I’m for legalizing all drugs but some drugs like cocaine should come with meeting with a therapist to see if you are doing the right thing for what ails you.
Not all drugs are medicinal and this is legalization for recreational use. It’s okay to enjoy a drug recreationally.
It is important to deal with any public health problems that arise from potentially more people being exposed to a highly addictive substance. But it’s quite clear this point that prohibition doesn’t work, so it’s much better to devote resources towards helping those with addictions.
I think a careful balance needs to be found somehow.
Speaking only from my own experience: I have never touched C, and that is undoubtedly because of its legal status…while I smoked for more than half my life, undoubtedly because of the tobacco industry’s highly effective influence through the 20th Century.
I remember when cigarette brands were ubiquitous at sports events and media. Race cars, movie stars, sport stars, soldiers…pubs, clubs, planes, trains and automobiles. It was everywhere - killing people in horrificly slow and painful ways, making everything and everyone stink, staining our hands, clothes, walls, teeth and facial hair, littering our town centres and countrysides alike. And this was all happening with our eyes wide open - it wasn’t ignorance. It’s only through decades of government intervention through health campaigns, law changes and huge taxation that the tobacco industry’s grip finally weakened enough for us all to realise the horror we had walked into with our eyes open. Slowly, some parts of the world have managed to walk it back and smoking is now in the minority, but you only have to look at vaping to see how ready corporate greed is to take advantage of our influential children.
I’m not saying the above to scare people into thinking legalising cocaine would be the same - I am just highlighting what happens when the corporate world is allowed to act with impunity. I don’t think it’d be long before cocaine was back in coca cola.
On the other hand, “the war on drugs” seems to do more harm than good.
So can we trust governments to properly litigate and control legal and responsible distribution? I don’t know the answer, and I have no solutions…but the stakes are high - and so while I hope for change, I am also wary of it.
Nicotine is probably the most addictive substance there is, it’s more addictive than heroin. Granted, the effects are different (in particular withdrawal from heroin is worse) but the way nicotine hooks you is far stronger than anything else. 20 years ago Imperial College London ranked drugs out of 6 for addiction and effects, nicotine was 6 for addiction while heroin was 5 (as an aside, cannabis was 2 for addiction, 3 for strength; while caffeine was 3 for addiction and 2 for strength). Also, while you point out how everything smelled and everyone was hooked, nicotine (and caffeine) helped fuel the industrial revolution - the commercial tobacco situation of the late 20th century was very late in the period of society’s consumption of the drug.
Point being, if your wariness with addiction is because of your experience with cigarettes that’s valid, but that’s pretty much the worst it gets.
However, the real issue is the mental part of addiction. The physical part draws you to it, but the mental part of addiction is what makes you want to do it. Almost all addictions like this are rooted in some form of escapism, where the person wants to avoid something negative in their life. It really is a mental health and societal wellbeing problem first and foremost.
I’m for legalizing all drugs but some drugs like cocaine should come with meeting with a therapist to see if you are doing the right thing for what ails you.
Not all drugs are medicinal and this is legalization for recreational use. It’s okay to enjoy a drug recreationally.
It is important to deal with any public health problems that arise from potentially more people being exposed to a highly addictive substance. But it’s quite clear this point that prohibition doesn’t work, so it’s much better to devote resources towards helping those with addictions.
I think a careful balance needs to be found somehow.
Speaking only from my own experience: I have never touched C, and that is undoubtedly because of its legal status…while I smoked for more than half my life, undoubtedly because of the tobacco industry’s highly effective influence through the 20th Century.
I remember when cigarette brands were ubiquitous at sports events and media. Race cars, movie stars, sport stars, soldiers…pubs, clubs, planes, trains and automobiles. It was everywhere - killing people in horrificly slow and painful ways, making everything and everyone stink, staining our hands, clothes, walls, teeth and facial hair, littering our town centres and countrysides alike. And this was all happening with our eyes wide open - it wasn’t ignorance. It’s only through decades of government intervention through health campaigns, law changes and huge taxation that the tobacco industry’s grip finally weakened enough for us all to realise the horror we had walked into with our eyes open. Slowly, some parts of the world have managed to walk it back and smoking is now in the minority, but you only have to look at vaping to see how ready corporate greed is to take advantage of our influential children.
I’m not saying the above to scare people into thinking legalising cocaine would be the same - I am just highlighting what happens when the corporate world is allowed to act with impunity. I don’t think it’d be long before cocaine was back in coca cola.
On the other hand, “the war on drugs” seems to do more harm than good.
So can we trust governments to properly litigate and control legal and responsible distribution? I don’t know the answer, and I have no solutions…but the stakes are high - and so while I hope for change, I am also wary of it.
Nicotine is probably the most addictive substance there is, it’s more addictive than heroin. Granted, the effects are different (in particular withdrawal from heroin is worse) but the way nicotine hooks you is far stronger than anything else. 20 years ago Imperial College London ranked drugs out of 6 for addiction and effects, nicotine was 6 for addiction while heroin was 5 (as an aside, cannabis was 2 for addiction, 3 for strength; while caffeine was 3 for addiction and 2 for strength). Also, while you point out how everything smelled and everyone was hooked, nicotine (and caffeine) helped fuel the industrial revolution - the commercial tobacco situation of the late 20th century was very late in the period of society’s consumption of the drug.
Point being, if your wariness with addiction is because of your experience with cigarettes that’s valid, but that’s pretty much the worst it gets.
However, the real issue is the mental part of addiction. The physical part draws you to it, but the mental part of addiction is what makes you want to do it. Almost all addictions like this are rooted in some form of escapism, where the person wants to avoid something negative in their life. It really is a mental health and societal wellbeing problem first and foremost.
Yes and someone with your “file” should know what they’re dealing with.
You can legalize even drugs such as but you generally need responsible people for that or not care about many deaths and addiction problems…
However, there should not be high punishment for using them.