Commit the crime you do the time. I just don't believe we will see a sudden rise in users because intelligent people will more often than not abuse drugs. If corporate America takes over drug business it eliminates the organized crime element see alcohol.

 

I just assume to allow people to learn on their own instead of assuming they would make the wrong decision . Some will, most won't.

No it does not eliminate them, drugs are easy money for them. If drugs are no longer a money maker for them organized crime will move on or expand into something else. Protection rackets, Expansion of theft and theft related crimes, Extortion the next big addiction what ever it is? Organized crime will not go away it will adapt because these people are too lazy to work but not too lazy to steal.

I really don't have as many issues with marijuana and I agree that it will be legalized soon. By soon I mean within 10 years.

 

With that said, meth doesn't make you pass out. But you would be perfectly fine with your family walking outside and seeing a junkie shooting up heroin, meth etc?

 

You think that should be something we can all do? And it's not about IF that drug use will lead to other crimes, its about when.

 

I remember working in LaGrange more than a decade ago, and an effort to end their local prohibition of alcohol was under way. I opined in favor of the wet vote. I had some little old lady calling me up and scolding me about "You don't know what it was like then! There were little kids being accosted on the street by knuckle-dragging drunkards!"

 

I politely explained to her that I thought we had evolved as a society since then. Of course, none of the gloom and doom that the preachers and little old ladies harped on about ever happened once Oldham Co. went moist, or at least not to the ridiculous scale the alarmists were sure of.

 

Even with a legal substance such as alcohol, there are governmental controls in place about when, where, how and who can consume such products. Coming to mind most, when it comes to the point I bolded, is open container laws. I would presume that if there were a mass legalization of all drugs (which I don't think will occur beyond just marijuana legalization), there would be similar controls in place in terms of where/when it is acceptable to indulge. My guess is these controls -- along with what will still likely be a long-lasting societal disapproval, similar to what we see in most of Kentucky's Baptist-dominated counties when it comes to alcohol -- will keep said recreational use relatively closeted.

 

Cigarettes are legal in this country and have been forever. They are also highly addictive. Yet the use of said products is declining rapidly. Not sure why it's an automatic in some folks' minds that simple legality will result in a massive spike in usage. The only change would be that people wouldn't feel as much societal/legal pressure to keep quiet about their usage. The same people using illegally will continue to do so if and when their indulgence of choice becomes legal.

Commit the crime you do the time. I just don't believe we will see a sudden rise in users because intelligent people will more often than not abuse drugs. If corporate America takes over drug business it eliminates the organized crime element see alcohol.

 

I just assume to allow people to learn on their own instead of assuming they would make the wrong decision . Some will, most won't.

 

So those involved in organized crime will just go away?

 

And who will want to touch manufacturing mind altering drugs that can kill you? Will they be immune from law suits when people start dying?

 

I remember working in LaGrange more than a decade ago, and an effort to end their local prohibition of alcohol was under way. I opined in favor of the wet vote. I had some little old lady calling me up and scolding me about "You don't know what it was like then! There were little kids being accosted on the street by knuckle-dragging drunkards!"

 

I politely explained to her that I thought we had evolved as a society since then. Of course, none of the gloom and doom that the preachers and little old ladies harped on about ever happened once Oldham Co. went moist, or at least not to the ridiculous scale the alarmists were sure of.

 

Even with a legal substance such as alcohol, there are governmental controls in place about when, where, how and who can consume such products. Coming to mind most, when it comes to the point I bolded, is open container laws. I would presume that if there were a mass legalization of all drugs (which I don't think will occur beyond just marijuana legalization), there would be similar controls in place in terms of where/when it is acceptable to indulge. My guess is these controls -- along with what will still likely be a long-lasting societal disapproval, similar to what we see in most of Kentucky's Baptist-dominated counties -- will keep said recreational use relatively closeted.

 

Cigarettes are legal in this country and have been forever. They are also highly addictive. Yet the use of said products is declining rapidly. Not sure why it's an automatic in some folks' minds that simple legality will result in a massive spike in usage. The only change would be that people wouldn't feel as much societal/legal pressure to keep quiet about their usage. The same people using illegally will continue to do so if and when their indulgence of choice becomes legal.

 

So are you saying they won't be able to shoot up on their own property on their on front porch?

No it does not eliminate them, drugs are easy money for them. If drugs are no longer a money maker for them organized crime will move on or expand into something else. Protection rackets, Expansion of theft and theft related crimes, Extortion the next big addiction what ever it is? Organized crime will not go away it will adapt because these people are too lazy to work but not too lazy to steal.

 

 

Or worse.............................................................................incandescent light bulbs.

So are you saying they won't be able to shoot up on their own property on their on front porch?

 

It's never going to come to the point that intravenous drugs will be legalized, but if they are, I would presume their usage would be highly regulated. My guess is you will see homeowners' associations and the like catch what falls through the governmental/regulatory cracks. It's asinine to expect there would be some free-for-all any more than you could expect the entire town to be out partying and fighting and driving drunk the day a community votes itself wet. Pretty sure that in places where medical marijuana has been legalized most of the folks smoking are still doing it out of public view.

Or worse.............................................................................incandescent light bulbs.

????????

Good points, Jim. Especially about the cigarettes.

It's never going to come to the point that intravenous drugs will be legalized, but if they are, I would presume their usage would be highly regulated. My guess is you will see homeowners' associations and the like catch what falls through the governmental/regulatory cracks. It's asinine to expect there would be some free-for-all any more than you could expect the entire town to be out partying and fighting and driving drunk the day a community votes itself wet. Pretty sure that in places where medical marijuana has been legalized most of the folks smoking are still doing it out of public view.

I agree, but the bolded is exactly what some of our BGP brethren are supporting...

I agree, but the bolded is exactly what some of our BGP brethren are supporting...

 

If legalizing heroin and meth is all you've gathered from the pro-decriminalization or pro-legalization posters, there is no point in debating. We've laid out what isn't working, why its costing us money, and the unethical side of maintaining current policy.

 

You need to go smoke a joint, relax, watch the Matrix, and munch on some mac-n-cheese.

I agree, but the bolded is exactly what some of our BGP brethren are supporting...

 

I think it's far more important to deal in realities. That governmental entities around the US have said no to the lobbying power of tobacco and alcohol and went ahead and made marijuana legal or decriminalized is amazing to me, really. No way in hell the floodgates are opened and everything is legal.

 

I think some of you who are anti-legalization are guilty of equating marijuana with the truly dangerous stuff -- buying into the whole "Reefer Madness" line of thinking. I disagree with the "gateway" theory in the strongest possible terms.

If legalizing heroin and meth is all you've gathered from the pro-decriminalization or pro-legalization posters, there is no point in debating. We've laid out what isn't working, why its costing us money, and the unethical side of maintaining current policy.

 

You need to go smoke a joint, relax, watch the Matrix, and munch on some mac-n-cheese.

 

No I've got a lot more out of this discussion, it is the pro-drug crowd that is so narrow minded. I started this thread with the question what can be done about the drug problem out side of legalizing drugs. The response to that question is near non-existent.

 

The Pro-Drug posters have not qualified any drugs not to be legalized. Jim is the first poster to have enough sense to realize that ALL DRUGS are not going to be legalized ever. But that is exactly what many of the posters have eluded to.

 

No I've got a lot more out of this discussion, it is the pro-drug crowd that is so narrow minded. I started this thread with the question what can be done about the drug problem out side of legalizing drugs. The response to that question is near non-existent.

 

The Pro-Drug posters have not qualified any drugs not to be legalized. Jim is the first poster to have enough sense to realize that ALL DRUGS are not going to be legalized ever. But that is exactly what many of the posters have eluded to.

 

Pro-drug crowd is the the only one to offer a solution (except for the poster who would like to execute more people), but yet we are narrow-minded?

 

The fact that the response is near non-existent might tell you something about how hopeless this "war" is...

 

A few comments, I apologize if I took your post too critically. With that said, I wholeheartedly disagree that there would be no fallout to more drug users. Let's discuss the cost that would undoubtedly rise in healthcare alone. I won't go into the trouble that would occur in families with addicts. I'll go a bit farther and look at the healthcare issue generically. I think we can all agree that if it's made legal, drugs (whichever they may be by name is irrelevent) would be more easily available, less costly as some have suggested, there would be an increase (to what extent will be argued ad nauseum) in users. Can we agree on that?

 

If yes, then, would there be coverage for rehab? For treatment for overdose? Would we have more ER coverage for accidental overdose? Would my premiums include an increase across the board for all of the treatment necessary for drug users when it comes to IV transmitted diseases? What about the newborns addicted like crack babies? Surely we would have to have coverage, critical and ridiculously expensive, for those infants born into this world to give them a fighting chance at survival. Then there's the mental health aspect, and those sessions, meds, etc. aren't cheap either.

 

So, with all due respect, I think the notion that there would be no "hurt" is misguided.

 

Once again, you are operating under the notion that a dramatic spike in hard drug use will occur. These things are easily gotten now, it's the side-effects that deter people, not the illicitness.

 

No personal jabs intended. I just don't understand how the pro-legalization crowd makes the stretches that they do. When a well thought out response is offered for drugs to be illegal, it seems to get misconstrued, turned around and then wild stretches and correlations are made to other issues that don't have bearing on the issue at hand. My point with the last couple posts is simply to make a point that some of the arguments made in favor seem just as goofy to those opposed as mine did to those that want drugs legalized.

 

Don't cop out. Keep it real.

 

Comparing drug use of a teen to an adult qualifies as a well-thought out response now?

 

The only person I saw in this thread ducking out of a well-thought out response was you in regards to guns...