Illegal Drugs
 

Today in the U.S., doing illegal drugs, such as Cannabis, Meth-amphetamine, or Cocaine will result in a long jail sentence that doesn't cure your addiction. Not only is your addiction not cured, you are serving time for doing something that hurt nobody else: you are both the victim and the perpetrator.

Many of these drugs aren't even that bad: Meth as a drug is a lot better than Alcohol. Many could help stimulate the economies of states and countries, and when needle injected, these don't harm people on the outside like second hand smoke from cigarettes does.

So should these drugs be illegal? Should you serve time for these drugs? Should the real punishment be rehabilitation 100% of the time? What do you think? (My opinion after the break)

I think they should stay illegal since not only can it kill you, but if you die it has a huge impact on your loved ones. Sure it's not physical pain, but it's emotional pain and that can be even worse. Can you imagine losing someone you love to drugs?

They should be legalized, but highly regulated. As you said, the government can easily make large profits off of it, and they're not nearly as dangerous as "legal" drugs.

Lux: Every death causes emotional impact. Should we outlaw everything that kills you, like driving?

Certain drugs have an 100% chance of killing you though. Driving, depends on if you suck, which then you wouldn't have a license so in the end it's illegal.

True, but you have to realize alcohol and tobacco can have the same effect, but they are legal.

And here lies my take: if something is legal you can regulate it. You don't have to worry about the money and drugs falling into the wrong hands. Plus, states like CA could use some extra cash. I'm not saying people should feel its fine to use these. but at the same time beer and cigarettes aren't a whole lot better, if at all.

Then they will remain illegal. However, drugs such as marijuana (And other variants from the hemp plant) are actually less dangerous than cigarettes.

No drug has a 100 percent chance of killing the user. Many, like heroin and cocaine, are highly addictive and cause a lot of physical harm and very often eventually lead to the user's death, but cannabis is less harmful and less addictive than tobacco and alcohol, so logically it should be legalized if tobacco and alcohol are legal. There is the gateway drug theory, though, which creates a concern for many.
soyeah. :3

At the very least, decriminalize marijuana nationwide.

As for others, I am not so sure right now. Maybe lessen restrictions on them but not as much as marijuana.

While I'm all for decriminalization of at the very least Marijuana, I have a problem with what you said, Freeze.

Can you back that up with a statistic/study? I know for a fact that Meth use can result in "arrhythmia, regardless of the dose or blood concentration, placing patients with cardiovascular disease at high risk of heart attack.
Other data suggests that cardiac effects may also be mediated indirectly by release of epinephrine into the circulation," (meaning that first time users can have a heart attack, which alcohol is not shown to do,) "and may contribute to changes in heart muscle following chronic use. Skin tremors may develop. In the male, ejaculation is delayed and intensity of orgasm is enhanced, which, coupled with the increase in libido associated with the use of this drug, gives it a popular reputation as a 'sex drug.' However, at higher doses and in more intense use patterns, users generally fail to achieve orgasm, and interest in sexual activity is consequently diminished." (This, again, isn't what alcohol is capable of chemically.)

Furthermore, " Tolerance to peripheral effects... may influence not only the quality of the drug experience for the user, but also the extent of the life-threatening pathophysiological effects." While Alcohol is known for its tolerance, drunkenness doesn't necessarily increase over doses.

The article I have quoted can be found here: " http://www.ndaa.org/pdf/ntlc_meth.pdf "

yeah, i also heard the tobacco companies put something in the tobacco that makes addictive, I guess they just wanna kill us all in a very slow pace. shouldn't tobacco be outlawed if its addictive then...

I think that nicotine is made by the tobacco plant itself. But yeah, if it's addictive like that it should be outlawed.

ALL ILLEGAL DRUGS END UP MAKING YOU FEEL TERRIBLE AND YOU WISH YOU COULD STOP BUT YOU CAN'T BECAUSE YOU FORGOT THEIR ADDICTIVE SO YOU EITHER HAVE TO GO THROUGH THE PAINS OF REHAB OR DIE A SLOW AND PAINFUL DEATH.
Bam.

My dad's been toking since he was twelve, dude.

He's in his forties, and he isn't showing any sign of dying.

Also, I'd like to note that Colorado is one of the few states where pot is legal. I don't toke myself, but who am I to stop people from what they do to pass time? It's just like those stupid Parents-Against-Video-Games movements. They want to stop us from playing games all the time, but it won't happen. :l Let people do what they will, so long as no harm comes to anyone.

My thought on this, is let drug-users do what they will behind closed doors. Make methheads and trippers press license plates, or something state-productive. The problem isn't the drugs most of the time, it's the methods in which people procure the drugs.

What all of you are forgetting is the people who go out and stab a guy in the neck in the middle of the night to steal six bucks. He takes these six bucks, buys a rock, and smokes his head clean off. Wash, repeat.

If anyone can define legal means to secure and use these toxins in a safe environment, then I will support it. I want an effective system; I don't need a fullproof system, as I've given up on that with the U.S. government. What we need, is to just corral these people and make them smoke in a place where they can do no harm, like stealing people's computers or cars in the middle of the night.

I think drugs should be modified, and packaged and regulated like how tobacco are.
If drugs are outlawed, people will show disrespect to the laws by breaking them, which causes crime.

If drug was made, substances to assist quiting should also be made.

Even if it's legal, I will never do it.

http://mindprod.com/humanrights/marijuana.html

Both legal and illegal drugs are harmful enough to kill you. Here are scientific analysis taken from Biology books:

- Anabloic steroids are legal drugs taken for muscle growth. Although they are normally taken by sportsmen, yet they have many harmful side-effects. If a man takes them, the his aggression is going to increase. These drugs also cause impotence, baldness, kidney and liver damage and the development of breast! Remember that any kind of kidney or liver damage can be fatal. If a woman takes these drugs, then the woman might get a development of male features; facial and body hair and irregular periods, which is obviously crazy.

- Caffeine is a legal drug that we all intake when we drink coffee. Although its side-effects need a lot of time to appear, yet it is noticed alter on that these side-effects are harmful. The most dangerous thing that it causes your heart to pump faster, increasing your blood pressure. I find no reason to explain how harmful the increase of blood pressure is, but simply, it can be fatal. Of course, it also increases aggression and panic.

- Nicotine is found in tobacco. It also increase the blood pressure and the rate of the heart pump. It is addictive.

- Alcohol has got a lot of negative effects, but the most serious ones are that alcohol poisons the liver if drank a lot. If the liver gets damaged, you are dead. The other effect is that if a pregnant woman drinks alcohol, there is a very high chance that the fetus will be damaged.

Some drugs are stated to be medical drugs, and are important in certain occasions, yet they have some dangerous aspects if are misused, so they are highly censored.

Now illegal drugs are feared the most because they are very highly addictive. Apart from that, these drugs can cause some kind of paralysis to the nervous system; his actions will become very slow. They also highly increase the speed of the heart and make he blood vessels narrower, increasing the blood pressure and also providing a risk of having the heart exhausted, causing a heart attack. Such drugs can also cause brain clot.

As you can see, the harm of the illegal drugs are far worse from the legal ones, therefore, they should be kept illegal. However, the ones who are on drugs must not be kept in jail. That isn't a good solution at all. These takers must be sent to the hospital to take suitable treatment and then let them take some kind of punishment that will convince them not to take drugs anymore. Honestly, the ones who should be sentenced to jail for a very long time are the ones who sell drugs, as these are the people who are harming the others, and not themselves.

... Errrr... don't do drugs...

(Hopefully you understand my answer)

I mistyped. :P I will change them.

Just so you know; in the US, caffeine is only legal if it's in small amounts mixed with another food. Pure caffeine is illegal, due to the possibility of it giving heart attacks and other factors.

Personally, I think that drugs should be legal. What real right do I have to say what people can and cannot do to themselves?

Drugs don't only harm the taker, but also others. Someone who is on drugs might be out of mind and can cause serious accidents including deaths. In Britain, a lot of car accidents occur annually because people drive when they are on drugs or drunk. Their reaction is so slow that they can't drive safely and cause numerous deaths. It has been stated, that if anyone is seen drunk and driving, he will be punished. Also, as a whole, when you see the society depending on drugs for their lives, a bad image is going to be shown. What kind of society will it appear when most of its people are on drugs?! For the benefit of the society as a whole, some drugs should be banned.

If controlled by the users, drugs aren't bad. Drinking is illegal when driving for a good reason, so should doing certain other drugs. Responsibility is the issue- Teen drivers have many Wrecks as well, because they aren't as responsible as adults are. Its Ok if you feel somehow alright with your life being ruined, as long as you can control your addiction enough to not cause harm or unlawfully promote your drug.

If the drugs are propagated against, then they would still be uncommonly used, just as if they were banned altogether. People would see the effects, and turn away.

There is a reason they are called illegal drugs. One of these reasons is that they are highly addictive. The user will never be able to know what is around him in order to be responsible. Simply, he can't control himself.

Following the way you're tying to get your point across, don't you think smoking should become completely illegal, too? I mean, many people who do not smoke can die out of passive smoking (that is, breathing smoke from other people's cigarettes). And no, this is not far away from reality at all; Roy Castle, an English 'entertainer', never smoked in his life, but he died from lung cancer due to second-hand smoke in jazz clubs. This is not a recent example, but it still conveys what I'm trying to prove.

Mind you: I'm not saying that illegal drugs are not harmful, but on the contrary, they can be quite devastating. Many of them have very serious side effects like you mentioned, and therefore should be kept illegal. But what about things like smoking? It is easily more popular than taking illegal drugs, and can be as harmful as them. So the governments shouldn't only consider stuff like illegal drugs while leaving other, bigger issues. And by 'consider', I don't mean putting laws which do not solve anything, like throwing drug-takers into jail. Something more effective should be done.

In most countries, smoking has become illegal in public areas, which is a very good sign. Also, a very bad image is now given about smoking (before it was a good image), which is helping in keeping people away from smoking. You can't just ban smoking immediately, as it contains addictive drug, so it needs time to ban smoking completely. Of course, banning smoking isn't everything. In tobacco, a special plant is used, and this plant is grown in areas where poor people moderate. If smoking is banned, hen these poor people must be given something to work with instead of growing the tobacco plants.

As I mentioned before, drug-dealers shouldn't be sentenced to jail, but to the hospitals to get cured. It is the drug-traders who are supposed to be sentenced to jail, as they are spreading what is causing millions of miseries.

Couldn't agree with you more.

In what way are those bad signs given? Do they include the warnings on cigarette boxes, or the laws which prohibit smoking publicly? Are those things really making smokers quit smoking? I don't think so. Increasing awareness might have a real impact on the general public, but I don't think it really affects smokers, especially in the case of long-term addiction. The same goes to drug-takers, which in their case is even worse, because many illegal drugs make you unconscious of what's around you.

It's interesting that you brought this point up because it also applies to illegal drugs. Many drugs are grown by people and they depend on selling them for earning a living. What should be done about those people? I know that dealing with drugs might not be as big of a business as selling cigarettes, but it is still existent. Also, you cannot just ban certain drugs straight away when you know there are people who are addicted to it, especially that the addiction to drugs is far worse than to smoking, and can cause a lot of havoc.

Therefore, when a drug is made illegal, thought has to be made into people who depend on it for a living (whether it is growing or trading, though trading is more dangerous), and into people who are addicted to it. The former should get a punishment, such as jailing and paying a fine, while the latter should be cured from addiction before anything else is decided.

That is true, but we aren't discussing on how to ban drugs, as they are already banned. The whole discussion is that should these drugs be banned. Some drugs are legal, and people are working with them; medical drugs, alcohol, coffee, tobacco, etc. Personally, I believe that everything has got a use even if it is harmful. Although drugs are harmful, yet we have discovered some uses. Although caffeine is harmful to the heart, yet coffee is good to the nervous system. This means that while using legal drugs, we need to be careful and not overuse it. This is also applied with medical drugs. There is no pharmacy in the world that would sell a medical drug without a doctor's consultation, preventing people from buying these drugs even when they aren't sick. Research proved that alcohol is useful to the body, mainly the liver, but in a very little amount; 0.03%. Naturally, alcohol is found in most kinds of vegetables and fruits; lettuce, and in a very little amount as well. If we just eat vegetables and fruits normally, our body will be gaining the right amount of alcohol needed, making the alcohol we drink harmful, especially to the liver. Tobacco is just the same. Now people are working on tobacco, and it is in a good progress. I have noticed that in these couple of years, the society looks at smokers in a way that gives the smoker the impression that he is an outcast. I am sure that such looks will decrease the amount of new smokers and help in ceasing the amount of smokers generally. This has been happening with drugs decades ago. Even before some drugs became illegal, the society used to kick drug-dealers from it, thus decreasing the amount of the dealers. When the number of the dealers decreased, and there was a general hate to drugs, the governments were able to ban these drugs. This is what is going to happen to tobacco after nearly a decade or hopefully, few years.

I only went a little deeper into the issue to show where the problem starts, and to lead off to a sensible conclusion on which solutions can be based. And I already achieved that.

Unless I come from an entirely different world, I disagree with you on this. I am surrounded by several smokers in the family (unfortunately), and none of them are considered outcasts by their relatives, work mates or anybody else. This is because an incredible number of people in the world are smokers like them. Can they all possibly be considered outcasts? I don't really think so.

(Enough of the smoking talk because we're starting to drift a little off-topic)

Drugs should be regulated with less grounds in fear. The bulk of drugdealing and distribution isn't really impacted by extra laws about how hospitals or pharmacies should have more control over their medicine, since these drugs are made mostly in private laboratories that aren't even known to exist. Law by construction can only regulate that which it knows exists, and at the very most set up more checkpoints, and these points in turn are also placed at known locations.

I once saw a documentary on Discovery about a man ill with parkinson's doing... I forget what it was, possibly meth, and having periods of wellbeing that no known drug could parallel. While it may be just one case of a person who happens to respond that way to it, more research should be done on these drugs. It is often overlooked how the fact that these drugs trigger reactions that no conventional substances can, this also reflects the potential of a substance that can do things no other medicine can.

Drugs as medicine and research should be less of a taboo. Will that increase drug abuse? Possibly. slightly. With the vast majority of abusers getting their shot from sources specialized in drug-dealing, I don't believe that would be the real problem.

On the topic of punishment, there are cases in which non-rehab punishment is nothing more than a deterrent. Oftentimes an addicted person will not care about the fine or jailtime they get, it won't be the first thing on their mind, as their more immediate concern is the loss of access to their substance. For people who don't distribute drugs as a job, punishment should be more lax than it is, though I can't say it should be zero. These punishments are still effective on people who consume the drug and aren't yet fully addicted to it, as the punishment will be a stronger deterrent. This should be taken into account.

I agree that as it stands, drug regulation should have a few reforms that focus less on the immidiate obvious, and more on practicality, and would ultimately make them more effective. And part of these reforms should indeed include laxness in certain areas, particularly in pharmaceutical and research fields.

I think marijuana should be legalized. Just by making it legal won't make everyone want it, since it already a lot of reputation surrounding it. I Think that if the government fears that someone is making too much profit by selling marijuana that this person grows on its greenhouse, it should legalize it and sell it. With specific places to use it, like parks or marijuana cafes, like they have in Amsterdam.

Now, about cocaine, meth, and the others...I don't think it's a good idea. I really don't know about meth, but depending on the dose, cocaine and heroine can make a person aggressive and abusive, like alcohol. So it can put others in danger. And the govermnent would eventually spend a lot with treatment and security...and that's not good. I'm not saying it can't happen, but I've never heard of a overdose case of marijuana, or that someone attacked another person after smoking.

Drugs of all kinds should be legalized. Marijuana doesn't have any huge medical problems associated with us, unless you already have past problems with schizophrenia (this includes family history). It also helps with our economic situation, and the government can regulate it so it does not have cocaine or anything mixed with it. As for the others, sweden (or Switzerland, can't remember which) has heroine legalized, and they have the least problem with it in the world. They set up clinics that give clean needles and regulate how much they get. This keeps IV transferred diseases at a minimum, and helps ween them off of it.

Also, we should not be filling up our prisons and jails with people who have committed non-violent drug crimes. That does not help the individual at all, and wastes tax dollars.

The thing is, the nation would benefit from the legalization of some drugs. Others, however, just shouldn't ever be legalized.

Maijuana should be legalized as it has medical use. Cocaine and others have no medical use, thus having no reason to be legalized.

You do realize that there are certain medicines that are not allowed to be sold to individuals unless they have a legal agreement from a doctor due to the fact they are drugs with serious side-effects, right? Marijuana does have some serious symptoms that will keep it banned no matter how medically useful it is. At least, they can legalize it to hospitals who can use it with great care.

I agree with most of what you are saying. However, Alcohol's side-effects are much more serious than marijuana's. The only reason it is banned is because of hemp. Hemp paper is a much stronger and durable substitution to paper from trees, and because most of congress at the time were invested heavily in the lumber industry, they banned it to keep the money flowing into their pockets. So really it isn't the side-effects of marijuana, its all about the money.

I would also like to point out that alcohol is the only drug that we know of that effects every single cell in the body in a negative manner, and yet they could not find a way to effectively ban it. Now they have a drug that is less addictive, and less harmful, but they still found a way to successfully ban it.

Yes I do realize that. As long as whoever is taking it takes it in small doses, they should not have too many medical problems. And it'll be easier to ween them off of said drug if they are taking it in small doses.

But it is nearly impossible to monitor the doses people are taking. Furthermore, people might look at crimes as the only way to gain more of the drug if they aren't satisfied with the little amount. Thus it is better to keep it away from personal use and leave it to hospitals if needed.

I never said only for personal use. Yes only well-known practitioners should be able to prescribe marijuana for personal use. And if they OD then that's their problem for not following their doctor's instruction.

It is physically impossible to OD on marijuana. Scientists tested mice to figure out the OD amount, and they just passed out at larger amounts. They could not kill one mouse with marijuana.

A source for your info would be lovely. I searched and you are right, but large doses can still pose a threat to your health.

I did, if it makes you feel any better. :)

edit: of course I did not read it until after the hemp post I made. Also, it made a lot of sense. So smarten up pro legalization people!

I did. which is precisely why i've been hanging back watching these two keyboard warriors fight it out without me.

... Seriously Jared? Marijuana has its medical uses. Some people may really need it, and not just siding with the cancer patients just because they want to get high. And the article was the most poorly written essay I've read in a really long time. The logical fallacies and use of vulgar language are quite horrible tactics when writing an essay.

Marijuana is a spectacular pain-killer in helping Chemotherapy cancer patients relieve their nausea and vomiting. It also assists with loss of appetite in AIDS patients.

"I know from experience that there is no better treatment for the symptoms associated with chronic gastro-intestinal conditions such as Crohn's Disease, or ulcerative colitis. It not only acts as a pain-killer, but also as an anti-nauseant and anti-depressant, valuable effects when a patient is unable to eat for days on end during bad flare ups, or during the onset of the disease. While there clearly are risks to smoking anything (it goes against reason that inhaling smoke can be only beneficial), the long term risks from cannabis are far less than the possible long term risks of, say, morphine. Assuming that both are equally addictive, (they aren't, morphine is much more addictive than cannabis), and that a patient is likely to become addicted during treatment, we can safely say that the long term risks of morphine, such as liver failure, brain damage, and bodily decay are much worse, and onset much more quickly.

It should also be noted that morphine has been regulated longer than cannabis, and carries far higher penalties for possession in narcotics laws because it is much more dangerous. Just because doctors prescribe it for patients doesn't make it a better option than cannabis. Doctors sometimes use a liquid cocaine compound to treat nosebleeds, yet that too is a far more dangerous, and evidently destructive drug with great, immediate, risk.
The sensible thing to do is offer it as an alternative to consenting adults who understand the risk involved; it's always easier and cheaper to allow people freedom than to actively take it away."

Hmmm...

Medical marijuana does have its uses, but the point was that a lot of people back it so that they can get it. There are a lot of people who abuse it by claiming nausea and other problems.

Actually, elaine, I do agree with medicinal marijuana. I just think it should be in the responsible eye of the hospital. Unfortunately, we don't live in a world where we can trust people to take a hallucinogen home and be responsible with it.

No drugs shouldn't be legalized. They're illegal. It just causes trouble. People will over use it.

Drugs should be legalized only for medial use

Your ten though. What do you know about these events. Just saying.

And you're 14 and still don't know proper English. Get out of my debate forum :headbang:

Agreeing with this... Kind of. Kids under 15 can barely comprehend the various ideas that are shouted about in the debate forum. A serious debate post should comprise of at least 2-3 lines at the least.

And regarding Jared's and whoever else's post I cannot remember, well I'm glad you said that. I was thinking differently...

I do agree to an extent that some drugs should be legalized, like Marijuana. But with what people do for drugs and what people put in them, the risks far outweigh the benefits. But in the judicial system, the punishment, in my opinion, should be rehab instead of jail because once they get out, they'll just go and do it again, and the cycle will start all over again.

Im so with Luxy on this. These things are just horrible. I take insulin which is a drug, but it's not a bad drug. It keeps me alive (Im a diabetic) but I could never image doing that. They. SHould. Stay. Illegal.

It is not a great idea to bunch all illegal drugs in the same group, especially since cocaine is quite different from marijuana. If your main argument involves death, then here is a fun statistic: more people have died from falling coconuts, charging pigs, and roller coasters than from marijuana. Perhaps we should make all of those things illegal. This statistic should not be too surprising, since the only person to have died from marijuana was the pedestrian on the street that got hit on the head when a man threw 2 pounds of the stuff outside of his bedroom window.

The amount of medical uses for marijuana go through the roof, as Elaine mentioned in great detail. Sneak a peek at her post, just a few posts above this one to get an idea of the medical advantages so I don't have to re-type it.

Then, of course, are the economical benefits of legalizing marijuana. If the stuff was taxed and regulated by the government like say, I don't know, cigarettes, one of the leading causes of death, then profits could be made. Medical and economical benefits seem tough to refuse, especially when it comes from a drug as tame as marijuana. More dangerous drugs, such as LSD and meth, though, are a completely different story because of how dangerous they are when compared to the tame marijuana.

I suppose marijuana is 0kay, but anything you can OD on that is already illegal should stay illegal.

It's just as possible to overdose on legal drugs, like sedatives in Michael Jackson's case.

I got some food for you guys: What seems to be the attitude towards drugs might be best seen through a recent bill that passed the house judiciary committee.

Explaining the effects of what the bill can do...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/1..._n_998993.html

The text of the bill...
http://judiciary.house.gov/hearings/pdf/112hr313.pdf

The reasons why it was made is because it closes a "loophole" that allows for others to plan drug traffic in the USA. However, it also allows for police to arrest you for planning to do drugs in nations where they are legal. This bill sure angered the readers at the Huffington Post, that's for sure. This is a nasty bill, and it seems to be a step towards making our laws international for drugs.

Meanwhile, California is being sought after by the feds for their medical MJ stuff.