31–40 of 97 posts
I encourage anyone to attend a Narcotics Anonymous meeting at least once. They're all online now because of COVID, and you'll find ones specific to each city or state. You don't have to be an addict to attend one and it'll help you greatly understand what people are going through.
I know we have a few advocates for legalization. How do you address this scourge with legalization beyond a principles based approach and one that deals with the reality on the ground? I’m for soft drugs legalization, but when it comes to these things that just consume people I cannot see legalization as a viable approach.
Well, the reality on the ground says that drugs being illegal does not actually make them unavailable. That much is clear! So the idea behind legalization is not "it should be easier to do drugs!" but rather: 1. It's already easy to do drugs, so how can we make it safer to do drugs? 2. Precisely because of drugs' illegality, extraordinary rents are collected by some of the worst humans on earth. Can we make drugs leg…
2) Those worst humans would still exist, still try to make money out of the drug business. They would undercut prices, do things that ethics otherwise hinder, etc. They will do this by, as today, move drugs outside of the system to avoid taxes, cut the stuff with other substances, etc.
I think the 2) is such a strange argument. Following the 2) argument, are "the worst humans" expected to just stop being the worst humans?
Look at cigarettes. It's legal today, but there are still scum exploiting the situation by black market selling probably dangerous tobacco that doesn't go through QA and regulatory checks etc.
I encourage anyone to attend a Narcotics Anonymous meeting at least once. They're all online now because of COVID, and you'll find ones specific to each city or state. You don't have to be an addict to attend one and it'll help you greatly understand what people are going through.
I offer a counter to this: NA and its more famous cousin AA are faith-based, not evidence-based.
I encourage anyone to attend a Narcotics Anonymous meeting at least once. They're all online now because of COVID, and you'll find ones specific to each city or state. You don't have to be an addict to attend one and it'll help you greatly understand what people are going through.
I offer a counter to this: NA and its more famous cousin AA are faith-based, not evidence-based.
I encourage anyone to attend a Narcotics Anonymous meeting at least once. They're all online now because of COVID, and you'll find ones specific to each city or state. You don't have to be an addict to attend one and it'll help you greatly understand what people are going through.
I offer a counter to this: NA and its more famous cousin AA are faith-based, not evidence-based.
I know we have a few advocates for legalization. How do you address this scourge with legalization beyond a principles based approach and one that deals with the reality on the ground? I’m for soft drugs legalization, but when it comes to these things that just consume people I cannot see legalization as a viable approach.
I"m a pretty strong advocate for legalization. The most concise counterpoint would be that addiction is not really hampered by criminalization, outside of edge cases like Singapore which is an island. Criminalization doesn't create less addicts it just creates more addicts in jail. Criminalization is also not zero sum, b/c it comes with all the issues of black markets, issues with the police who need extra power to e…
The article does paint a bleak picture of life in Iraq and I understand how a lot of youth can end up addicts. Taking drugs is something they can do feel better for a while and is something they actually have control over in their lives unlike the rest of the country's problems.
Morally, would it be wrong to ship in tons of anti-depressants and give them away free to make people feel better about their shitty situation?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well, the reality on the ground says that drugs being illegal does not actually make them unavailable. That much is clear! So the idea behind legalization is not "it should be easier to do drugs!" but rather: 1. It's already easy to do drugs, so how can we make it safer to do drugs? 2. Precisely because of drugs' illegality, extraordinary rents are collected by some of the worst humans on earth. Can we make drugs leg…
"Well, the reality on the ground says that rape being illegal does not actually make it impossible." Hell of a logic! Guess that means we should throw laws out the window and focus on making rapes safer and more enjoyable for rape victims? Inb4 "consent": that ship sailed long ago once addiction came on the scene.
Some acts (and what matters here is the act itself, not the legal definition of the act, so I refer to acts not crimes) are defined as an act on a third person without their consent. One definitionally cannot consensually murder or batter someone else. This is why it is correct for these acts to be illegal.
Taking drugs is not in this category. While it is certainly possible to harm others through one's drug use, it is also certainly possible to take drugs without harming others.
The whole point of legalization is to create structures and incentives that minimize the harm to 3rd parties. This is true of many vices: gambling, prostitution, alcohol, tobacco, pornography.
In he case of drugs it is particularly strong because much of the harm that comes from drug consumption is harm that occurred in the production and distribution of said drugs.
Stimulants -- amphetamines, cocaine, etc -- have physiological effects sort-of similar to Mono Amine Oxidase Inhibitors (MAOI). MAOIs were sold as the first generation of anti-depressant drugs. These substances have mood-elevating benefits sort-of similar to cocaine and amphetamine, but without the euphoria and crash. Later generations of anti-depressants are less effective that the MAOIs, but MAOIs fell out use beca…
I encourage anyone to attend a Narcotics Anonymous meeting at least once. They're all online now because of COVID, and you'll find ones specific to each city or state. You don't have to be an addict to attend one and it'll help you greatly understand what people are going through.
I offer a counter to this: NA and its more famous cousin AA are faith-based, not evidence-based.
Addiction is both physical and mental, unlike cancer which is purely physical, and if faith could be weaponized properly to fight it, so be it.
And anyhow, I attended a few meetings and all the discussions were all about personal life troubles due to addiction or otherwise, and people asking and offering help.
In big cities it's very hard because of the variety of religions of people attending, it becomes very awkward to even try and push any one religious talk.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well, the reality on the ground says that drugs being illegal does not actually make them unavailable. That much is clear! So the idea behind legalization is not "it should be easier to do drugs!" but rather: 1. It's already easy to do drugs, so how can we make it safer to do drugs? 2. Precisely because of drugs' illegality, extraordinary rents are collected by some of the worst humans on earth. Can we make drugs leg…
"Well, the reality on the ground says that rape being illegal does not actually make it impossible." Hell of a logic! Guess that means we should throw laws out the window and focus on making rapes safer and more enjoyable for rape victims? Inb4 "consent": that ship sailed long ago once addiction came on the scene.