Legalization of Substances
 

Wow, the Debate forum is dead. Let's liven it up, shall we?


The issue at hand is the legalization of narcotics and other drugs. Wikipedia has a number of great articles on the subject that are, to a degree, rather fair and balanced about the effects of drugs on American society. Read up before you post.

See, I'm not just talking about marijuana... If you want to just discuss certain drugs legalization then by all means, go for it. However, I would like to argue that people should be allowed to buy and sell any type of illicit drug currently on the market. My only stipulation would be that it be as closely monitored and regulated as alcohol and cigarettes. If a person wants to put rat poison into their body then shouldn't they be allowed to do so? After all, suicide is not illegal in the United States so why can't people put other junk into their body? We can have abortions, get tattoos and piercings, body modifications, and any number of other things.

So should only specific drugs be legalized? All of them? For medicinal purposes only? What other examples exist in the world where certain things are legal?

Remember: Don't just tell me your opinion. Back it up and DEBATE with one another!

Re: Legalization of Substances
 

i think that it should be legalized, because it is down to each person whether or not they want to put something like that into their body, and if it was closely controlled like tabaco and alcohol is then corporations would start to produce the drugs to a legal standard so you wouldn't get any weird shit that people put in it now to make it stronger.

also the government are always going on about how they want to take down cuban drug lords and shit like that, well the legalization of drugs would shut them down, instead of buying from back ally dealers that got the stuff ultimately from these drug dealers they would be buying from a regular store, which would give the money to corporations which don't "fund terrorists" which drug dealers do.
-also it would make people shit loads of money XD-
(also, the comment about suicide being illegal is hilarious, the person killed themselves so what are they gonna do? put them in jail? i think not.)

Re: Legalization of Substances
 

Absolutely, then we wouldn't have total idiots like Fall Out Boy making music...

Anyways, to get serious, yes I still think it should be. The main reason being I am all for less government control, but the secondary reason being that it would stop our government from focusing on fighting a so-called "war on drugs" and instead focus on the real wars at hand. Plus, we could put more aid in other countries that need it. As Bill Hicks said, a drug user is not a criminal. A murderer is a criminal, but someone who wants to get a little high is not.

Re: Legalization of Substances
 

yeah, but if they were to make it legal it would be controlled to the the tiniest detail, but i think that would be alright, cos then all the money that is put into 'narcotics' departments would be re-focused onto something more useful

Re: Legalization of Substances
 

Why would they need to control it at all? Even better, how would they control it?

Re: Legalization of Substances
 

well they would have to because if people aren't careful you can O.D. you can get a bad batch of the drugs etc etc, so they would have to put strict regulations on the manufacture of the drugs and control the sale of them like they do alcohol and tabbaco.

Re: Legalization of Substances
 

It's not about whether people want to destroy their own bodies or not, It's about them destroying other people while puting these substances in their body. Look up criminal records of murders, 90% of the murderers were on drugs when they killed people. Weed, cocaine, etc.

My point being, drugs should'nt be Legalized. As for Cigarets and Alchohol? I guess Its fine the way It Is now, Remember what happend last time we tried to ban those two? Yeah, I dont think we want more of that.

Re: Legalization of Substances
 

yeah, but i would imagine they would find a way around that, and certain people could get banned from purchasing them, and theres always rehab and stuff

Re: Legalization of Substances
 

People get violent or commit crimes for weed? By all means, try and show me some research on that one. I'm callin' you out, Sessh! People die by the hundreds every year from alcohol.

...But you have a valid point for some harder drugs out there. People would do just about anything for the cash to get some kinds of dope, right? Well don't they do that anyway? If drugs were legalized then it would not only greatly decrease the prices but it would also get rid of all of the shady business that goes with it. Right now the heavy dealers carry weapons and there are all kinds of scuffles and deaths because it's illegal. That alone would REDUCE crime, right?

Re: Legalization of Substances
 

thats what im saying, legalizing it would put a stop to all of that drug trafficking and deaths due to a bad deal etc etc

Re: Legalization of Substances
 

They actually don't have strict regulations on either tobacco or alcohol. If people want to OD then the government should have no right to tell them they can't. As far as a bad batch of drugs, capitalism will regulate that anyways...

Re: Legalization of Substances
 

what i meant was they are strict compared to other things, like theres a certain age, and you can't drive while drunk etc, where as with take bread, you can buy bread at any ages and eat it and then drive all you want! bread is cool like that.

Re: Legalization of Substances
 

So basically, what you are saying is that one who takes drugs will now have to start following all these rules when they take them? Are you sure they won't just do it illegally anyways? I have seen 14 year olds smoking in bowling allies and no one does a thing about it. Wouldn't you think these laws are pointless?

Re: Legalization of Substances
 

It would not, If drugs we're legalized, More people would want to try It out, even the people who never have done any drugs, Underage teenagers get their hands on cigarets, alcohol and weed easily enough already, If drugs get legalized, It will be even easier to get, even for underage children. Maybe the crime will decrease, but more and more accidents will happen, and our future generations will just get dummer and dummer If everyone Is doing drugs from now on.

(By the way Im not just talking about weed.)


EDIT: Do you do any drugs DarkAztek?

Re: Legalization of Substances
 

Thing is, the same people who are likely to drive drunk are probably the same exact people who would do something like drive while on other drugs that impair them. So it really wouldn't be that much of an increase as you're making it out to be. People who do stupid shit while intoxicated can still do stupid shit while intoxicated as things are now, so you're not really changing things all that much.

On the flip side, if people could just go to a store to buy drugs then there really wouldn't be any real incentive to go to shady drug dealers to get them. That alone would drastically cut down on crime, prisons wouldn't be overflowing with people in there for drug related crimes, etc.

Sure, in an ideal society no one would abuse drugs, ever. But that's not going to happen, ever. Making them as safe as possible, allowing people the right to do what they want so long as it's not harming other people (Doing drugs alone doesn't hurt anyone else directly, after all. And no illegal drug is worse than legal shit as a means of causing indirect harm, really.), and pretty much eliminating shady business via getting rid of dealers seems to far outweigh any potential negatives. Unless I'm really missing something huge here.