7 Facts About Drugs That Will Make You Question Everything You Know

Did you 90% of statistics are made up.

I just made that up.

a reply to: Krazysh0t

But then you realize the war on drugs is profitable.

And you realize further that it's not so much a war on drugs, but a war for your conciousness...

Too many jobs depend on drugs being illegal.

Police Officers & Staff
Court Officials & Staff
Prison Wardens & Staff
Social Workers
Rehabilitation Staff
Health Professionals
Ambulance and Medic Personnel
Border Control Staff
Military
Politicians


Just can't afford to legalise it right now. Maybe another day.

Smoking tobacco is legal yet it still remains the worlds no 1 most addictive drug.

originally posted by: bigyin
Too many jobs depend on drugs being illegal.

Police Officers & Staff
Court Officials & Staff
Prison Wardens & Staff
Social Workers
Rehabilitation Staff
Health Professionals
Ambulance and Medic Personnel
Border Control Staff
Military
Politicians


Just can't afford to legalise it right now. Maybe another day.

Almost every one of those should be like insurance a thing you pay for and hope never to have to use. I would much rather pay a bunch of cops to sit around and eat donuts cause crime is so rare, than I would what we have now, which is create more crime to keep these cops and judges busy.

We're literally paying to be exploited, killed and murdered.

Parties are pretty boring nowadays.. people are mostly just drunk.

Its a pretty boring atmosphere. Lets bring back the mind altering drugs like mescaline.. Those were the fun days.

Alcohol does not lend to creativity and culture.

(Thumbs down on addictive drugs like opioids, coca derived, crystal meth, etc.)

I'm all for responsible drug use but how do you control that? Your gonna have your stupid people, but should stupid people spoil the fun (and possibly even more profound things) for everyone?

The East India company deals in opium to China

I'm not sure that I follow the logic of pointing out how legalizing drugs will "improve" society while talking about the dangers of alcohol, and how it wrecks society, and yes- it is legal. Alcohol is actually a legal drug? How did that work out for you? Sorry to say, but people who want drugs legalized are deluded and deceitful fools.
And that original post about illegal drugs being easier for kids to get is probably true- because any drugs bought legally by someone of age for the consumption by minors is dealing drugs illegally. Any drugs kids get ahold of is done so illegally, so logically, drugs that are illegal are easier to get a hold of. But really, it's drugs that are available to the general public that are being consumed by kids. Alcohol is consumed by a hefty percentage of children, even in middle school. It's the easiest to get ahold of, and it is a legal drug.

originally posted by: RomeByFire
I'd like to add in one myself,

"Alcohol is the gateway drug,"

For its advertised and glamorized with athletes, movie stars, supermodels, and is to be found at nearly every restaurant and gas station. It is a very, very, very harmful drug that is very addictive and has a plethora of health-concerns that are brought upon by addiction/dependacy.

It is socially accepted as normal behavior whenever drunk driving accidents occur, overdoses occur, or serious and sometimes terminal illnesses can be onset or worsened by alcohol consumption.

Back in 2013, iirc, alcohol was ranked as the 2nd most socially disruptive drug - crystal meth was the only drug ranked higher.

There are mountains of peer-reviewed and published articles/journals regarding the direct correlation between alcoholism and aggression/violence - there are mountains of peer-reviewed and published articles/journals regarding the direct correlation between alcoholism and committing crime.

People who are "against making drugs legal," for whatever ridiculous propoganda-esque reasoning blow my mind.

Alcohol? Meh.
Cigarettes/Tobacco products? Meh.
Prescription narcotics? Meh.

But cannabis? RAAAAH! YOU LOSER HIPPY! YOU WANT TO DESTROY THE MORAL FIBRE OF THIS NATION! RAAAAH! WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO TELL MY CHILDREN! RAAAAH! DRUGS R SO BAD!!!!

Stop arresting, beating, torturing, and murdering people (especially consenting adults) for possessing/consuming an herb.

Go play Mein Kammpf somewhere else.

Well people should be able to do what they want accept the price whatever it is and be responsible for their actions. It's not going to jail or dying over drugs will help anyone out either.

I was mostly pointing to marijuana versus alcohol and prescription drugs. I do not claim that coc aine or heroin for example are "safe" or "good." However, many prescription drugs are also very harmful and addictive.

How about you google the following:

1) Toxic envelopes of marijuana, alcohol, and prescription opioids. This basically is the overdose potential. I already laid it out for you.
2) Addictive potential of the same.
3) Physical damage over time of same.
4) Crime and accident rates from same.

You will find that on every last count the legal ones are worse than marijuana. It's purely facts.

Then you have to ask yourself why. As I said, anyone who thinks that marijuana should be illegal but those substances not must not be educated on the actual scientific/medical/crime data.

As to the prescription drugs, even with legally prescribed situations people often get hooked. In fact, this is not an uncommon way people get addicted. Moreover, it is a well noted aspect of the rise in heroin use, as people become unable to continue their prescription pill addiction, they turn to street heroin.

Even when prescribed, many of these drugs are WAY more dangerous, addictive, and harmful than marijuana. Medical facts. I challenge you to go ask an addiction medicine specialist. Most would agree with this post, on the relative dangers.

It is just one facet of the war on drugs that proves something is amiss. At best it shows that the war on drugs and drug policy are not always based on scientific or medical data.

originally posted by: Krazysh0t

originally posted by: dismanrc
a reply to: Krazysh0t

Just a question.

If as you say in fact #1 85-90% don't get addicted. Then why do you need all the programs in those countries to give free Herion to all the addicted people?

Think about it. If only 10-15% are addicted, then unless they have a LARGE part of their population doint these drug the number of addicted should not be that high.

Unless of course they are not truely addicted, but just like to get high all the time...which would be an addiction?

Well have you considered that may be the reason the program is so successful? It isn't that expensive because not that many people are getting addicted to the point they need help.

Little bit of a curricular argument don't you think?

It's not to expensive because there is not a lot of addicted people.
But there are enough addicted people that requires the government to start a special program and not just rely on normal heath care, which is held up as some of the best?

originally posted by: dismanrc

originally posted by: Krazysh0t

originally posted by: dismanrc
a reply to: Krazysh0t

Just a question.

If as you say in fact #1 85-90% don't get addicted. Then why do you need all the programs in those countries to give free Herion to all the addicted people?

Think about it. If only 10-15% are addicted, then unless they have a LARGE part of their population doint these drug the number of addicted should not be that high.

Unless of course they are not truely addicted, but just like to get high all the time...which would be an addiction?

Well have you considered that may be the reason the program is so successful? It isn't that expensive because not that many people are getting addicted to the point they need help.

Little bit of a curricular argument don't you think?

It's not to expensive because there is not a lot of addicted people.
But there are enough addicted people that requires the government to start a special program and not just rely on normal heath care, which is held up as some of the best?

No... It's simple logic. There will be users, this is something the government has accepted. There will also be addicted people. This is ALSO something the government has accepted. Thus the government has put out money to help those addicted people as well as to help them recover and reenter society. This has resulted in less people addicted (a success), but AGAIN, people will still get addicted. Because some people will use despite these successes.

a reply to: Krazysh0t

It would also be simple logic to use the existing medical system to do this and keep the expense down.

Unless of course the number that needed treatment was so large as to overwhelm the standard healthcare system. Which would mean the number are large. No government starts a program before it gets to the point that they have too.

I don't know the number of people involved in the program. But I would imagine it was big in order to get a seperate government agency. Which would mean a big part of the country where users, or that adiction % was way off.

a reply to: Krazysh0t

I get your point, but caffeine is not a narcotic, it is a stimulant.

originally posted by: dismanrc
a reply to: Krazysh0t

It would also be simple logic to use the existing medical system to do this and keep the expense down.

Really? Have you ran the numbers?

Unless of course the number that needed treatment was so large as to overwhelm the standard healthcare system. Which would mean the number are large. No government starts a program before it gets to the point that they have too.

Well if the health care system was anything like ours, then the treatment offered to these addicts isn't covered within it.

I don't know the number of people involved in the program. But I would imagine it was big in order to get a seperate government agency. Which would mean a big part of the country where users, or that adiction % was way off.

So your whole argument is based off of assumptions?

originally posted by: Salander
a reply to: Krazysh0t

I get your point, but caffeine is not a narcotic, it is a stimulant.

So is coc aine or methamphetamine...

originally posted by: FlyInTheOintment
a reply to: Krazysh0t

I have conflicting feelings about the issue of drugs. I know from personal experience that Cannabis, particularly the strong skunk varieties, can really, really badly affect a person's mental health. It can get horrendous, very quickly - full on psychotic break, the brain simply starts to malfunction, you get voices in your head, all that sort of thing. Dangerous stuff in my book.

Heroin is an opioid, and therefore in theory, should be a peaceful/pleasant drug to use - which it is, extremely, and that is why it's so highly addictive. The social stigma & crime surrounding users, would be eradicated by a program like the one in Switzerland. I like the idea that the addicts themselves even started to have unprompted natural urges to rejoin mainstream society, once they could see for themselves that they were being treated with dignity & care as people with a medical condition rather than 'scumbag smackheads'.

If prohibition were to end, and there was a major set of reforms put in place by each nation state, then of the two drugs described above, I would actually rate cannabis as the riskier, more hazardous drug (if strong varieties are used, in excess, over a long period of time). I honestly believe that, because opioid addiction doesn't lead to the most unpleasant mental states that cannabis can unlock. With it being truly psychotropic, cannabis is far riskier to the mental stability of the uneducated user when compared to a depressant like heroin. I think most psychiatrists would agree that there has been a huge rise in the number of patients presenting with schizoid conditions as the result of the super-strains of skunk weed. Education and milder strains would probably significantly reduce the scale of the problem. Heroin addiction is presently more soul-destroying than cannabis use in most of Western culture, but primarily because of the stigma, the crime, and the ignorance concerning the problems which arise because of its use. Reform & education is needed, and Switzerland seems to offer up the solution.

There's no possible way you actually believe the text you posted above. If you do, reform and education of your mind is a "do-not-pass-GO" and immediately address this nonsense requirement. Of all the posts in this thread, this post is the most ill-informed and ignorant tripe to grace the screens of ATS members/lurkers/visitors.

Honestly, this is the dumbest 'idea' I've ever read on ATS. Congrats on that at least.

originally posted by: Krazysh0t
Thus the government has put out money to help those addicted people as well as to help them recover and reenter society. This has resulted in less people addicted (a success), but AGAIN, people will still get addicted. Because some people will use despite these successes.

I saw that happen here in Portugal.

The government spent money creating the 18 commissions (a social worker, a psychiatrist appointed by the Ministry of Health and an attorney appointed by the Ministry of Justice) responsible for interviewing the people caught with drugs, the treatment centres, the rehabilitation programs, etc., but after that they started spending less in jailing and prosecuting people for possession of small amounts of drugs and even in the treatment centres (there was one on the street where I live that closed some years ago by lack of "customers").

One side effect of the use of injected drugs, the spreading of HIV (that was very high in Portugal among drug addicts) was also reduced, with all the related costs being also reduced.

I don't know if someone did the whole math (I'm sure the government did), but if even a poor country like Portugal could do it (and the treatment was paid by the social security, as it's considered a health problem) any industrialized country can do the same.

PS: the treatment is voluntary, as Portuguese law doesn't allow forced medical treatments.

Edited to add one thing I forgot to mention: in the area where I live it was common to see drug addicts "helping" people park their cars in exchange of some coins. Besides those, sometimes I would see one or two drug addicts on the street. The last time I remember seeing someone looking like a drug addict was some 4 years ago, so at least those more severe cases of addiction were, as far as I can see, almost eradicated from my area.

here is the only real fact i care about.

fact: i am an adult

now for the opinion

opinion: as an adult in a 'free country' i should be able to consume anything i wish by whichever means i wish.
good for me. bad for me. super duper terrible for me. should be my decision and mine alone.

of course i am not opposed to rules and regs as to where i can do these things but just as i am allowed to drink as much alcohol as i can handle before passing out while i sit here on my couch, i should also be able to put el es dee in my eyes if i so desire.

Fact One: 85 percent to 90 percent of people who use even heroin, crack or meth don't become addicted.

I seriously doubt the heroin part. Because experience with family members and their friends in a big city, gave me enough material to discard this "fact".

It´s addictive from the first time, maybe not for everyone but after some usage it´s definitly so addictive that you can die while your body get´s rid of it. Without wanting to attack you on a personal level, your fact one is false and I deem it to be a very dangerous false fact.