Stumbling Down the Slippery Slope: First Legalized Weed Then Prescription Smack?

David Horowitz's NewsRealblog ^ | David Swindle

[Michael van der Galien]

In December I had a great discussion with my friend Mary Grabar about marijuana legalization, the role of government, and the counterculture. The debate, collected and republished at FrontPage, can be read here and here.

One of NRB’s friends, Donald Douglas who blogs at American Power, took note of the debate at the time and cautiously took Mary’s side. Now Donald was kind enough to alert me to a post he’s written today about heroin dealers in California.

Donald’s point: if marijuana legalization is allowed (and it practically is in California — all you need is a doctor’s note) then heroin legalization will follow.

Donald doesn’t really support this argument very well; it’s more a hunch or a fear of his than something he can credibly defend. (Slippy slopes tend to be this way.) But this is blogging, not an academic thesis, so I’m not going to hold that against him too much.

But, here’s an answer to the idea of across-the-board decriminalization: So what if heroin, crack, LSD, crystal meth, and every life-destroying addictive chemical under the sun were legalized and regulated ala alcohol and tobacco?

Conservatives who argue that we need to continue spending billions of dollars every year in the fight against human nature are forgetting a simple point that they’re always so good at pointing out when leftists trot out their socialist entitlement schemes: when the government forces its way into the picture to try and fix a problem chances are the end result will be the creation of three new, worse problems. Government just is very ineffective at actually solving problems. It is the problem as some guy once said.

[SatinDoll]

My brother-in-law is a heroin addict. He’s dying. What more do you want?

[bvw]

NO DRUG is not dangerous. People have died from liver failure caused by Naproxen. AKA Aleve. An over the counter NSAID. At least the damage from Naproxen is rarely permanent.

Tylenol can cause permanent liver damage. Death.

The anti-opiate nanny-state madness is deadly too. How is that? IMO, more folks die from the Tylenol that the nanny-statists have forced to be put in the most common formulations of Hydrocodone and Oxycodone. Why do they put it there? As best as I can tell to kill addicts. Nice, eh?

[bvw]

Heroin is illegal, it is the illegality that is likely to have placed your brother in more danger. Society does not learn how to handle addictions to drugs that are made illegal. If you wanted to really help others who in the future would be trapped in your BIL’s tragic state, you’d be pro-legalization, in my considered trust-the-people-more-than the-nanny-state opinion