Why Are Drugs Illegal?

First, propers to ATS for finally opening this can of worms up for discussion amongst the minions.

Down to the discussion at-hand. And a simple query, really.

Why, in your opinion, are drugs illegal?

• to deter criminal behavior commited as means to acquire more, more, and more drugs
  
• to reduce the cost on public health
  
• to marginalize those of an "alternative" slant, as well as to criminalize them
  
• to protect people from themselves
  
• to prevent common folk from having "consciousness-expanding" experiences
  
• for those dastardly bastards--TPTB--to make money
  

I'm going with the last bullet point.

Your thoughts, fellow citizens?

reply to post by ItsTheQuestion


Simple. Americans prefer to live like children rather then adults. I live in Amsterdam where an adult can be an adult. Now if you will excuse me theres a coffee bar I've been dying to try out.

Drugs are illegal(IMO) because of the religous extremists out there.
They are illegal because they dont want us to have too much fun.
They are illegal because they make us "feel good"..and thegovt cant have usfeeling good.
They are illegal because those who have not done them, have some preconcieved notion that they are the worst things on the planet.
They are illegal because citizens got brainwashed by the propaganda.
I can go on forever, but Ill leave it at that. =)

Originally posted by ItsTheQuestion
First, propers to ATS for finally opening this can of worms up for discussion amongst the minions.

Down to the discussion at-hand. And a simple query, really.

Why, in your opinion, are drugs illegal?

• to deter criminal behavior commited as means to acquire more, more, and more drugs
  
• to reduce the cost on public health
  
• to marginalize those of an "alternative" slant, as well as to criminalize them
  
• to protect people from themselves
  
• to prevent common folk from having "consciousness-expanding" experiences
  
• for those dastardly bastards--TPTB--to make money
  

Well for one thing , drugs can damage the mind of the user. I've seen enough people abuse certain substances and pay the consequences.

But at the same time i think there's a variety of reasons.

* - A flow of type X drugs will basically just keep people addictive and keep people wanting. Further and further up the chain of supply and demand i truly believe a lot of this money is essentially untaxed revenue which lines the pockets of A) Crime gangs B) Agencies and C) the government and D) even the military complex.

The further up the chain , the harder it will be for the Feds to actually trace back. That is why most police work is essentially aimed at tracking the people on the lower rungs, the pushers, users and abusers and occasionally with a tip off they will bust large scale imports or farms or labs.

* - It's illegal. Therefore it carries the tabboo of desire. If it was sitting on a shelf in a pharmacy in a pretty box, it's less likely people would take it as a 'buzz'.

* - Have you ever noticed how certaind drugs are mentioned in the media. It's always coc aine and cannabis. Never '___' or '___' for example. Never the so called 'mind expanding' drugs, but instead its the quick highs and whilst cannabis gets demonised as the cause of all societies wrongs, we are then bombarded with stories of Grade A celebrities who snort coc aine like its champagne.

This is social programming.

* - The push of heavier drugs, some people will have you believe, such as the heroin explosion after the '___' waves , was deliberate. What better way to quell a revolution than to opiate the masses.

* - Division. The powers that be do not like a united mass of people, they prefer division. As long as we are fighting with ourselves over corners, drug territories and other such crap, the powers that be do NOT have to be concerned about any form of unity.

* - Control. The CIA control the coc aine supply and the heroin supply at least to a degree. Just look at Afghanistan and Columbia.

They are illegal so that the government can't inflate the prices.
If it were legal then the price would rise much like milk and bread and gasoline does.
The fact the price has been the same for 20 years doesn't make you wonder while all other things go up in price?

reply to post by concernedcitizan


Well, I guess we'll add almost the entire world's citizenry to the picture you've [somewhat accurately] painted of Americans.

This is a $300,000,000+/yr. business. -- source

reply to post by ItsTheQuestion


Drugs aren't illegal, only the ones the "man" deems dangerous to us. They'll let a sleep aid that can kill you as a side-affect be on the market but arrest you for having pot. They'll let prescription drugs leak into the water supply but come bust down your door for something they've deemed "illegal".

I mean the CIA basically discovered '___' and yet we're not allowed to have it.

I think if people want to take drugs that's fine with me, them being illegal hasn't stopped people from getting hooked so making them legal won't change much. The only scary thing is the idea of the government getting to regulate and tax those substances.

Another issue is the shamanistic drugs that make you realize we're all one, the peaceful drugs that mellow you out or give you a spiritual experience. If we all realize we're one that's gonna damage their system of illusions and controls.

reply to post by mr-lizard


Good points, Mr. Lizard.

Re: the CIA, I am entirely in agreement that their hands are covered in various powders and chemicals. And cash.

Drugs are illegal because that way the NWO has control over them and can sell them at a much higher price.....

reply to post by Titen-Sxull


The "shamanistic" substances do provide, "so I'm told", truly life-altering experiences, which allegedly move one away from a materialistic, and thus consumer-minded, existence, and toward a life more present and "spiritual," if you will.

And you make a fine point in the over-abundance of toxic substances pumped all through the foods and beverages the average human being ingests on a daily basis. Fluoride comes to mind.

Originally posted by rainfall
Drugs are illegal because that way the NWO has control over them and can sell them at a much higher price.....

Bottom-line, rainfall...I would tend to agree with you.

The one thing you missed on your list is because when such common things as drugs are illegal that allows the government to spend enormous amounts of money for security.

Profit motive is one of, for lake of a better term that I can't think of right now, side-effects. The true purpose of certain drugs being illegal is to increase the size of police forces.

Hmmmm, I think it probably depends on the drug.

Some should be illegal because of the horrible effect it has on the abusers health, for example meth/crank.

Some are illegal to ensure the highest profit for certain groups for example coc aine.

And others are illegal because certain industries see them as strong competition against their products, for example hemp.

Each point above could be a thread all on it's own Anywho, at least now we can discuss this important topic. One thing I know for sure, the "war on drugs" seems not to be working, so maybe it's time to try something new.

Originally posted by DrumsRfun
They are illegal so that the government can't inflate the prices.
If it were legal then the price would rise much like milk and bread and gasoline does.
The fact the price has been the same for 20 years doesn't make you wonder while all other things go up in price?

Perhaps, but it's said on the street that the potency of some drugs isn't nearly as high as it was, say, twenty or thirty years ago. Heroin and coc aine users in several major American cities will attest to this.

Not nearly the same "bang for the buck" as "back in the day."

Then again, they may just be sentimentalists.

reply to post by ItsTheQuestion


Some drugs are illegal because some people just can't stand for others to have fun. Just my .02 New World Units.

reply to post by ItsTheQuestion


I actually disagree....the price has been the same for the last 15 to 20 years.I can't say that about gasoline and milk.
Its illegal because they can't control it and get a handle on the market...if they could it would be VERY expensive.
Think big pharma and how an aids patient needs insurance to pay for 10 cent pills they sell at 10 dollars a pill.

Keep it illegal!!!

[edit on 29-11-2009 by DrumsRfun]

I don't advocate the use of any of the illegal drugs, but there are way worse legal drugs out there. What makes a drug illegal? I believe it is the ease in which it is produced. Since the illegal drugs can be produced with out the help of the pharmaceutical companies they are illegal. The pharmaceutical companies can't make a profit off of them because they can be produced just as easily with out one of their billion dollar labs, so they make it illegal.By the way there are plenty of prescription drugs out there that I am very much against maybe even more so than the illegals, but having lost my mother due to an (not the use its self but the effects of the withdrawl) illegal drug I advocate against their usage as well.

Originally posted by Hastobemoretolife
The one thing you missed on your list is because when such common things as drugs are illegal that allows the government to spend enormous amounts of money for security.

Profit motive is one of, for lake of a better term that I can't think of right now, side-effects. The true purpose of certain drugs being illegal is to increase the size of police forces.

I completely agree, HasToBeMoreToLife. I should've clarified more. The illegal drugs are illegal because of ALL the money being made by the governments and ultimately, the banks, including the massive police enforcement necessary. Which includes the huge upswell in prison populations, for instance.

reply to post by DrumsRfun


Although the price has remained the same the quality of some drugs have gone up. See how much better things are when people are left to their own devices, instead of having some bank or person with power set the prices?

Hard drugs (coc aine, amphetamines, heroin) are illegal because the CIA and other NWO programs use these for their own profit. They have been doing so for a long time.

Hallucinogenic/mind-altering drugs are illegal because of control. During the late 60's/early 70's, an entire cultural movement was threatening the governments power. Anti-war protests were massive, so Nixon criminalized '___' to keep all those peace loving hippies under control.

Marijuana is illegal because of industry. The hemp plant can be used to make almost anything that comes from trees right now. Clothes, paper, cardboard can all be made from hemp, and it is a seasonal plant that grows very fast, and can grow in almost any environment. Hemp could literally replace trees as our means of paper production, making everything made from plant fibers a hundred times cheaper to produce. Big industry sees this, so they say.... ILLEGAL!