151–160 of 242 posts
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"Bath salts" are popular because far better alternatives are illegal... If pure meth, cocaine, heroin, MDMA, and other "hard" drugs were made available in a regulated format, many destructive and dangerous alternatives would no longer have a market.
is meth, heroin, and cocaine supposed to be safe for you?
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Why should we force drug trafficking in to the underground, creating a black market and all the murder that comes with enforcing contracts within it, when people are just going to buy and consume drugs anyway? Because drugs are bad for you? The trade-off doesn't seem worth it.
Mostly agree. I think a lot of drugs should be legalized. Some which I think are addictive/ destructive enough where they should be kept illegal. Bath salts, crack cocaine, are good examples of the latter. I also think we should be deliberate in how we tread this path.
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> Drug trafficking is still a crime. Which is how this should be for many drugs. Though I would like a clean source for the occasional dose of LSD. Just... you know once a month or so.
Drug “trafficking” should absolutely be legal. While Decriminalization is laudatory and beneficial, it solves far fewer problems than outright legalization. With decriminalization: 1) drug users will still not know what they are actually consuming. They can very easily invest drugs heavily mixed with other drugs, or dangerous chemicals. This will lead to far higher levels of accidental overdoses and is a path to more…
For example, legalization might reduce the scale of drug trafficking, but I doubt it would eliminate it completely. Tobacco is completely legal yet due to high taxes there is still a large multi-billion dollar bootlegging business to smuggle cigarettes across tax gradients. Also, highly taxed drugs will likely result in an increase in related crimes like theft. I had a friend from high school who was addicted to heroin. When he ran out of money he was willing to mug old ladies to come up with the cash for more. If heroin were instead legal... why wouldn't he just steal directly from the legal distribution source now that the threat of violence is no longer there? You don't steal from the dealer because you might be killed, but stealing from Walmart or CVS or whoever is carrying it? Why not? Corporate policy probably says not to do anything.
Lastly, unless marketing is highly restricted, legalization of drugs will absolutely lead to an increase in usage across all demographics. And a net increase in usage will cause some % increase in DWI rates, overdose rates, health care impact, etc.
We will pay some price for legalization as well, it's just TBD and nebulous at this point.
Just to make things clear, decriminalization is not legalization. Drugs are still illegal, and users risk a $100 fine, especially if they are uncooperative. The difference is that it is now a civil violation instead of a crime, so no record, no jail time, kind of like a parking ticket. Drug trafficking is still a crime.
Of interest, this is mostly a non-story in Oregon after it has passed. Our largest newspaper isn't even running a story on it: https://www.oregonlive.com/ Life continues as normal, just with fewer people in prison. As it should be.
The real story is the fact that mainstream media is ignoring it. The silence is deafening and trumpets their allegiance to big pharma and the criminal injustice complex. Edit: I live in Oregon and voted for this. So yay, we're moving in the right direction.
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I wholeheartedly disagree with you. Criminalization of drug production and distribution has been an abject policy failure from the start. Ending the criminalization of drugs and bringing all drugs into a regulatory framework that is guided by health outcomes rather than the one-size-fits-all goal of eradication is the only path that has a hope of reducing the harms associated with the hardest of drugs. You can't stop…
>> bringing all drugs into a regulatory framework that is guided by health outcomes Outcomes for who? The individual or the population? Seriously. Ask a doctor and they would probably agree that, for a particular patient, having access to legal safe alternatives is a good thing. But ask them about drugs as a whole, for the entire population, and the answer will always be "less is better but zero is best." Stemming th…
We already massively promote and sell alcohol nearly everywhere. It's a deadly drug that is more dangerous to use than many illegal drugs. Tobacco is similarly broadly distributed, yet causes cancer and early death in millions of people.
If drugs were regulated based on their risk level, then it's likely that tobacco would be sold in plain packaging at pharmacies and MDMA would be available in a vending machine...
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I have no doubt that much higher levels of consumption are possible. I don't really have a position on what "binge" should mean, but that doesn't exactly sound like it's not. Could just be my perspective. I probably drink most days. Usually one beer. Rarely, I might have two in a day. I can't remember that last time I had more than that.
I roughly define binge as any amount of drinking that leaves you with a hangover the next day. That usually indicates that you have consumed enough to lose your judgment on when to stop.
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> Oregon is basically saying "go ahead, it's fine, use these drugs". Not at all. Oregon is saying they are going to stop using police resources to punish people for self-destructive behavior. Most drug users are struggling to begin with. Adding prison time for something which is not hurting others is cruel. > The next obvious step is to legalize all drugs, and let these lobbies profit off the back of addicts and thei…
The idealist in me wants to agree, but drug use does often hurt others by way of crime, social disfunction and destroying family relationships/unity (which is a hurt that can affect a subsequent generation at least). Not always, but often. The self-contained, highly functional, occasional heroin user is real but there are plenty that do not live up to the expectation of being responsible drug users. Prison works as a…
I still think this is likely a good law though, because the justice systems current approach to drug crimes creates such a tremendous harm to society, there has to be some rather obvious benefits to curtailing that. If you look at how relatively minor drug convictions can affect people’s lives, it’s beyond any measure of proportionality. It’s just a harm easier to ignore because it mostly affects societal out-groups.
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I wholeheartedly disagree with you. Criminalization of drug production and distribution has been an abject policy failure from the start. Ending the criminalization of drugs and bringing all drugs into a regulatory framework that is guided by health outcomes rather than the one-size-fits-all goal of eradication is the only path that has a hope of reducing the harms associated with the hardest of drugs. You can't stop…
Very well said. The real world pain caused by drug money going to black market criminals can’t be ignored. It’s easy to bury our heads in the sand and ignore how drug money fuels victimization through exploitation and human trafficking. And I’m sure someone will pipe up that they know some nice weed dealers etc, but you have to realize that’s a nice little bubble you’re living in. For many, the drug dealers are linke…
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It's mostly quantity limits. https://www.oregonlive.com/politics/2020/11/here-are-the-dru... The measure makes it a noncriminal violation similar to a traffic ticket to possess the following: Less than 1 gram of heroin Less than 1 gram, or less than 5 pills, of MDMA Less than 2 grams of methamphetamine Less than 40 units of LSD Less than 12 grams of psilocybin Less than 40 units of methadone Less than 40 pills of oxy…
What is a "unit" of LSD? Is that like International Units?
LSD is effective in such small quantities and it's been delivered in so many different forms I think the normal "grams"/ "ounces" metrics are irrelevant. The one time I used it, it was a single "hit" about half the size of a micro SD card and paper thin.