm, interesting, as long as drugs are not in public, or affect me in any ways, I would say it's okay.

[QUOTE="coolbeans90"]

[QUOTE="theone86"]

I think drugs should be controlled should they adversely harm health AND pose a threat of epidemic. Hard drugs, heroin, cocaine, I think should be criminalized as they are now, though I believe there needs to be some reform in incarceration methods. I believe monitored detox would be a more effective policy than imprisonment, by this I mean doctors distributing drugs in the case of patients who are already addicts and slowly drawing down their consumption. I also believe in the distribution of clean hypodermic needles, there's no need to compound drug addiction with harful diseases.

As for all other drugs, I believe they should be completely legalized for sale and consumption by adults. Basically cannabis and all other drugs that do not have the potential to create an epidemic or even disconnected behavior in typical adults (there arealways some people who will escape into drugs no matter how addictive they are) should be treated as alcohol is treated. They can be sold in stores with licenses, consumed in designated businesses like liquor is in bars, it should be illegal to consume them in public like alcohol, and it should be illegal to drive while under their influence.

I think that drugs of all kinds have been an integral part of every societyon this earth and the stigma of them being evil has never relied upon any objective facts about them. It has relied on two things: how popular the drug is and how profitable the drug is. Drugs that hurt profits of certain companies are criminalized, drugs that make profits for certain companies are not. Of course, even the most popular drugs can't always be criminalized (prohibition), but lucky for us alcohol falls into the second category of being an easy cash-cow, unlike the non-addictive cannabis (which by the way, is an ironic contradiction, that we keep cannabis criminalized under some moral conviction and alcohol happily legalized, but despite the moral facade the reason why cannabis was criminalized and alcohol was not was because the latter was more addictive and therefore more profitable). Finally, I also believe all the money we spend going after cannabis and other basically harmless drugs is an excessive drain on our tax dollars, and that instead of actually wasting money on a fruitless endeavor of trying to get people to stop using a drug that they continue to use despite its criminality, we could actually be reaping a profit from taxation of the legal sale of these drugs and using that profit to provide more funding for important things like education. I think just about every single part of our nation's drug policy is counter-productive.

stevoqwerty

Best post in the thread.

Hmm, interesting, as long as drugs are not in public, or affect me in any ways, I would say it's okay.

At the very most, they would be far less socially tolerated in public than smoking.