ONCE AGAIN.
If your main argument is going to be that the United States government can make money off of legalizing drugs, that is sad.
My words have been very simple to figure out. I don't give a shit about the economics of the issue... HOW IS THAT SO HARD TO UNDERSTAND?
You know... sometimes you seem capable of simple human reasoning and sometimes you don't. Maybe I made the mistake of assuming you were more educated then you actually are.
Saying you don't care about the economics of the issue is like saying "I dont care about the issue". Economics is a LARGE part of the issue since, at it's heart, economics is a study of human behavior. If you want to have an argument about morality, say so, because as I said previously, that's an entirely different discussion. This discussion is about legalizing drugs in the semi-capitalist US government and how people will respond to it. Which is centrally a discussion of cost benefits and human behavior. If you don't realize this, then step out of the discussion, cause you don't know enough to participate.
Now that we have THAT out of the way....
The point isn't MAKING money. The point is two-fold; it's about how people will react to a price change AND how the government will SPEND the money. For example, spending the money on treatment and hospitals. Legalizing it will not increase drug usage significantly, it will increase the QUALITY (thereby reducing a lot of the risk.... such as people cutting cocaine with drano) and increase education and awareness.
The fact remains that marijuana, cocaine, heroin, LSD, etc. etc. DO put others at risk. All of the above mentioned SERIOUSLY hamper one's ability to think or to express any sense of reason. My mother's an ER nurse--you'd be shocked to hear how often a guy high off of drugs shoots a guy but can't remember it the next day.
People can get drunk and do the same thing. And spend the rest of their lives in jail. As you said, it happens NOW. So making it criminal isn't preventing the problem, now is it? You said so yourself; your mom is an ER Nurse and she sees it "often". So I don't see your argument here.
And we won't even get into the effects it has on a person with withdrawals and what the crimes they will committ to get that drug.
I already adressed this issue. By legalizing it, it becomes cheaper, more readily available and you remove this as an issue. When was the last time you saw someone commit murder for a pack of smokes? Are you gonna tell me it's because tobacco isn't as addictive?
Your argument that drugs don't cause harm to other people can be disproven by the sheer number of people who get killed/injured/harmed by people who are so fucked up they don't even remember it.
I never said that drugs don't cause harm. I never even IMPLIED this. I don't know where you got this from.
My argument is that a person should be allowed to RESPONSIBLY damage their own bodies. It's the job of the gov't to insure that it is done responsibly but not to stop them. It would also be likely that some of this burden would be placed on the drug manufacturers, much like tobacco and alcohol companies. If I want to manufacture a cocaine derivative then I have to spend X amount of my profits on treatment and education. If i am a drug store and I want to sell this derivative, I need to have the proper licenses and pay the proper fees.
Also, by regulating the drugs the gov't can CONTROL how strong they are and exactly what effects they have on people. If you go out on the street right now and by X from someone, the odds are you are getting X cut with cocaine. Most people don't know this. I've talked to DOZENS of kids who think X is a "safe" drug. You also might be getting X cut with something relatively harmless like codine or tylenol. You just don't know. Removing this element of danger seems smart to me.
This country should NOT legalize something that can fuck with your mind so much, you have no sense of reason and that some psychologists have said almost makes you legally insane.
I think a LOT of the people are arguing for legalized drugs are thinking more of themselves than the general public.
As I've said before, Alcohol can have the exact same effect on people. For that matter, sniffing paint thinner can too. I don't see your argument here.
You seem to be arguing based on emotion and not ration. Realize that RIGHT NOW, with the drugs ILLEGAL, all of these bad things are STILL HAPPENING.
We aren't STOPPING people from doing drugs or stopping them from commiting these crimes. Making it legal wont change that.
Let me REEMPHASIZE something; DRUGS ARE BAD. People SHOULD NOT do drugs. They harm your body in irreprable ways for short term benefits. That said... if I know the reprecussions of taking drugs then i should have the option of legally ignoring them. The law shouldn't force people to do the "smart thing". If I want to be dumb, that's my choice.
If you have something intelligent to contribute, please do so. But the fact of the matter is, there are only two logical stances on "drugs" in the US. Either make them all illegal (including alcohol and tobacco) or make them all legal. Making some legal and others not is inconsistency of the worst kind.
---Andrew
