The Battle to Decriminalize All Drugs

Akkarin wrote: Starforge:

But the point remains the same. You are making it sound as if one can't have a toke and remain completely unaffected. Lightweight drinkers can be completely consumed after just a few shots just as some people can do little amounts of drugs and still be ok. I don't understand this persistence of the moderation argument when you are not even 'a user of marijuana so forgive me if I am wrong'. You make it sound like every possible instance that it is involved in is bad which is just incorrect, it can be done correctly and safely and without ever harming someone you know or yourself.

Actually many mix it with normal hand-rolling tobacco, but I never mix and am smoking a nice aromatic Borkum Riff Cherry Cavendish tobacco in my profile picture actually. I don't smoke weed in my house lol.

Another righteous conviction for the anti-drug proponents. People can be arrested and given a DUI (driving under influence) without even being high...

JediScruffy wrote: For give my cliche but to quote system of a down " all successful research and drug policies show that treatment should be increase and law enforcement decreased while abolishing mandatory minimum sentences"

"Fallowing the rights movement you clamped down with your iron fists drugs became conveniently available for all the kids"

"They're trying to build a prison for you and me..."

I always figured the point of smoking it was to get high. The new law you linked is just another example of heavy-handed and misguided laws.

I won't pretend to know the solution, but I can only think of a handful of countries- Singapore and Malaysia, most conspicuously- that have effective drug legislation. I know the US could never be convinced to introduce caning or execution for drugs, but my suggestion would probably be just as impossible. To start off, all 50 states would have to adopt this law uniformly, or it wouldn't be effective. The law would necessitate deciding what quantity of each illegal substance constitutes trafficking, that is to say, if a person had a certain quantity of a particular drug, they would be charged with trafficking, whether or not they actually intended to sell. Quantities not large enough to meet this requirement would be considered to be for personal use. Personal use would earn the user detention for 2-3 years in a rehab center which would of course, also be a detention area, but still not prison. Traffickers would simply have a large prison sentence. That's all I can come up with.

The tighter your grip, the more star systems will slipp from between your fingers...

Star Forge wrote: Quantities not large enough to meet this requirement would be considered to be for personal use. Personal use would earn the user detention for 2-3 years in a rehab center which would of course, also be a detention area, but still not prison.

How is that still not heavy handed? I didn't realise I was so far gone that I needed to attend rehab... I don't see how that would benefit me or society in the slightest.

Rehab is still the better alternative to prison, by a long way, but if drug taking isn't a problem for people why punish it like it is a problem?

In the UK now if you have small quantities (of whatever) in many places you are just given a caution and continue on your way...

There are so many reasons and benefits for using cannabis but let's say the only reason a person is using it is because it makes them feel good. Is that what you mean by getting high Star Forge?

That is their right as long as they're not harming another person or putting anyone else in danger. People have been using cannabis for thousands of years.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Now, I'm with you on this Br. John, so please don't take this the wrong way, but does that mean heavier drugs are okay too as long as your only harming yourself for the fun of it? Would this include self mutilation if it makes me happy? Does "harm" include upsetting someone else because they know you do it? Like, emotional harm? We sue in this country for less...

rugadd wrote: Now, I'm with you on this Br. John, so please don't take this the wrong way, but does that mean heavier drugs are okay too as long as your only harming yourself for the fun of it? Would this include self mutilation if it makes me happy? Does "harm" include upsetting someone else because they know you do it? Like, emotional harm? We sue in this country for less...

Define self mutilation. Tattoos, piercings, human blockheads? Self mutilation is part of the norm around the world, from the giraffe women to lip plates. Who's to say what's right for another individual?

Also, heavier drugs can be used in moderation. Not everyone is going to become addicted to heroine or cocaine when they try it, just like not everyone who drinks will become an alcoholic.

Emotional harm is a good one...but couldn't that extend to anything? You're a Catholic and that's harming me emotionally. Ew, I think your pit-bull could one day kill you and that's harming me emotionally.

What about cheeseburgers and milkshakes? Eating can be just as destructive as anything else? Or working out too much. Just where do we draw the line? And is it more an issue of control rather than drugs?

Marijuana use over time screws with brain development in younger smokers, can trigger psychotic symptoms that would have otherwise remained latent, causes testicular cancer, impairs judgement (when not high), damages the immune system, impairs memory and learning ability, to name a few things, in addition to the fact that it intoxicates the person smoking. Have your drug habit, fine by me, but don't expect people to approve or tolerate the overt expression of it.

Star Forge - Sources?

And I wouldn't expect you to applaud or even like it. I appreciate your tolerance when it comes personal choice and as a respectful human being I'll do my part by not rubbing it in your face and doing the bulk of my enjoyment(of whatever) within the confines of my own home.(mostly because I hate public intoxication, though)

rugadd wrote: Star Forge - Sources?

And I wouldn't expect you to applaud or even like it. I appreciate your tolerance when it comes personal choice and as a respectful human being I'll do my part by not rubbing it in your face and doing the bulk of my enjoyment(of whatever) within the confines of my own home.(mostly because I hate public intoxication, though)

http://www.justice.gov/dea/druginfo/drug_data_sheets/Marijuana.pdf

http://www.drugabuse.gov/about-nida/directors-page/messages-director/2013/03/marijuanas-lasting-effects-brain

Wendeline - I don't think there should be laws that govern these things, I think there should be friends and family that give us a heads up when they see us screwing ourselves up.