ALL drugs would be legal - if libs had their way

[BlindBoo]

Imagine a country so fed up with its ineffective crime-and-punishment approach to drug abuse that it decriminalizes the possession of small amounts of narcotics for personal use.

At the same time, it launches a concerted effort to provide treatment for addicts instead of just throwing them in prison. Surely such a naive land would see a sharp increase in drug use, and perhaps a generation of youth blighted by easy access to mind-altering substances. But in Portugal, which is just such a country, that's not what happened.

Drug use does seem to have gone up, but this increase may well be illusory—and rather harmless. What's not illusory, on the other hand, is the sharp reduction in the ills associated with drug abuse. Nine years into its courageous experiment with sanity as a national drug policy, Portugal is indisputably better off. And it's getting some well-earned attention for its efforts.

Policy-makers in some other western countries, including the U.S., ought to pay especially close attention, given the colossal futility of its own endless “war on drugs” — for never has a cure been so much more catastrophic than the disease it was intended to remedy.

GuelphMercury - Portugal's experiment with drug laws is paying off

 

[LilOlLady]

And ALL guns are legal due to Right Wing Racist Extremist gun laws.

 

[ClosedCaption]

Whats wrong with that?

 

[BlindBoo]

And ALL guns are legal due to Right Wing Racist Extremist gun laws.

Um no I think it is because of the Constitution. Same place that allowed them to outlaw alcohol. Personally I think the war on Americans who use non-government approved recreational substances is unconsitutional as well.

 

[Katzndogz]

Legalizing all drugs might not be such a bad idea. We obviously can't convince people that they can get through the day without being high. We really have to reduce the number of people who want to get high. Universal gun ownership and strengthening stand your ground law would be a big help. So would making sure that addicts are able to get enough drugs to kill them off.

 

[g5000]

stuff like meth, crack cocaine, heroin, you name it

Legalization of weed is a nec first step ......................

Actually, it is Libertarians who want to legalize all drugs.

 

[signelect]

Think of the increased sales and tax's that would happen. It might bankrupt Mexico. Just what we need more dependency on crap.

 

[bitterlyclingin]

Yeah, that's a great idee. Then we can have more events like these: The cocaine crazed husband standing on the roof of the five floor tenement holding his wife over his head, threatening to throw her off the roof.
The NYT editorial from Sunday implied that the users and the dealers that supply the drugs are in reality only victims. Just who then would have been the culprit in the Times' judgement? Should the responding police officers have shot the wife being held in the air instead?

 

[Katzndogz]

Imagine a country so fed up with its ineffective crime-and-punishment approach to drug abuse that it decriminalizes the possession of small amounts of narcotics for personal use.

At the same time, it launches a concerted effort to provide treatment for addicts instead of just throwing them in prison. Surely such a naive land would see a sharp increase in drug use, and perhaps a generation of youth blighted by easy access to mind-altering substances. But in Portugal, which is just such a country, that's not what happened.

Drug use does seem to have gone up, but this increase may well be illusory—and rather harmless. What's not illusory, on the other hand, is the sharp reduction in the ills associated with drug abuse. Nine years into its courageous experiment with sanity as a national drug policy, Portugal is indisputably better off. And it's getting some well-earned attention for its efforts.

Policy-makers in some other western countries, including the U.S., ought to pay especially close attention, given the colossal futility of its own endless “war on drugs” — for never has a cure been so much more catastrophic than the disease it was intended to remedy.

GuelphMercury - Portugal's experiment with drug laws is paying off

Portugal is a failed country. It's a failure whether or not it legalized drugs. Do drugs have anything to do with Portugal's educational failure? Do so many people take drugs that they are now simply incapable of managing anything but the most basic functions?

Weak Educational System Hobbles Portugal - WSJ.com

LISBON—Isabel Fernandes, a cheery 22-year-old with a constellation of stars tattooed around her right eye, isn't sure how many times she repeated fifth grade. Two, she says with a laugh. Or maybe three. She redid seventh grade as well. She quit school with an eighth-grade education at age 20.

Ms. Fernandes lives in a poor suburb near the airport. She doesn't work. Employers, she says, "are asking for higher education." Even cleaning jobs are hard to find.

Portugal is the poorest country in Western Europe. It is also the least educated, and that has emerged as a painful liability in its gathering economic crisis.

But it is a long road. "We have accumulated years and years of ignorant people," says Belmiro de Azevedo, a billionaire industrialist.

He described the system as calcified. The central administration wields tight control. Curricula are simultaneously undemanding and rigid. Dropout rates are high. Schools struggle to accommodate an influx of immigrants from Portugal's former colonies in Africa, such as Angola and Guinea-Bissau.

Is Portugal a place that we really want to emulate?

 

[g5000]

I would have no problem with the legalization of marijuana. It has less dependency than alcohol and is no more intoxicating than alcohol.

This "medical marijuana" crap is patently ridiculous and wide open to abuse. Why is "medical marijuana" legislated and managed completely differently than every other medication? The whole thing is a farce.

I think once a breathalyzer or field sobriety test for pot is developed, it will be legalized.

As for drugs like meth or cocaine or heroine, their dependency rates and intoxication effects are much worse than alcohol. Therefore, their legalizaton is problematical for me.

Treatment is already as readily available for drug addiction today as it would be if all drugs were legal. If you want to make treatment even more available, drugs do not have to be legalized to accomplish that.

 

[bobcollum]

If any of those were legal, right now... Would you do them?

Already did weed and cocaine - could count the numberof times both hands - also drank before I was 21on a fewo ccassions

Sure I would do weed if it was legal - buts its not


Just likeI woulnt have have drank alcohol during the Prohibition

Well... Ok then. I guess you were honest...

He's one of those people that needs laws to know what to do. Don't let anyone tell you they don't exist.

 

[High_Gravity]

stuff like meth, crack cocaine, heroin, you name it

Legalization of weed is a nec first step ......................

So the fuck what?

 

[Full-Auto]

stuff like meth, crack cocaine, heroin, you name it

Legalization of weed is a nec first step ......................

PROSECUTION OF VICTIMLESS CRIMES

Demonstrates intolerance.

You should not be allowed outdoors. You might do something.

 

[BlindBoo]

Imagine a country so fed up with its ineffective crime-and-punishment approach to drug abuse that it decriminalizes the possession of small amounts of narcotics for personal use.

At the same time, it launches a concerted effort to provide treatment for addicts instead of just throwing them in prison. Surely such a naive land would see a sharp increase in drug use, and perhaps a generation of youth blighted by easy access to mind-altering substances. But in Portugal, which is just such a country, that's not what happened.

Drug use does seem to have gone up, but this increase may well be illusory—and rather harmless. What's not illusory, on the other hand, is the sharp reduction in the ills associated with drug abuse. Nine years into its courageous experiment with sanity as a national drug policy, Portugal is indisputably better off. And it's getting some well-earned attention for its efforts.

Policy-makers in some other western countries, including the U.S., ought to pay especially close attention, given the colossal futility of its own endless “war on drugs” — for never has a cure been so much more catastrophic than the disease it was intended to remedy.

GuelphMercury - Portugal's experiment with drug laws is paying off

Portugal is a failed country. It's a failure whether or not it legalized drugs. Do drugs have anything to do with Portugal's educational failure? Do so many people take drugs that they are now simply incapable of managing anything but the most basic functions?

Weak Educational System Hobbles Portugal - WSJ.com

LISBON—Isabel Fernandes, a cheery 22-year-old with a constellation of stars tattooed around her right eye, isn't sure how many times she repeated fifth grade. Two, she says with a laugh. Or maybe three. She redid seventh grade as well. She quit school with an eighth-grade education at age 20.

Ms. Fernandes lives in a poor suburb near the airport. She doesn't work. Employers, she says, "are asking for higher education." Even cleaning jobs are hard to find.

Portugal is the poorest country in Western Europe. It is also the least educated, and that has emerged as a painful liability in its gathering economic crisis.

But it is a long road. "We have accumulated years and years of ignorant people," says Belmiro de Azevedo, a billionaire industrialist.

He described the system as calcified. The central administration wields tight control. Curricula are simultaneously undemanding and rigid. Dropout rates are high. Schools struggle to accommodate an influx of immigrants from Portugal's former colonies in Africa, such as Angola and Guinea-Bissau.

Is Portugal a place that we really want to emulate?

They have not legalized drugs. However they have stopped putting people in jail for using small amounts.

 

[uscitizen]

At one time in America all drugs were legal.

 

[g5000]

At one time in America all drugs were legal.

So was slavery. And child labor.

Interestingly, Libertarians would like child labor to be legal again, too.

 

[uscitizen]

At one time in America all drugs were legal.

So was slavery. And child labor.

Yep weren't our founding fathers great?

 

[there4eyeM]

It's all part of Big Brother making your decisions for you, isn't it?

 

[BlindBoo]

At one time in America all drugs were legal.

State regulated.

 

[there4eyeM]

"At one time in America all drugs were legal."

Not prohibited anyway.