Yes, American drug laws scare me to death.

American drug laws are asinine. They are filling the prisons with non-criminals. What???? you say? NON-criminals???

Yeah....I mean, let's get real.

ALCOHOL is legal to buy, legal to consume, and is *extremely* hazardous to your health. Alcohol can he highly addictive, it can be lethal in the overdose, it can cause *radical* change in behavior, which often includes violence....

How is this worse than marijuana? Coke? and other "user friendly" drugs for which many are functional within society while using on a casual basis?

We imprison people for *buying* something that they haven't even used yet, but which they only want to put in to their own body.

I'm a alcoholic....and I despise alcohol. I drink because it's legal. My preference would be pot. Yeah...you say I just want to switch one thing for another...and of course that is true. But the effects of Pot on the human condition, on your ability to function, are far less than that of alcohol. If you have never smoked pot....I suggest you comment on what I am saying, because you simply don't know, and will be attacking me from some self-righteous moralistic point of view. You know doubt are an advocate of freedom....but,....well.....not really, right? Because you won't let me do within my own home to my own body what I wish to do? Right? So you do NOT advocate freedom....you advocate control based upon the prevailing wishes of the current government....which anyone with common sense can tell you is an asinine way to run a government.

Drink, smoke, snort, shoot-up WHATEVER you want to. Just don't get on the roads when you do it. Just don't spread disease. Be responsible, and we'll leave you alone. THAT should be the policy. And if you violate the public-good policy....you will pay severe fines.

Anyway....drug "policy" in the US (as if there is one....) is insane....

**by the way...* "If you have never smoked pot....I suggest you comment " was supposed to say """"I suggest you NOT NOT NOT comment""" on what I am saying...because you are IGNORANT of reality...

Well, I haven't smoked pot or used any illicit substances. I still think US drug laws are asinine. Can I comment? :D

The terms "Drug Laws" and "Death" make me think immediately of the Muslim world.

If I've never smoked pot but agree with krellin, can I comment?

Eden....no...you can't. How can you comment on something you have no understanding of? Are drugs in and of themselves good or bad? If so, either way, why? You first need to define and understand the problem before you can attempt to regulate, or unregulate it. To comment on drugs without understanding them is kind of foolish.

It's like a kid....say Conservativeman...commenting on tax policy when he has: 1. Never paid taxes, 2. Never run a business that collected taxes, 3. never run a business that paid taces, 3. never recieved the benefit of tax policy, etc etc etc.

Will you believe a 10th grader who has never even kissed a girl when he lecvtures you on tax policy?

if not....then why would you suggest to offer advice on drug policy when you know nothing about drugs other than what has been brain-washed in to your head, much like Conservativeman has been brainwashed on tax policy?

@Tettleton ..... pathetic ad honinem attack on a religion. Oh....I know....your Christian belief in perfect....<sigh....>

Grow up, Tettleton.

One doesn't need to use drugs to understand unjust laws. Should juries only be made up of people affected by the types of actions they are passing judgment on? Are all media criticisms not made by artists/directors/writers completely baseless because art appreciation is only a tool of creators?

Krelin, I think you should take the brianwashing part out of your argument. It could very well be YOU that is brainwashed about drugs.

Also, if you were going to make parallel's to that and tax laws, someone could very well have done enough research on the matter and be well versed in the working of it, so I wouldn't use that logic.

I don't care if people use drugs, I just don't think people should get addicted.

I think everyone is qualified to at least comment when it comes to a behavioral change that could prove to affect society as a whole, if it doesn't do that, then butt out, not our business, but when it does cause an effect beyond the private life, then it should be an open forum.

OH Abge....of course you can comment. Anyone has a right to comment....but I am glad that you take the idea that I present seriously. How CAN you comment on drug use when you have no understanding of it?


I **can** comment on, for example, theft, or murder, without experiencing it becuase it has a *direct* impact on other free citizens.

Drug use, uner certain conditions, has no such obvious ties to others....and thus becomes more difficult to discuss...particularly since we say, as a society, that being a drunken asshole is OK - even if your assholishness affects others - but pot use is bad, even if all you do is eat three bags of potato chips and thus deny others the joy of potato chips *(and, yes, a frozen burrito....lol)*

Makig the healthy choice not to do drugs doesn't make you ignorant

@Taylor...."researcing" tax policy versus personally experiencing having the fruits of your own hard labors taken away from you are two completely different things. CLEARLY you have never paid taxes....

Likewise....if you don't think people should be addicted to drugs, then you would advocate Prohibition, as alcohol is a *highly* addictive **DRUG**....which our government profits from. So if you are concerned about addiction, you therefore advocate the prohibition of (this will be a long list....):
Alcohol
Caffiene
Nicotine (the easy three...)
Let's get in to derivatives....
Nyquil
Various cough medicines
Sleeping Pills
Various and asundry pain meds
Anti-depressents
...
on and on and on.

We live in a society that *thrives* upon addictive medicines. And most of those medicines could be forgone if others had enough balls to smack a bitchy relative upside the head and tell them to stop whining so much. How the hell did humanity ever evolve into this successful collection if 90% of us are so fucked up we need prescription meds to survive day to day???

That's a really difficult position to defend, krellin.

What if someone in my family was addicted to something? Would I still not be knowledgeable?

Also, drugs do very much have a direct impact on other people. Just as much as murder or theft. Look at DUI accident rates. I drive and I've almost been hit by people that are clearly not in control of their vehicle (presumably because of alcohol), are you going to tell me *that* doesn't affect me?

I've never jumped off of a bridge, so I don't know the emotional component to that action, but I do understand physics. Similarly, I have tried pot, but I do understand biology (admittedly, not as well as physics), so I don't see the difference. Saying you need to try something to understand it enough to give your opinion is very silly.

@ScubaDan....in fact, by defnition, it *does* make you ignorant about the effects of drugs. That's so funny....you don't even know what the word "ignorant" means, do you?????

errr... I *haven't tried pot...

ScubaDan + 1

As an officer of the law, I see people fuck up their lives with alcohol and drugs on a daily basis. I keep booze to a minimum and stay the hell away from drugs.

Do I really care if you shoot up or smoke a joint? As long as you don't hurt/endanger me or anyone I am responsible for, I don't care. (I still enforce the law, of course. That doesn't mean I *like* the law)

That being said, society should not be expected to take care of you when your health begins to deteriorate. If you want to fuck up your life, fine. You can. But don't drag anyone else (including the taxpayers) with you.

Society shouldn't give a crap about someone using. Likewise, society should not give a crap when the users' health deteriorates.

Krellin, you can definitely know something about drugs from seeing people around you doing it and from a certain amount of reading. At least in as far much as the overarching effect on society.

However, I'll agree with you that many people make uneducated comments about responsible drug use. ScubaDan, you imply that drug use is inherently unhealthy and I think that is an example of ignorance about drugs.

@Abge....so then you advoate the elimination of:
Cell phones
Fast food/carry-out food
Prescription meds (which often cause drowsiness....)
Driving without enough sleep
etc etc etc.

In short, you hate cars, not drugs.

Why does anyone need a car that can go over 85 MPH??? But we sell them....that should be outlawed.

Bridges....people jump of bridges....we should outlaw those, too, right?


If you argument is "Someone dies because of "X" therefore we should make "X" illegal, then you had better consider the REAL consequences of your ideology.

YOUTH DRIVERS kill more people than...
WOMEN DRIVERS kill more people than....

Where does your argument end?\

Back to drugs.....yes, DUI's....Drving under the influence of ALCOHOL....is attributed to FAR MORE deaths than <pick your alternative drug>

In fact, alcohol is far more detrminental to mechanical skills than pot, coke....

So, therefore, if we have to have a "high-producing" drug legal, you would most likely advocate that alcohol be mae illegal in favor of the legalisation of Pot, right?

Yo might be interested to know that the US Air Force did a study about Pot during the Viet Nam War....they determined that pot had *little* effect on mechanical skill sets....unlike alcolhol.

So....based upon that....you would advocate the replacement of alcohol with pot as the legal US dug of choice?

@krellin

"If you argument is "Someone dies because of "X" therefore we should make "X" illegal, then you had better consider the REAL consequences of your ideology."

WTF? I *never* said that. Please reread what I wrote and try again.

Scuba dan says drug use is unhelathy. I suggest he look in his own medicine cabinet. If the drug comes from a presecription, it is deemed safe (even though prescription drug abuse is MASSIVLEY increasing amongst youth...)

@Yonni....you can "know something" about drugs from reading/observation. lol I can know something about Obama from watching the media, right? Oh...or is the medaia skewed?

@Gunfighter - a "Law Enforcement" officer commenting. that makes me laugh so hard I want to puke. "Law Enforcement" officers....who speed....who drive massively UNDEr the speed limit to intimidate people....who talk on their cell phones while driving....who frequnetly drive erradically....who frequntly let each other off the hook (and family members) when they are caught speeding/driving eradically....

I respec the *need* of having cops in our society....but I have yet to meet a cop that i respect. Most of them abuse the law. A great many of them abuse alcohol. A *great* many of them mete out justice based upon opinion, not fact; i.e. pretty blonde gets off with a warning, but the black guy....God Forbid you are BMD....black man driving.

Sorry, Mr. Law Enforcer. Your profession disgusts most of us...

@Abge.....your argument is implied. You talk about DUI's....why? Because drivign unde rthe influence kills. You are concerned about harm to innocent humans. Correct? Your argument is implied.

If you, therefore, imply that "harm done to innocent human is bad" means that "activity should be banned"....then you had better be prepared to be locked into a government spponsored box, eating government sponsored safe-nutriional-paste, etc.

Gunfighter ++

"society should not be expected to take care of you when your health begins to deteriorate. If you want to fuck up your life, fine. You can. But don't drag anyone else (including the taxpayers) with you."

Legalize drugs and let Gunfighter spend his time preventing violent crimes.

'We live in a society that *thrives* upon addictive medicines. And most of those medicines could be forgone if others had enough balls to smack a bitchy relative upside the head and tell them to stop whining so much. How the hell did humanity ever evolve into this successful collection if 90% of us are so fucked up we need prescription meds to survive day to day???'

that is an interesting position, which i stand partially in agreement with, but largely against.

1) yes american drugs laws are probably stupid....

but to your point we did not evolve to be a successful collection who needs prescription meds. But we also didn't evolve living in urban environments crowded together (i'd love to quote a density trend here, but my research will have to wait) - We do infact need to fix something in our society, this cultural thing which has changed and impairs the ability of many to function within it... I hope you would agree that something is wrong with people, and i'm pretty sure it is between themselves and their inter-relationships with other people (which is of course intrinsically altered by a change in population density, but also by technology and methods of communication... ie how they interact.)

So i disagree with you on one thing - i think people DO need prescription medication. Some people at least. That said, i don't know if this addiction is any better of worse than any alternative solution you've offered...

Abg - friends...I'm off for a while.

Have a good one. Enjoyed the debate.

Drug abuse has no place in a perfect world. That man should have been shot.

@Tettleton / Gunfighter "society should not be expected to take care of you when your health begins to deteriorate" and yet whenver a cop gets shot or hurt in his **chosen** profession, we need to hear about it. We need to endure the pledge drives and the begging for the Officer X Fund because officer X was too stupid to buy an appropriate insurance policy. but if MY family member is harmed through no falt of their own....where is society? Where are the "Give me Money" beg-fests????

Cops do NOT live by this motto you proclaim to agrew wtih. Cops more often than others beg.....I can't tell you how many times per year I get the phone call from some stupid Police Fund seeking money for fallen officers....but never do these public servats offer ant of that money for the victims of crime. No....the officers look out for each other and each other only....I have no respect for that.

@krellin,

No, that was not my implication. For someone who is constantly berating people for not reading what you wrote, you like to take large liberties with other people's words.

Your argument was two-fold:
1) If you haven't tried something, you lack the experience needed to comment intelligently.
2) Drugs are not comparable to murder/theft because they do not affect society in the same way.

I came up with two counters:
1c) There are other ways to understand something without directly trying it.
2c) DUIs affect the general population as much as murder/theft.

No where did I imply that alcohol or pot should be illegal. If you recall, in my OP I agreed with you. I was directly responding to your two points of argument.

I'm not going to present my view on drugs to you until you accept that I can have an intelligent opinion on them without having first tried them.

Thank GOD, Kind Atom, your ignorant fuck, we do NOT live in a perfect world....asshole.

"Makig the healthy choice not to do drugs doesn't make you ignorant"

making the healthy choice about crossing the road might mean not leaving your house for the 'safety' of not being knocked down... you can get food delivered to your door, and hope no flooding occurs... This does not mean that this choice lacks for ignorance.

KA, when you grow up, you will see through the Reefer Madness bullshit you have been fed.

Krellin, you have made sweeping comments about drugs. I am assuming that have tried the entire alphabet soup of drugs let alone abused them in the excesses that some people do. So, your opinion is invalid by your own admission? I don't think it is. It just has a different perspective and, perhaps clout, as someone who has gone down that road.

"healthy choice" I LOVE when I hear about runners that spent the last 20 yeas eating carrots and beans drop dead! Healthy choice....what the fuck is a "healthy choice" anyway? lol

OK....all of you people deny yourselves ALL earthly pleasures, and eat your carrots and celery and do NOT eat delicious steak and shrimp and ice cream. You PRETEND to be healthy....and then die young anyway because....

.....because....GASP....

GENETICS mean more to your life span than does most of what "science" tells you....

smokers in Japan living to 100+

Mediteraneans eating fatty, "unhealthy" diets living to ripe old ages...

blah blah blah.

If you all know what is "healthy" publish the book and live to 200 years in defiance of you genes. otherwise, accept the life that FATE will give you and enjoy it, your sad sourpusses.

If government dealt with the debt problem by raising the debt limit then why don't we deal with the DUI problem by raising the blood alcohol limit?

Yonni posting "when you grow up." Now that is rich.

OMFG

Speaking of which, how many people have watched Reefer Madness (the musical)?

There's a musical?!

OK, TC, I'll amend that.
"When you're older and at an age where you start experimenting"

No...you deal with teh DUI issue by enforcing consequences when your use effects others. the same way you deal witht eh deby problem by enforcing consequnces, you stupid dumbass, Tettleton.

I have *NEVER* said that I don't believe there shouldn't be consequences to *public* abuse of drugs. I say "do what you want in your own home..." Moron! Typical blindly hate-filled conservative asshole

I belive, Tettleton, that you DO want to see consequences for bad financial policy, right? Congress should pay...they should los their jobs? Citizens that refuse to find work, that only rely upon government hand-outs....they should suffer teh consequneces, right? Because their laziness and selfishness affect society as a whole.

OK...SAME THING with drug policy. IF you want to do drugs in your own home, and won't leave your house until the high has come down....then butt-the-fuck out. And if you want to be poor and eat out of a dumpster and refuse to take work...then eat that dumpster food and leave me alone, right?

Tettleton, you are 100% inconsistent with our views.

THANK YOU for falling in to my logical trap. Now you can mute me again....just like y ou did witht e Successul-during-Obama-Yogurt-Shop discussion where you made a blatant logical fault.

Tettleton using the word "rich."

YOU'RE NOT GOING TO MAKE MONEY OFF OF THAT COW FARM OF YOURS!
And 35 too.

If you ask most police officers or prosecutors they will tell you that marijuana being criminal is foolish.

the musical? Please link xD

SuperSteve ++

the most disturbing fact of the article was the claim that he shouldn't be faced with life in jail for possession of "powder" cocaine. do any of you realize how racist that is?

Joe, +1

I missed that, but good point.

You guys are fucking idiots.

So, according to orathaic my grandmother takes her blood pressure meds because she whines about having high blood pressure? I think not...

@ SuperSteve

Yeah. Most. Including me.

@ krellin

Your disgusting, repulsive posts are not even worthy of a response. I have neither the time nor the patience to get into any kind of argument with you because I work hard every day to make sure ungrateful assholes like you can go to work without getting mugged every day of the week.

Here's a link to Reefer Madness the Musial. It really is fantastic!

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=reefer+madness+musical

lolwut

I don't have to do drugs to understand their place in society and their regulations and what both of those should be any more than I have to murder someone in cold blood to comment on murder laws. Nice try, though.

How can I explain the ocean, to a frog that has never left his pond ?
mmmmmmmmm