[quote]Unaware wrote:
I disagree with that statement. Those drugs both develop tolerance and sever addiction for the user which turns people into sociopaths who care only about their next high. This is why the usage of these drugs and criminality go hand and hand. Making them decriminalized or legalized would not change this inherent trait about them either.
Its not a matter of opinion. ]
Oh yeah…they would NEVER be able to be legal because the FDA would never approve them and no pharmaceutical company would touch them for many reasons.
False, many of these drugs are already produced by pharmaceutical companies.
- Methamphetamine: Approved by the FDA for treatment of ADHD, Formally produced by Abbott labs, now producted by Lundbeck Pharmaceuticals under the brand name Desoxyn. Home
Let me re-phrase this statement then: no pharmaceutical company will touch it for the off label recreational usage that you are suggesting. Even doctors are weary of prescribing methamphetamine HCL even for ADHD: http://mental-health.emedtv.com/methamphetamine/prescription-methamphetamine.html
[quote]Unaware wrote:
- Diamorphine(Heroin): Produced by Novartis for terminal pain treatment. Used in the United Kingdom. [/quote]
Yes but illegal in the US. Again… no doc will prescribe this for off recreational usage.
[quote]Unaware wrote:
-Benzodiazepines: Numerous benzo derivatives are produced by many different pharmentaceitucal companies. [/quote]
Don’t see what those have to do with coke,heroin or meth.
[quote]Unaware wrote:
I disagree with that statement too. Besides the obvious fact that junkies commit violent crimes to support their drug habits, many low level drug dealers are involved in constant gun battles over a myriad of things: profits, turf, score settling,etc.
Most of these low level dealers would be eliminated if drugs were legalized. Junkies do and will continue to commit crimes in order to get drug money. However with the supply no longer squeezed as it is today, the price would inevitably drop requiring far less theft to support their habit. Regardless the overall crime committed by junkies is far far lower than that of organized criminals in the Drug Trafficking business. [/quote]
The government would tax the shit out of those industries if they were sold like cigarettes.
If doctors prescribed them to people, in our litigious society both the docs and pharmaceutical industries that actually produced these drugs would both be getting sued out the wazoo too. The places that sell these drugs better have machine gun armed guards behind the counter too (or do you think that the unemployed thugs would give up criminal activities?). Not to mention that if you legalized these drugs, you would have more addicts too.
Actually I don’t like the way the government is fighting the war on drugs; it is akin to clipping leaves off of a plant here and there instead of uprooting it to kill the plant.
[quote]Unaware wrote:
How do you suggest the government go about eliminating the plants? Most of these drugs are grown in far off regions of the world. Using herbicides on poor farmers in sovereign nations is going to inspire a new generation of anti-American radicals. Not to mention the cost. [/quote]
Most people don’t know this, but in 10 or 20 years or so there is going to be an agricultural crisis in the world; the consumption of corn is particularly critical as developing countries like China consume FAR LESS meat than America does, despite having a way larger population than the US does; however, meat consumption correlates with GNP and as China’s economy has been growing so has their meat consumption. There are also ethanol mandates cutting into the corn supply too.
A country like Columbia supplies 90% of the Cocaine and 50% of the Heroin in America.
If the coke plants alone were replaced by other crops (corn, switch grass) they could have a thriving ag/ethanol industry there. We need to replace the illicit drugs with other crops.
[quote]Unaware wrote:
The point is not that drugs are good, or that drugs do not cause harm. Even if legalized drugs would still kill people, incite crime, addict kids, waste taxpayer money. The point is that making them illegal makes all of these things worse.
-It encourages violent cartels and gangs and worse yet provides them with funding. According to the National Drug Intelligence Center Mexican Drug Trafficking Organizations represent “the greatest organized crime threat in the united states” and that “Mexican and Colombian DTOs generate, remove, and launder between $18 billion and $39 billion in wholesale drug proceeds annually.” http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/concern/18862/ndic_2009.pdf
-According to the study mentioned above, the Federal Government alone spent $14 billion enforcing drug laws, and the DEA Budget has increased almost every year from $65 million in 1972 to over $2 Billion in 2007. http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/agency/staffing.htm
-Despite all of this the overall drug use rate has increased since 1970 with 31% of people admitting to ever using an illicit drug in 1970 compared to 41% in 2001. Office of National Drug Control Policy - The White House
-“The number of drug-related emergency department episodes increased from 323,100 in 1978 to an all time high of 638,484 in 2001.” Source: As above.
Obviously what were doing isn’t working. Time to switch it up.
[/quote]
That’s why we need to destroy the plants and control our borders better.