Legalize all drugs.

I agree totally with the arguments out forward for legalisation of drugs, so long as other conditions are attached to it

for example

more realistic education about drugs in schools from a young age - the argument I got in the early 80's was 'drugs kill!'. I smoked pot heavily for 10 years and I still seem to be alive... but until recently I haven't seen much information on the less known effects pot had on me, which when I read it made sense of a lot of what I was going through and backed up my decision to clean my body up.

the law changed so that everything relating to alcohol, such as driving, public disorder etc encompasses being under the influence of drugs. I know far too many people who wouldn't dream of driving after a beer, but who will quite happily smoke a joint and then get in their car.

I think people like to experiment, to get intoxicated on whatever does it for them, so sadly drugs aren't going to go away. If you have a need you'll always find a way.

Of course, modern drug ed does nothing, and if anything increases drug use. Kids are told that drugs kill, and when they see that all of their friends are doing them without dying they try and decide that DARE is all lies. I think that there should be proper education about drugs just as there is proper education about sex. If people dont know all of the facts about something then they wont be able to make good choices on something.

XOAS

Of course, modern drug ed does nothing, and if anything increases drug use. Kids are told that drugs kill, and when they see that all of their friends are doing them without dying they try and decide that DARE is all lies. I think that there should be proper education about drugs just as there is proper education about sex. If people dont know all of the facts about something then they wont be able to make good choices on something.

XOAS

Of course, modern drug ed does nothing, and if anything increases drug use. Kids are told that drugs kill, and when they see that all of their friends are doing them without dying they try and decide that DARE is all lies. I think that there should be proper education about drugs just as there is proper education about sex. If people dont know all of the facts about something then they wont be able to make good choices on something.

I just want someone to give me a non knee jerk, rational argument against legalization. Please.
XOAS

if just one drug...marijuana, was legalized, taxed, etc. and handled just like alchohol and tobacco, you would likely see a drastic reduction in drug-related crime, as people could get high without resorting to more exotic and dangerous drugs. I'm not saying pass it out to kids...of course not, just as in other legal drugs, there would be age limits, laws against driving while tanked, etc. Thing is, though I don't touch the stuff myself, I have many friends who have, and I've seen them go cold turkey with no problem. Those same friends would be hard pressed to give up a cigarette, so I'm more inclined to think of tobacco as being worse, and it's legal!

However, the arguement for making hard core drugs legal is something I just can't support. They create too many problems for society, and these problems would NOT be eliminated if legalized...in fact, it would be worse.

How would it degrade society even more if "hardcore" drugs were legal?

Marijuana is only illegal because of a conspiracy from Big Tobacco. It is much less harmful than tobacco or alchohol.

XAOS

I agree with that statement.

However, legalizing "hardcore" drugs would certainly cause a lot more harm than good. For one thing, without the threat of it being highly illegal, more people would try it, and thus, become addicted. By hardcore drugs, I mean the kind where one use can cause addiction, as well as more serious effects than a high, such as complete hallucinations, etc. More of the populace in such a condition could hardly be construed as a good thing! Add this with violent tendancies, and other psychotic states induced by hardcore drugs, and you've got a genuine disaster. Whereas, by contrast, all a pothead wants to do is veg out on the couch and get some munchies...harmless.

Actually, pot would be even more harmless if a way other than *smoking* it could be used...The *worst* effects on health come from smoke inhalation.

This is a good debate. I've seen marijuana permanantly burn many people out but then i've seen many people use it all the time and remain sharp as ever.
Some of the best memory's I have are after smoking weed. A bunch of my buddies and I went down to the florida keys. Usually we would all go out drinking, fighting, then come back with some nasty ass chicks or get some great looking chicks and fight amongst ourselves over them. Then the next day we all wake up at like noon. Drive all these girls home with a bad hangover and a guiltly "what was I thinking" feeling in the pit of our stomachs.
One perfectly clear night where you can so many freaking stars we broke out the weed. We got so relaxed that we all just layed on our backs and looked at them and joked around. Towards the end of the night we all just sat there stoned out of our asses staring quietly each with our own thoughts. No one said a word for at least an hour. The only sound was the music and the ocean. Now that's freaking relaxing. Next day we all woke up at like 9 and went fishing. No hangover, no guilty feeling, just relaxing on the ocean with your buds, a few brewskies, trolling along.
If you compare the two scenarios they are both enjoyable. Alcohol is great fun and weed is great fun. But the key is moderation. Many people get addicted to alcohol (alcoholics) and many people get addicted to marijuana. But some people can never touch another drink and be fine and some people can never get another bong hit and be fine. Marijuana should be legal and taxed, this way the government makes some money instead of fighting it, but they can also regulate it so the people know what they are really getting.
But when you get to the more dangerous highly addictive drugs I feel that they still shouldn't be legal. Too harmful and too addicting. While you may lower the drug crime rate you will make up with other crime. People will need to pay for their addiction so they will steal and rob for that like they do now. If more people are addicted because it's easier to get, then more people will commit the crime. These drugs DO screw you up.
Maybe legalizing all drugs will be beneficial, but I can't picture the crime going down because of it.