01-06-2006, 05:00 PM
I have a problem with the way he says "It should be legal as long as they are used responsibly."
Like alcohol, the regular use of drugs frequently leads to irresponsible usage. In some cases (crack, for example) the usage tends to lead to almost IMMEDIATE irresponsible usage.
I'm not sure how to solve this problem other than trying to determine the root cause of why people use addictive substances, and fixing that instead.
But it's a dream that making drugs legal will somehow result in more responsible usage. There's a complete logical disconnect there.
Alcohol has been legal and available for a long time and your mind would be boggled at the vast amount of violent crime and misery from boozing. Drunk people are out there beating and killing their loved ones, killing people with their cars, generally destroying lives. When sober they have no idea what they've done, just like drug users.
It will be no different with legalizing even more addictive and damaging drugs like crack or meth. People don't smoke crack and then stretch out in the Laz-y-boy. They smoke crack and then tear off their clothes, break into their neighbor's house and stab someone in the head. Then you see them getting tackled by the cops saying "WHAT'D I DO? WHAT'D I DO?"
I was on the law enforcement side of it. It's ugly. It's incredibly destructive. Even the sterotypically mellow pot smokers still get in their car and kill people.
The laws are not the problem, it's ignoring the root cause of usage that is the problem. We've swung all the way over to the enforcement side.
Like alcohol, the regular use of drugs frequently leads to irresponsible usage. In some cases (crack, for example) the usage tends to lead to almost IMMEDIATE irresponsible usage.
I'm not sure how to solve this problem other than trying to determine the root cause of why people use addictive substances, and fixing that instead.
But it's a dream that making drugs legal will somehow result in more responsible usage. There's a complete logical disconnect there.
Alcohol has been legal and available for a long time and your mind would be boggled at the vast amount of violent crime and misery from boozing. Drunk people are out there beating and killing their loved ones, killing people with their cars, generally destroying lives. When sober they have no idea what they've done, just like drug users.
It will be no different with legalizing even more addictive and damaging drugs like crack or meth. People don't smoke crack and then stretch out in the Laz-y-boy. They smoke crack and then tear off their clothes, break into their neighbor's house and stab someone in the head. Then you see them getting tackled by the cops saying "WHAT'D I DO? WHAT'D I DO?"
I was on the law enforcement side of it. It's ugly. It's incredibly destructive. Even the sterotypically mellow pot smokers still get in their car and kill people.
The laws are not the problem, it's ignoring the root cause of usage that is the problem. We've swung all the way over to the enforcement side.