Should Cocaine and Heroin be legalized along with Marijuana?

[DarkSun]

I have studied the "slippery slope" through the eyes of Law Enforcement (student); everyone likes to think that Marijuana is "the gateway drug", no :sorry1: its alcohol. I am speaking also from experience; after being involved in an automobile accident that left me with severe migraine headaches (at least 4 a week, some last for more than a day) my husband and I took a trip to Amsterdam. Yes I visited a Coffee Shop or two, and guess what I did not have a migraine the entire trip. I do not believe in breaking the law, but nor do I think the law is always right. Being that there are other ways to ingest Marijuana that are not detrimental to your health (any way aside from smoking it) why are addictive drugs being used as treatments? I have studied some laws in which nations do allow harder drugs and yes crime rates are lower for the most part, but lets get real, we live in a country where too much is not enough, don't you think in the end legalizing harder more addictive drugs may increase the number of people who become dependent as well as having a sever impact on our Health Care System (an impact that is not needed, there are enough flaws as it is). Another fact that people constantly negate is that alcohol is a drug that if the dependency is severe enough, quitting cold turkey will kill you, other drugs can not make this claim (if a death ensues from stopping other addictions, it is usually not the drug leaving the system, it is the shock on the system itself).

See, I agree with this. I have no problem with marijuana being used medicinally, if only under the supervision of a medical practioner. The problem I have with people 'self-medicating', is that the people doing it are rarely qualified to do so... Not sure if you agree or disagree with this, but I don't think that legalising the recreational use of a psychoactive like marijuana is really that brilliant an idea.

By the way, about the lowered crime rates thing.
[youtube]I3cwJC6BM1w[/youtube]
YouTube - ‪Real Stories - Legalised Crime‬‏

 

[Otherright]

Cannabis psychosis

http://www.religiousforums.com/forum/general-discussion/114839-what-person-even-saying.html

"It is unusual for such a psychosis to occur without other drugs being involved to some extent and so it is difficult to tease out the differences between the effects of Cannabis and other drugs."

I agree, I have never seen someone hallucinate on weed.

Often the combination of symptoms makes one suspicious that schizophrenia is present but at the same time there is an affective component.

DSM IV also has similar but less complete information under the heading of Cannabis Induced Psychotic Disorder and refers the reader to a general description of “ Sunstance*Induced Psychotic Disorder”. That is the difference in the phenomenology of Cannabis Psychosis and other substance induced psychosis is not made, however this is now rather dated being 1994 when published.

Man, I have been around potheads my entire life and have never seen anything described in this paper besides maybe too relaxed about life, but that in no way correlates to the dangers of heroin and cocaine.

BTW, this paper's latest source is 1999, that was 12 years ago. Its earliest is 1982, that was 29 years ago. Do you know what has happened in neurology and psychology in the past decade?

 

[Mathematician]

You say you want to respond to weed use with rehab treatment, but most users don't need rehab so I continue to inquire into why you insist on keeping it illegal when I pointed out that such a measure only threatens people who need help. There seems to be some open vendetta here against the substance.

 

[horizon_mj1]

DarkSun, I have mixed emotions on the subject of legalization of Marijuana for recreational use. On one hand you have alcohol which has proved through testing to be way more detrimental to your health than marijuana yet is legal (in this respect I agree with recreational legalization of Marijuana; it should have been the one all along IMO); then on the other hand you have those people who while using Marijuana recreational and mix it with other drugs such as alcohol which I see as just asking for problems (some people not all). Trying to look at the situation in its entirety, I see it from a legal stand point as a way of gaining a foothold on eradication of more dangerous drugs. Imagine if legalization of Marijuana was done, yet any person wanting to purchase it must give photo ID in which is scanned and put into a data base; within this data base, records are scanned to check the rap sheet, if anything "suspicious" is uncovered (such as prior arrests relating to drugs) launch an investigation. The hard part of finding who is "using" illegal drugs would be greatly narrowed down and Law Enforcement would have more innovative ways to deal with what so far has been a losing battle. (Not that every person who uses Marijuana is using a harder drug, but from my experience ones that use the harder drugs, use Marijuana as well).

 

[Acim]

There seems to be some open vendetta here against the substance.

Pun intended?

 

[evane123]

I think i have tried cocaine. I think cocaine is horrible. I think cocaine is addictive because of the large withdraw from one usage. I think if a person wants to try crack that they should first try some cocaine because from the information i have i think crack is faster and more powering than cocaine. I think i do not recommend cocaine.
I think people use drugs to enslave people. I think dealers will put users in positions that try to cause the user to use more dangerous drugs. I think if a dealer gets a person in a Muslim country and hook the user that getting off the drug leads to death and usage leads to slavery that they might not notice. I think those type of people are targets because they can be influenced easy. I think i have tried some drugs and i think alcohol and marijuana are the least harming. I think marijuana is less dangerous then alcohol.

 

[no-body]

Not true. I blame both.

The thing is, the drug is an inanimate object that is neither good nor bad.

I'm no cynic, but if you got a biography done on all 6.7 billion people on this planet, I somehow doubt any of them would have had a perfect life. Plus, 25% percent of the US population will suffer from mental illness sometime in their life, if THC exacerbates pre-existing mental illness, then the long term effects of recreational use/abuse could be bad.

What it comes down to is you have no right to dictate how others should live their lives if it only "hurts" themselves. If you want to argue that addiction hurts family, friends, etc you could say the same about porn or internet "addiction" too, really it's not you or the governments place to dictate. I know it absolutely kills you that you can't control peoples lives.

Just because some people can't control themselves or have a bad reaction is no reason to ruin it for everyone. Adults should decide for themselves what is appropriate.

"Coming down" from caffeine? You're joking, right?
Erowid Cannabis (Marijuana) Vault : Effects

So what's your point, that we should ban everything classified as a drug including caffeine and aspirin because they have a potential for side effects?

 

[Mathematician]

I think i have tried cocaine. I think cocaine is horrible. I think cocaine is addictive because of the large withdraw from one usage. I think if a person wants to try crack that they should first try some cocaine because from the information i have i think crack is faster and more powering than cocaine. I think i do not recommend cocaine.
I think people use drugs to enslave people. I think dealers will put users in positions that try to cause the user to use more dangerous drugs. I think if a dealer gets a person in a Muslim country and hook the user that getting off the drug leads to death and usage leads to slavery that they might not notice. I think those type of people are targets because they can be influenced easy. I think i have tried some drugs and i think alcohol and marijuana are the least harming. I think marijuana is less dangerous then alcohol.

You don't go through withdrawals from one use. You experience a comedown. Whether that experience is more painful than alcohol is a matter of subjectivity, but it's no different than the "hangover" effect one gets from pounding shots. A lot of people find a cocaine comedown even pleasant.

I'm not purposely trying to champion coke as it is a powerful drug, but ALL of this evidence indicates alcohol is worse..

 

[evane123]

You don't go through withdrawals from one use. You experience a comedown. Whether that experience is more painful than alcohol is a matter of subjectivity, but it's no different than the "hangover" effect one gets from pounding shots. A lot of people find a cocaine comedown even pleasant.

I'm not purposely trying to champion coke as it is a powerful drug, but ALL of this evidence indicates alcohol is worse..

I think cocaine has a withdraw that is faster and worse than a cigarette. I think if people use cocaine in similar ways to cigarettes that they will experience addiction. I think cigarettes taste horrible with first use and become easier to smoke after first use but i think the change in energy levels that the cigarette causes makes malnutrition occur without cigarettes. I think the energy shift that cocaine causes is large enough to create addiction that is worse than cigarettes, more expensive than cigarettes, at this time more difficult to find, and could create people willing to do extreme things.
I think cigarettes are horrible and i think cocaine is worse.
I think cocaine does not cause the impairment of skills that alcohol causes.
I think marijuana does not have the addiction from malnutrition that cocaine has and does not have the impairment of skills that alcohol has.

 

[Acim]

I think that you think that I think too much.

I think I don't.

 

[DarkSun]

The thing is, the drug is an inanimate object that is neither good nor bad.



What it comes down to is you have no right to dictate how others should live their lives if it only "hurts" themselves. If you want to argue that addiction hurts family, friends, etc you could say the same about porn or internet "addiction" too, really it's not you or the governments place to dictate. I know it absolutely kills you that you can't control peoples lives.

Just because some people can't control themselves or have a bad reaction is no reason to ruin it for everyone. Adults should decide for themselves what is appropriate.


So what's your point, that we should ban everything classified as a drug including caffeine and aspirin because they have a potential for side effects?

I am sorry, but my brother used the same arguments to justify himself to his family, he never touched anything but weed. He's now sedated most of the time and can't get out of bed til about 3pm, they've put him on 2mg of respiridone daily to prevent a relapse. Whether that's permanent or not is yet to be seen.

If you want to argue that weed is harmless to everyone on the face of the planet, then that's up to you. Just don't expect me to argue with someone who refuses to read, and instead assumes I'm trying to control other's actions. If I am trying to control people it's to stop them from potentially harming themselves and others.

If you want to smoke weed it's your choice, I'm not stopping you. Morality is individual but law is absolute, I personally disagree that legalisation of marijuana for recreational use would be harmless. I'm not going to rehash over reasons I have already stated. Have a good day.

 

[Otherright]

I am sorry, but my brother used the same arguments to justify himself to his family, he never touched anything but weed. He's now sedated most of the time and can't get out of bed til about 3pm, they've put him on 4mg of respiridone daily to prevent a relapse.

If you want to argue that weed is harmless to everyone on the face of the planet, then that's up to you. Just don't expect me to argue with someone who refuses to read, and instead assumes I'm trying to control other's actions. If I am trying to control people it's to stop them from potentially harming themselves and others.

If you want to smoke weed it's your choice, I'm not stopping you. Morality is individual but law is absolute, I personally disagree that legalisation of marijuana for recreational use would be harmless. I'm not going to rehash over reasons I have already stated. Have a good day.

If your brother is on Respiridone, its not from smoking weed.

 

[DarkSun]

If your brother is on Respiridone, its not from smoking weed.

Nothing else was found. LSD should have been found if it were taken within a day of the blood test. All his friends claimed he always refused to touch anything but weed. Plus, the people in mental health said that weed alone would have been enough depending how often he took it. I've got health care professionals saying one thing, and contradictory information throughout the internet.

 

[Otherright]

Respiridone's primary pharmaceutic use is in schizophrenia; its secondary is bi-polar disorder. Neither of these are caused by marijuana use.

 

[no-body]

I am sorry, but my brother used the same arguments to justify himself to his family, he never touched anything but weed. He's now sedated most of the time and can't get out of bed til about 3pm, they've put him on 2mg of respiridone daily to prevent a relapse. Whether that's permanent or not is yet to be seen.

That doesn't sound like a problem with weed, it sounds like an underlying mental problem and family problem. "Relapse" ? I have a hard time telling if you are being serious. And what would an adult who supports themselves need to justify themselves to anyone? If your brother won't abide by the rules then kick him out and let him support himself so he can then do as he wishes.

If you want to argue that weed is harmless to everyone on the face of the planet, then that's up to you. Just don't expect me to argue with someone who refuses to read, and instead assumes I'm trying to control other's actions. If I am trying to control people it's to stop them from potentially harming themselves and others.

I never said that weed wasn't harmless. Everything is potentially harmful, even aspirin and water.

If you want to smoke weed it's your choice, I'm not stopping you. Morality is individual but law is absolute, I personally disagree that legalisation of marijuana for recreational use would be harmless. I'm not going to rehash over reasons I have already stated. Have a good day.

Personally I hate cannabis and will never touch it because of anxiety and depression issues, but that is my choice. It drives me up the wall that adults can't do as they wish under the guise of "oh think of the children!"

 

[Acim]

the guise of "oh think of the children!"

How come that doesn't seem to mesh well with 'Let's have another war!' ?

We don't think of the children when we justify need for war, but instead think of our own righteous stances... a la 'war on drugs.'

 

[PeaceLoveJoy]

Weed is a beautiful thing that I believe will one day untie the world!

 

[Yerda]

Weed is a beautiful thing that I believe will one day untie the world!

Slip of the tongue?

I don't think current drugs can offer much. Even the euphoriants are generally cheap and nasty ways to get happy. Rewiring the brain through genetic engineeringt to get an eternal euphoric well-being sounds like the way forward.

 

[PeaceLoveJoy]

I don't know where you get your stuff, but mine is neither cheap nor nasty

 

[bobhikes]

I say legalize it all but with severe penalties for public and group usage.

If a person wishes to do drugs in there own home possibly killing themselves that is fine.

If a person throws a party at which another person has access to drugs they did not purchase themselves this would be illegal.

If a person uses drugs outside there house this would be illegal.

You can include alcohol and cigaretts as drugs.