The Battle to Decriminalize All Drugs

RyuJin wrote: Ah but weak willed/ weak minded fools can make ANYTHING an addiction....I've seen people waste thousands on shoes they only wear once...

My own mom is an alcoholic as is most of my aunts/uncles...I've seen firsthand how addiction works as well...

while working at compusa I've seen people spend a fortune on gaming while spending little to nothing on any other expense....

I know. It pisses me off that consumerism isn't an addiction. I am looking for a good resource on unhealthy addiction stopping. I have had an addiction to food for the past few years. And, it's really hard to get rid of because we "need" to eat food. I cannot remove it.

It's like... trying to quit smoking, but smoking being necessary to life. It's a different kind of addiction, and I'm having trouble finding good resources for it.

MIND YOU, I've lost over 60 pounds on the best weight loss program ever. BUT, that doesn't do anything for addiction. Just reduces my chances of dying at 40.

Star Forge wrote: A lot of people make note of this, but it should be remembered that alcohol and weed have totally different effects. Weed is not as physically taxing, which could lead to frequency of use. It would, if legalized, need to be age-restricted and controlled. That is another issue. It takes a bit of work to make one's own alcoholic beverages, whereas weed can be grown. I won't pretend to know the answer.

I agree with the age restriction like we do with cigarettes, but booze is just as easy (or easier) to make as pot. I once had some oranges ferment on me. Wooee were they interesting to bite into. "Is this...are my oranges spiked!?" Hehe...they never made it into the garbage because they kept finding their way into peoples pockets. With pot, well you have to wait a while for your plant to grow and mature and then you have to dry it and what not...kind of like wine making. It takes a lot of time and patience. Or so I've heard.

Of course, I'm not saying drugs are good and everyone should do them. I just don't think it's the governments place to tell us how to live our lives. And if they are concerned about our health then why is liquor and processed food so easy to get a hold of? Drug laws aren't there to protect anybody. They're there to make money.

Plus, I think sometimes people forget that tobacco is also used to get high...so why is weed illegal? You'd think the big tobacco would want to be able to market and cell marijuana cigarettes. Cha-ching!

The biggest problem that I see with legalizing weed is controlling for things like driving while high. Breathalyzers work for alcohol. Does anyone know of a way to test how high someone is or if anyone knows how high you have to be before you can't drive (the same way some alcohol is okay to drive, but a certain point is illegal)?

@wendi: roflmao about the oranges....when I was 17 my mom made a fruit salad and forgot about it....a few months later I was rummaging through the fridge looking for something to eat and saw a big bowl with a lid on it....I made the mistake of opening it just a little and got floored by the smell alone....


Weed was made illegal because hemp was on the verge of replacing cotton in rope making, clothing, paper making, and several other areas of industry so a smear campaign was made to prevent it from happening....it was all about money...much like why it's illegal today...law enforcement gets a fortune to "fight the war on drugs"...the suppliers get paid, the agents get paid, etc....and yet the "war" continues to fail?...

Abhaya Budhil wrote: The biggest problem that I see with legalizing weed is controlling for things like driving while high. Breathalyzers work for alcohol. Does anyone know of a way to test how high someone is or if anyone knows how high you have to be before you can't drive (the same way some alcohol is okay to drive, but a certain point is illegal)?

That's a predicted problem in legal weed states. There are "drugged driving" laws, but no real way to test.

It seems to me like this thread has gone a bit off-track.

Decriminalizing is not the same as legalizing, I realize that every one posting in here probably knows this and its probably just the discussion growing. But I just wanted to throw somethings in.
Decriminalizing doesn't bring any regulation into quality and uniformity of the product, produce any revenue from the creation of jobs related to the product {distribution of, packaging of, selling of etc} doesn't produce taxable revenue and doesn't remove the exploitative/criminal elements of drug trafficking and sale.
That said it still is a positive step in that it removes the criminal stigma that can accompany drug convictions, which I've had to deal with personally when going for jobs etc.

On the synthetic pot thing Wendaline I think you might be thinking of Salvia divinorum {Diviner's sage} which is legal in alot of places but not all and more places are making it illegal all the time. The Synthetic cannabis products are an entirely different thing and the people using them really are the test group for them. {Thanks for letting me be a horticulture nerd}

Just relating my experience not encouraging people to do it, but Star forge I have brewed my own beer and grown my own pot {which seems to be the drug we're all focusing on}. Beer was far easier and quicker, I grew mine naturally but even if I had accelerated its growth cycle hydroponically, beer would still be faster and alot easier. However when I tried phasing weed out of my life it was my experience that yeah I was addicted {it's habit forming}and it does have withdrawal symptoms {insomnia, paranoia, depression} that while not as bad as say a heroin addict or smoker quitting, they are there, you condition yourself to life while high and it takes adjustment.

As far as the laws in Western Australia. It's a fine and slap on the wrist for small amounts of most substances, If your in possesion of what the police deem more than a personal amount you get charged with dealing which means asset seziures and probable jail, depending on substance and amount for time served. And police here do have roadside drug swabs, there's some debate over effectiveness and what a safe limit is, but at the moment it's enforced as any is too much. Even some debate over fairness as it detects pot long after the effects are supposed to have worn off vs opiates and amphetamines which are metabolised faster than the effects wear off, some claim that makes them targeted to pot smokers.

I can't really say where I stand on legalizing drugs in general as I am for some and against others due to my personal experiences, but making things illegal because we don't trust ourselves to handle them properly is hypocritical in regard to alcohol, tobbaco, gambling and all the other legal addictions, and does nothing to reduce the potential for harm or abuse of "Illicit" substances.

Thanks for the explanation, but I'm perfectly aware of what salvia is. I was just using it as another example of a "product" that had become illegal in certain areas.

As for decriminalization, that's a good idea, but I doubt people would stop there. It seems, in the US anyways, things have to either be illegal or legal...it's just how we work. Can I make money selling it legal or can I make money punishing offenders?

I mean, it would be great if they'd stop throwing people in jail for drugs, but if it's still illegal but not very punishable we're still left with certain problems like smuggling and other gang activity. If it's legal, it either forces our gangsters to turn into a legal business or they're likely to be pushed out.

Sorry I guess I wasn't very clear on it in my ramblings but, I agree with you that decriminalizing is only a half step and tried to make the same point initially about decriminalizing still leaving a criminal culture and not providing taxable revenue. I guess I was trying to turn things back to if all drugs should be decriminalized and whether or not they should be made fully legal.

Personally, all drugs no, but as far as legality, decriminalizing isn't effective enough you need to legalize them.

When I worked as a caning officer in Malaysia (long story), I never had to cane the same pothead twice. Let's put it this way, weed is illegal for a reason. I want it to stay that way. The thing is, we can't half-ass it, as in, make it illegal but churn out loads of stoner comedies. We need to have a fundamental culture change in our view of weed, see it as the DRUG that it is. I'm not suggesting that we cane users, but we needn't encourage them, as we currently do with weed. Heroin is not considered cool, neither should weed.

Star Forge wrote: When I worked as a caning officer in Malaysia (long story), I never had to cane the same pothead twice. Let's put it this way, weed is illegal for a reason. I want it to stay that way. The thing is, we can't half-ass it, as in, make it illegal but churn out loads of stoner comedies. We need to have a fundamental culture change in our view of weed, see it as the DRUG that it is. I'm not suggesting that we cane users, but we needn't encourage them, as we currently do with weed. Heroin is not considered cool, neither should weed.

I'm saying this as a person who does not smoke anything (weed, tobacco, salvia, etc.). I'm not a drug user and I don't plan to be one (with the exception of aspirin and caffeine...I love chocolate), but treating pot like heroin is just silly. Alcohol is much more destructive than pot is...so is tobacco. Both of those substances are used to alter the mind or get high, but they're perfectly legal.

There have been articles that say the many pot smokers are highly creative and productive in their field of choice (many working in the technology biz) and that hiring/firing based on recreational pot use actually robs employers of creative workers. Not to mention there are medical benefits to be gained.

Then again, I also think that the coca plant should be made legal too. As should poppies. Maybe if the more natural alternative is available people will be less likely to use the chemical laced stuff. I'm sure chewing on a coca leaf is a lot better for the bod than snorting cocaine.

But really, if we actually cared about people and their drug use then why do we constantly see ads for new drugs that will "fix" anything. Have a headache? Take this! Side effects include; death, nausea, agoraphobia, insomnia, tremors, grey, hair,...