Posted on 05/12/2014 8:12:34 AM PDT by mgist
MAY 12, 2014 Legalize ALL Drugs, Not Just Cannabis
IMAGE: L’Aubade, Pablo Picassso
I was entertaining a customer in our cannabis vapour lounge (420 Session) a couple days ago. We had the usual chit chat and banter about pot–what kind I like, what kind of vaporizers are best, you know, the usual. Then the War on Drugs came up, and after taking a hit from his bong, the customer (who I suppose I assumed was more open-minded, as he was a university student, studying political science hanging out in a vape lounge, consuming cannabis) said “Weed should be decriminalized, but nothing else.”
I told him I disagree. I told him I think ALL substances should be legal, not just decriminalized, and not just the helpful/harmless ones like cannabis, psilocybin, and LSD.
“Even HEROIN?!” he questioned incredulously, whispering the “heroin” part because he didn’t want anyone to overhear the taboo word.
“Especially heroin,” I replied.
That’s when the conversation turned into a one-sided debate, (at least from my perspective it was one-sided; I shoot down prohibitionists as easily as fish in a barrel). He was armed with the typical prohibitionist rhetoric: What about cartel violence and criminal element? Why should I care about a junkie?! WHAT ABOUT THE CHILDREN?!?!
First, it’s important to understand and accept that even though most drugs are illegal right now, people still do them. Making something illegal does not make it magically go away. Some users hold down regular jobs, and get up and go to work every morning. They drive on our roads, and stand behind us in line while we are waiting for our coffee. They may even be telling you what to do all day while you are at work, or teaching your children in school. They may be running one of the largest cities in North America.
Drug use is not only reserved for the seedy, underground dealings that after-school specials from the Reagan-era would have you believe. We need to accept that drug users live among us already, and accommodate our reality. Here are 5 good reasons to consider legalizing all drugs:
Drug use is a public health issue, not a criminal one. The end users are the easiest targets for police, with most suffering from serious physical and mental health issues. It’s easy to understand that dirty needles spread diseases; well that’s only part of it. Drug users also typically fail to seek out traditional health care for anything, because of the negative stigma attached to their drug use—they are afraid of being reported or turned in, and suffer alone instead. Without places like inSite, the safe-injection facility in Vancouver, users have no means to exchange dirty needles for clean ones, or educate themselves, or reach out for help when they are ready. Instead of providing them the resources they need to help themselves, we brand them criminals and force them to sort out their issues while incarcerated in a tiny cell. How is that rehabilitating them? How is that helping? Why is compassion reserved only for the sick and dying in hospitals? Ending prohibition will help these people get help and lead productive, responsible lives.
Drug use is a victimless crime, but the drug trade isn’t. Cartel and gang violence is on the rise because they have something to fight over. There are many civilian casualties in this war, and the cartels are winning, by getting help from places you wouldn’t expect. Between 2000 and 2012, The Sinaloa cartel had made a special arrangement with the US government that allowed them to smuggle billions of dollars of drugs into the US in exchange for information about rival cartels. Meanwhile, over 77000 people have died since Mexico started its War on Drugs. The authorities have all either been corrupted or intimidated by the cartels. As a result since 2012, vigilante groups made up of civilians are rising up and forming their own militias. So you have cartels fighting each other, the government, the people, and anyone who gets caught in between. This war spills into US and even Canada, because the drugs come from the cartels to our local black markets causing unneeded violence within our communities as well. Ending the prohibition will cut these cartels off at the knees, and will help stem some of the violence.
Drug prohibition gives children easier access to dangerous drugs; the children are more likely to overdose because of it. When was the last time you saw a drug dealer ask someone for their ID? The only thing a drug dealer requires is that their customer has money. Plus, dealers aren’t really concerned with the dosage; they want to sell as much as they can. They aren’t concerned with quality (which will also vary from dose to dose) unless telling you its better will guarantee their sale. Your children are not given a sterilized setting, with single-use needles and nurses available to administer and educate about the medication. Content also may vary from dosage to dosage—one may think they are purchasing a certain drug, when in fact they are purchasing a much cheaper substitute that has been cut with toxic chemicals and made in someone’s bathtub (do some reading on krokodil). In a clinical setting, opiates are rebranded as pain relievers and prescribed as Demerol to help women in labor. Amphetamines are rebranded as stimulants and prescribed as Adderall to help your kids focus. While there is no doubt that prescription pill use can lead to overuse, at least we aren’t concerned about consistency from pill to pill because it is regulated. Ending prohibition will mean there will be restricted access to children and some quality and quantity control. Drug prohibition is the new form of slavery.
Non-whites are disproportionately targeted for drug arrests, even though whites are just as likely to be in possession of, or using drugs. Mandatory minimums are imposed on crack cocaine and methamphetamine offenses, and are designed to target Blacks and Hispanics respectively. Young men and women throughout the US and Canada are locked up for non-violent drug offenses, and are officially entered into the system. The best part about getting into the system is that you are in the system for life, even after you leave prison. In the US, inmates don’t have right to vote, which means while they are incarcerated and disenfranchised, they don’t have a voice. In most states, disenfranchisement doesn’t end until after probation is complete (if it ever does). After leaving, they have to submit to regular monitoring and drug-testing (which is a huge industry in itself), and are given conditions, which for some are impossible to follow. How are these people expected to find a job they always have to say they are a felon on every application? If (and when) they fail (because the system was designed for them to), they have to start the process all over again. Some prisons are even profiting off having bodies in their beds (luckily none here in Canada anymore, but plenty in the US) and throw money at lobbying the government for stiffer sentencing and mandatory minimums to help keep them there. Prison guards make more than school teachers. Ending prohibition will give the disenfranchised a voice, and a better opportunity to lead a productive and independent life.
Drug prohibition inhibits the police from investigating violent crimes. There is no financial incentive for police to investigate murders and rapes—they don’t receive a reward, their department doesn’t get any larger, no extra jobs are created. It infringes on the art of the investigation—the romantic idea of what I think police work is—dusting fingerprints, finding clues, asking questions, getting the bad guy, that sort of thing.
In drug raids, all they need to do is knock down the door with a battering ram, no romance necessary. When crimes happen to people in the drug trade, police dismiss their case as “another drug deal gone wrong” without doing a full investigation. Look at what happened with the Waltham St. Murders in Boston in 2011 —if the police had taken the triple homicide seriously, perhaps the Boston Marathon Bombing could have been prevented. Ending prohibition will help police focus on violent criminals like rapists, pedophiles and murderers.
The drug war has been an expensive experiment costing well over a trillion dollars so far. It’s time to truly concede defeat.
Nothing is what it seems. The "war on drugs" is a farce.
Government complicity is blatant. The US government didn’t just provide the Sinaloa cartel with an arsenal of weapons. They launder money for them, they protect them, and they have agreements for trafficking.
“Drug War? American Troops Are Protecting Afghan Opium. U.S. Occupation Leads to All-Time High Heroin
Production.”
Obama’s bizarre use of the American military to support the Muslim Brotherhood, has been well documented by famed author Seymour Hersch.
http://www.lrb.co.uk/v36/n08/seymour-m-hersh/the-red-line-and-the-rat-line
It isn’t so bizarre when you remember that the Muslim Brotherhood is cartel for the $multi Billion heroin trade.
It is consistent with the Justice Departments support of murderous Sinaloa cartels, providing dangerous criminals with an arsenal of weapons in Fast and Furious, was just of many offenses by the Justice Department.
Wall Street banks are laundering $billions, and are also complicit with the cartels, and they act with impunity.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/apr/03/us-bank-mexico-drug-gangs
They all have blood on their hands. Many children won’t stand a chance. Take care of your families. Semper Vigilus.
The drug culture knows Daddy Weed Bucks, and the cartels he launders for are funding this campaign.
How The One Percent Will Legalize Marijuana
http://www.hightimes.com/read/how-one-percent-will-legalize-marijuana
This report from 2004 was prophetic.
http://www.aim.org/special-report/the-hidden-soros-agenda-drugs-money-the-media-and-political-power/
and if you don’t think the sociopathic megalomaniacs are low enough to go after your children think again.
George Soros’ Shocking ‘Methadone Man’ Comic Book Touts Virtues of Drug
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2011/08/26/george-soros-shocking-methadone-man-comic-book-touts-virtues-of-drug/
I would go so far as decriminalizing marijuana possession but no further. Few people actually go to jail for simple possession and legalization just grows government. Better to pay a $50 fine if caught than a tax every time.
As far as other drugs are concerned no F’n way.
The contraband opium crop would be much less valuable if opium products were decriminalized.
Holland and Austria grow the opium poppy. They extract opium from poppy straw for medical purposes and use the seeds for culinary purposes.
I am so sick of government corruption, our agencies playing with cartels and bandits, and the establishment of a police state in our own country. I am tired of an illegal drug trade that destroys neighborhoods and families. I hate having a violent and de-stabilized country on our southern border.
I am willing to take chances with the addictions and deaths and bad reactions, the psychoses, that legalization would bring.
I don’t believe it would be worse than what we have now.
The WOD also make possible avenues of political corruption not possible without it. From bribes to keep cops and agents away to campaign donations to take pressure off to pure graft and coercion.
However total legalization has some un-thought out and still undiscussed consequences. For example what would this policy do to the economy of legal medicines? If everything is legal, is anything legal? Can I stock up on Oxy for when my back hurts? Can I use experimental drugs to treat my late stage cancer? What becomes of the FDA approval process?
The thing that makes pot different from hard drugs (and alcohol) is that it is probably impossible to take a fatal dose.
“Think of it as evolution in action.” — Jerry Pournelle
CC
Corruption at it's finest.
We can't be both!
How dare you justify murdering US Citizens because of what drugs/medicine they choose to take!
Is it, or is it not perfectly legal to be addicted to opiates?
It is if you pay off all the king's men!
Is it, or is it not perfectly legal to be addicted to pharmaceutical amphetamines?
It is if you pay off all the king's men.
Justify again why you gladly promote a Nazi (Yes they kick in doors armed with machine guns and murder people) drug state!
T. Jefferson drafted our Constitution on Cannabis!
How evil was that?
Anyone caught selling drugs ….shot within a week…..drugs would disappear fast…trying to get a kid straight has been on drugs since the age of 12 now 27 has to beautiful kids…clean two and a half years…but the dam stuff is everywhere..
The Federal Government should sunset all drug laws in, say, 5 years. In our system the States are the places to deal with criminal matters.
There are functioning alcoholics and there are alcoholics who destroy their lives.
With illegal drugs part of the destruction is not the drugs themselves but the crimes addicts commit to get the drugs, the anxiety they feel about missing the next fix, the time they spend chasing the drug, the criminal record that makes it hard to find employment.
I’ve taken care of people who were addicted to legal drugs - oxycodone and benzodiazepines - who were messed up, unable to function - but I think they suffered from mental illness to begin with, and they weren’t out on the streets making life difficult for other people. They made life difficult for their parents, sure, but mental illness is going to do that anyway.
Yes, mind-altering drugs, even legal, will make some people’s lives much worse, will trigger latent psychoses in some, will cause the deaths of others.
I still think the harm to society, to our country and to our freedom, from the War on Drugs, is worse than the drugs themselves.
In 1880 there were no drug laws in America and no serious drug problems. How bright do you really need to be to figure that one out??
The 4th Amendment was sacrificed on the alter of the war on some drugs. Meanwhile, children are drugged in school (Ritalin), and adults complaining of "depression" get doctor prescribed acid trips with daily doses of Ambien.
Tell the doctor your back hurts and they give you "hillbilly heroin" (Oxycontin). Nanny state advocates will be the death of this nation.
As the GOP becomes more “libertarian”, there will no longer be any major resistance to the left’s culture war.
Already they have managed to switch the argument from drugs, to a “drug war”, yet the issue is legalizing all drugs and their marketing and advertising, and future drugs and drug cocktails that drug labs can develop, not reining in how law enforcement works and operates.
B6. What is the libertarian position on the “drug war”?
“That all drugs should be legalized.”
“”We favor the repeal of all laws creating “crimes” without victims, such as the use of drugs for medicinal or recreational purposes.””
There were cases of chronic constipation and there were babies who went to sleep with a dose of soothing syrup and never woke up.
In general, you are correct.
I would also say we were a different people and a different culture then. In 1887 when Nellie Bly faked insanity, rival newspapers covered the tale of an amnesiac, deranged young woman for a week - this after her initial “episode”, before her expose. NYC was a large city even then but mental illness of that kind was rare and sensational.
Now we ethnically and religiously diverse, highly mobile, highly stimulated by the media, far more likely to experience a sense of alienation.
The goal is to get younger and younger kids on drugs then profit from them as they slide down the slippery slope.
Legalizing drugs would make it harder for kids to get.
I don’t think it is easier for kids to get Heroin because it is illegal.
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