Children addicted to drugs

OMG! I go to work for a few hours and I miss a fight! Too bad it was with someone so obviously lacking in the intellect department. Point by point rebuttals to follow.

 

You obviously doesn't know what it means to think something ALL the way through.

If we are talking about mar1juana, the PRIMARY reason it is illegal is because it can be used as medicine. Do you think the pharmaceutical industry wants to compete with something that grows naturally, has a positive impact on a wide variety of ailments, and has virtually no side effects (aside from the obvious)? The Partnership for a Drug Free America, you know, the people who run so many of those anti-drug ads, are funded by the pharmaceutical companies together with the alcohol industry.

 

Once logic fails, prohibitionists tend to mud sling and call names to demonize the messenger.

I imagine this on a bumper sticker on the back of an '88 Ford pickup with "There's a Tear in my Beer" blaring from the Delco radio.

The point that you have flatlined on is that this is an unjust, racist policy which has created Slavery II. Those people who "do the time" are rented out by a for-profit prison industry that gets millions from corporations for the largely African-American prison population to do things like shrink wrap software. This policy has put more than a million minority men and women behind bars and then allows profiteers to make money from slave labor!

 

In 1972, the commission that Richard Nixon appointed to study the issue of drug use in America recommended that he "decriminalize" mar1juana, among other things. Later that year, Nixon started the "War on Drugs" policy over the objections of every scientist who had ever studied the issue.

Now we are getting into the gateway theory, which says that pot is a gateway to other drugs. The only reason this is true is because the same people who sell pot would rather that their cusomers bought crack or heroin so that they will be a lifelong user. In a regulated market, you buy pot in an environment that actively DISCOURAGES you from using harder drugs.

Actually, I think people just about as smart as you came up with these laws.

 

Just to clarify a point, technically, it is still illegal in Cali. There was a state referendum (Prop. 215) that passed, changing the state law, but the feds just recently got a conviction on a deputized city agent who was operating a medical MJ dispensary under the guidelines the city set up.

He was only sentenced to a day of jail time after the jurors who convicted him found out he was providing medical MJ and 9 of them pitched a fit to the judge.

But the DEA still arrests medical MJ providers in California.

 

Well, when someone ignores facts and evidence in favor of the propaganda they have been spoon fed for three decades, it is easy to think that the person has not really stepped back to examine their beliefs.

Spoken like a true prohibitionist, bravo! Please enlighten me as to the logic that has guided your decision making process. Please help me to understand what you think the current policy does to help our society.

Can you give me any evidence that prohibition does any good for the American people?

That is exactly right, I want to do everything we can conceive of to make them MORE DIFFICULT to get.

In case you haven't heard, drugs are available in every city, town, and village throughout this country. Anyone, including children, have immediate access to anything they want. How in God's name could we possibly make it EASIER to get drugs?

(begin my wife's interjection)
In addition, if we are saying that something being bad for you is reason to ban it outright, then we need to pull Twinkies, Doritos, Coca-Cola, and every fast food joint in existence. Where do you draw the line as to what is TOO BAD for you?

The reason these drugs are illegal is because the pharmaceutical companies can't find a way to make a profit from them like from Valium, Xanax, etc.
(end of wife's interjection)

Isn't it funny that the NATURAL drugs are illegal and the synthetic ones are legal (with a few exceptions)?

You have the cohones to call ME naive?!? Have you looked at the statistics? Have you seen the overwhelming evidence that shows that kids have more access to illegal drugs than alcohol? It IS working for alcohol! We have reduced teen alcohol AND tobacco use significantly (23% and 50% respectively as shown in this thread) over the past decade.

Not until people like you start looking at the facts. Again, all I ask is that you actually THINK about what is going on. Think about the $100 billion per year we spend. Think about the 2 million people in jail. Think about every kid in high school all over America who have easy access to drugs and peer dealers telling them that it is OK.

What does driving have to do with it? There is a breathalyzer test for mar1juana already.

Besides, I absolutely think we need to start slow. Here is how it should line out, IMO.

First, the federal government creates a new drug scheduling program where drugs are scientifically categorized based on potential for:
Abuse
Misuse
Physical addiction
Psychological addiction
Physical damage
Societal damage

So that we can determine…
Age at which a guardian can introduce the substance
Age at which the user can purchase the substance
Circumstances under which a physician can prescribe the substance

Now, this will not make drugs legal, it creates a regulatory structure that allows the states to experiment with other drug policies. If the people of a state want to actually STUDY alternate methodologies, they should not be prohibited from doing so.

This way, we can build up actual knowledge about the effects that other drug policies have. This is the only way that we can find out what ACTUALLY reduces rates of use.

If we can reduce availability of all drugs, alcohol included, to minors, they will have a lower chance of coming out of childhood addicted or along that road. Once you reach adulthood, you go to school to get licensed to purchase a particular substance. This school teaches you all of the honest facts about what that substance (tobacco, alcohol, mar1juana) does to you. This kind of education could also reduce drunk driving and other alcohol related problems.

If someone does get addicted, it will be much easier to track and target treatment resources if the government, in the form of healthcare professionals, controls the supply.

With high-tech tracking, it will be trivial to trace a certain product back to its source if it winds up in a childs hand.

DD, change is coming. The rest of the world is starting to turn against us on this issue and eventually, we will be forced to change by massive deficits, debt, and the strong possibility of race riots throughout the black and hispanic communities.

There is a war on and I just want you to actually sit down and think about which side you will have been proud to be on in 30 years.

 

The problem is already here. I want to decrease the problems associated with drug use (alcohol included) in America.

 

Why doesn't anyone actually LISTEN? I want to regulate it MUCH more heavily than alcohol. I don't want people to be able to walk into stop-n-go and pick up ANY drug. I include alcohol in that, but that idea is a non starter, I know.

I said we need to make it harder for people, ESPECIALLY CHILDREN, to acquire them. That is where we need to START. How about this, once we eliminate drug use by people under the age of 21, THEN we can concentrate on eliminating use by adults through demand reduction.

I have always seen you as a reasonable person and it is nice to have confirmation. We are not so far apart in our opinions as you may think. There is hope for you yet.