Legalize it All?

[Socialist Czechia]

If alcohol and tobacco is legal, weed and mushrooms should be totally legal. Otherwise it doesn't make sense.

By the way, there are cultivars of tobacco with so much nicotine, that it would work like amphetamine on you.

[Saint Jade IV]

I meant evidence that poverty level people would blow their entire income on drugs

I watched/read documentaries about that. They don't blow their entire income but often it takes away the money that is supposed to be for the baby's bottled milk.

Speaking as someone who grew up in a high-welfare suburb which is now part of the government's income management strategy (meaning that their income is managed through a card rather than cash, so that they can only spend their welfare on government approved purchases), it has been a remarkable and expensive failure. People who want drugs (or alcohol or cigarettes or to gamble on the pokies) will always find a way, and there will always be opportunistic individuals out there too willing to find a way to help them. All that happens is their children and families suffer more.

Now, I happen to believe that it is morally appropriate for the government to engage in income management for people who are reliant on government funds to survive. I also think that addicts, especially those whose addiction harms their families are morally at fault for the damage they cause, and they should be punished. But you know what? That doesn't work. It makes things OBJECTIVELY worse in most cases. Implementing what I believe is a "just" world would actually cause more pain and suffering, in the name of validating my personal beliefs.

In my mind, justice should take a backseat to what actually improves society. A focus on treatment and harm reduction, with a heavy dose of education has positive benefits. Do I think its right that people who have done nothing but bleed society dry get even more help and assistance while my partner and I struggle and pay a ridiculously high amount of tax? Absolutely fucking not. Do I want to make things worse, or do I actually want to solve the problem and make things better overall? Yes. So I have to put aside my own personal biases, and go with the option that, based on all the available evidence, makes things better. Even when it makes me seethe with rage.

[Valystria]

Classist and authoritarian, much? Who are you to tell someone how to make their budget?

Like I will let people die from overdosage

They do anyway. You know why? It's usually because drugs are illegal. If you want less overdoses, then legalize drugs and leave it at that. There's no need for paternalism.

If alcohol and tobacco is legal, weed and mushrooms should be totally legal. Otherwise it doesn't make sense.

By the way, there are cultivars of tobacco with so much nicotine, that it would work like amphetamine on you.

All drugs should be legal if alcohol and tobacco are.

I meant evidence that poverty level people would blow their entire income on drugs

I watched/read documentaries about that. They don't blow their entire income but often it takes away the money that is supposed to be for the baby's bottled milk.

And we've shown you the evidence that the vast majority of drug users are not addicts. Gawd. Stop designing drug policies around a tiny percentage of users.

[Isth-mi]

Doing anything to yourself, anything at all, should not ever be a crime. All drugs should be legalized regardless of any arbitrary classifications of 'better' or 'worse' drugs, like soft drugs vs. hard drugs, cannabis and psychedelics vs. the rest, better than alcohol vs. worse than alcohol or any other needless classification. Overall drug legalization would bring drugs away from the streets and essentially up their quality and remove gang-controlled monopolies, if there are any, thus bringing them to a free market.

The scaremongering about opiates as hard drugs which will ruin your life are mostly due to the poor quality of street opiates. We don't complain about prescribed opiates for a simple reason: they are not low quality street dope. They are made in state- or corporate-owned labs and sold in government-approved pharmacies and the whole process must be approved by government regulations. I'm by no means a spokesperson for more government regulation, but the reason prescribed opiates are high quality while recreational street opiates are not is due to them being approved by the government. More of a reason to legalize opiates. This applies to other synthetically made so-called hard drugs.

There are different drugs with different effects and thus different uses. There are hallucinogens, depressants, stimulants and euphoriants for example. Numerous drugs belong to more than one category by causing effects of more than one category. It is complicated and doesn't deserve to be simplified by politicians and their blanket bans. Thankfully those blanket bans have been stopped step by step ever since the war on drugs started in the beginning of the 20th century.

The societal effect argument, that is, the argument of needless strain of the welfare and healthcare systems due to drug use is basically a moot point considering the strain the war of drugs heavily outweighs that. It overpopulates prisons and wastes police and military resources, infringes on the rights of people all around the world, wastes the potential drug trade could have as a livelihood, providing more tax money and jobs in a country and causes strain on the healthcare and welfare system due to poor quality street dope being the only possibility for users to try and use that specific drug.

[Meryuma]

Yes, among other reasons like how it's beyond pointless to kidnap people and lock them away in cages for using drugs you don't approve of.

But cages are where animals belong.

That... doesn't even make sense as a metaphor.

Drug users are kind of like rats.

Rats Display Altruism
'Hero rats' sniff out landmines
"Rats groom themselves more frequently than even a cat"

ffs, step up your analogy game.

[Ostroeuropa]

Don't be such a sillypants.

Drug users are kind of like rats.

So they've got an undeserved reputation and are subject to stigma based on misinformation and people not knowing what the fuck they are talking about.
I agree. Drug users are like Rats.

[Valystria]

But cages are where animals belong.

That... doesn't even make sense as a metaphor.

I don't know if there's ever been anyone who has actually believed animals belong in cages. Every animal in existence belonging in a cage? It would make most pets impractical, and the agricultural industry would be hamstrung by the red tape of having to keep all animals in cages at all times.

Animals belonging in cages? Reality disagrees.

No one can rightfully say animals belong in cages. On what grounds do animals belong in cages? None. Kievan could have said cages are meant to hold animals. That would have been fine.

Drug users are kind of like rats.

Rats Display Altruism
'Hero rats' sniff out landmines
"Rats groom themselves more frequently than even a cat"

So... they were saying drug users are kind, generous, take care of themselves and are heroic? No complaints from me if so.