The War on Drugs

Off Topic Politics & World Issues
41

I agree with this ideology. Typically if one is using hard drugs (in my opinion) it’s to blunt emotional pain induced by trauma. There’s an interesting video on this…

I agree with this. I’ve had brief stints wherein my patterns regarding consumption of alcoholic beverages became problematic (one stint lasting two weeks right around my 18th and another lasting close to four weeks within Europe). I say problematic as it wasn’t drinking “for fun”… it was drinking to numb pain, I’d understand if you choose to judge me here, there’s no excuse…

For this I VERY rarely drink… I can’t control myself… well I can but it’s difficult. In response to achieving a state of drunkenness, waking up hungover the next day I feel an immense sense of shame.

I found it made me care less about my insecurities/helped numb generalised emotional pain. Until I get this facet of my life under control, alcohol just isn’t for me… it may never be for me. Even one or two drinks can give me intense desires for more… I’ve never had this issue with anything else… except exercise, I’ve gone extreme when under a lot of stress/upset from being picked on (by extreme I’m referring to say exercising 5 hours per day). I believe that the behaviour is psychologically mediated rather than physiological. As in “I know this will acutely make me feel better when I’m being picked on for being different”. It’s interesting, I used opiates daily for months… quit cold turkey (prescribed)… I’ve never found the same reinforcing property present within grass/a few other light substances (psychedelics etc), but I don’t feel comfortable stating what I have/haven’t tried.

When I better understand/wrestle my demons perhaps I’ll be able to enjoy a few cold ones on occasion… but currently… no

Another VERY interesting one

With this I believe substances should be ranked regarding legality on a basis of how much harm it induces… how addictive is it?

It’s borderline impossible to become addicted to psilocybin, LSD and mescaline… yet they’re considered substances (not mescaline) that will net you a criminal record and/or jail time for possession. Alcohol when abused is highly addictive. I know many kids of whom when in college and/or the end of high school go out, get sloshed 3x weekly +… such usage in my opinion isn’t casual partying, that’s a drug problem… We have something called “schoolies” here, despite the prohibitive measures we have regarding illicit substance abuse… statistics indicate roughly 50 percent engage within risky sexual behaviour, almost all frequently binge drink, about a third use MDMA etc… Despite prohibitive measures in place/the risk of getting arrested, the commonplace nature of drug use amongst those attending is sky high… people DO overdose/die, many get arrested… Our current approach isn’t working

Despite harsh penalties for use, we have a very high rate of drug use per capita when compared to other developed countries… Prohibition hasn’t made a dent, and some would argue it’s made the issue worse (higher overdose rates… enticing nature of drugs etc)

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Finally, have you ever tried cannabis? If not, it’s easy to fall victim to propaganda/certain misconceptions regarding the substance. It certainly isn’t as benign as many believe it to be… but it’s no “devils lettuce” either. Some don’t react well… at all… but in comparison to being black out drunk/paralytic, its not as intense

43

Why is this. Driving under the influence is a victim less crime. I say we severely punish under the influence crashing as that actually hurts people.

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44

Disagreed… if driving under the influence increases rather risk of crashing 20 folk, you’re a risk towards others around you

Penalties should be adjusted for just how impaired one is though. Driving stoned isn’t (according to literature) nearly as dangerous compared to driving drunk

I’ve never done either and probably never will barring say medical emergency, but guessing relating to how each affects my coordination/fine motor skills I’d take driving stoned any day… yet if I’m pulled over, tested and have smoked within say the past two or three days I’ll probably lose my license… it’s absurd

Whilst penalties for this aren’t the greatest deterrents as one can bypass booze buses via WAZE… if we were to abolish the notion of a BAC cutoff I do think more would drive under the influence

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45

Probably about a dozen times in high school. And I don’t have one damn good reason for doing so.

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Because it’s fun… that’s all the reason you need

There’s a balance between hedonism and practicality. I find living life to rigorous standards, abstaining from everything all the time every time becomes boring. Granted there is a genetic element of susceptibility here (ADHD)

The preconceived ideologies regarding what someone who smokes pot “looks like” are greatly flawed. It effects people differently (regarding de motivation etc)… I don’t use it often because I find it makes me less productive… I have no quealms about the potential harms stemming from a substance that one recent study found was “113 times less toxic to the body than alcohol”

47

I was joking (I have trouble with sarcasm on the internet). But the crime itself is something that people have just decided is the worst thing ever. Driving while using cell phones causes about as many crashes in the US, but you don’t have calls to throw the book at people who get caught on a cell phone while driving.

One study by the national highway transportation safety administration concluded that driving with using a cell phone was 6X as dangerous as being at the legal limit for alcohol.

It seems we have inconsistent punishments for the two offenses.

48

This is definitely not a good reason in itself for me to do something.

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@Aragorn

I lived in America for nearly seven years, ages 9 to almost 16… I was deeply engrained within gun culture and hotly debated this with many. I firmly believe things do need to change, yet I don’t think regulatory practice to that of the level of which we have in Aus is nessecary

  • Those who have committed a violent crime shouldn’t have access to firearms
  • a person should have a safe to avoid children coming into contact with said firearms
  • a license/records of purchased firearms should be mandatory… no one should be able to suddenly purchase and hoard like 30 guns over the coarse of say a month (like the Las Vegas shooter at the concert)

I disagree with

  • police looking through you’re belongings
  • a ban on guns entirely, though I don’t see the need for a civilian to own high powered assault rifles
  • concealed carry without extensive proper fundamental training

And more

I understand the notion of engrained societal ideology… with drugs you’re killing yourself (typically, psychotic reactions to say PCP/meth can result in a deleterious outcome for many)… guns have the potential to kill many people… as was evident within that shooting in low Vegas… no amount of meth is going to induce extensive harm to say 500 civilians induced by the user alone.

As to when I was stating there were more mass shootings than days of the year… it should be clarified gang related shootings were generally excluded… as were shootings related to drugs/organised crime

The vast majority were “a guy walking into a shop/wherever and opening fire”. Firearms have the potential to be incredibly dangerous when put into the wrong hands… thus I don’t understand the arguement of “fuck that, the second amendment states everyone should have guns”.

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50

Sure it is… I’ve gone dirtbiking at ridiculous speeds, making dangerous turns and manoeuvres… why? Because it’s fun… why would I go skydiving, to a concert etc… because it’s fun

It may not be a “good” reason, as there’s certainly no health benefit to recreationally smoking pot… but it’s not exactly as if the sky will fall if you decide to indulge once in a while… it’s fun, enjoyable, whatever… I say with pot, and even a myriad of other substances… leave people alone

I’ll agree with you if you can tell me this though. Why is it I should be arrested for the use of a substance clinically documented to be far, far, FAR less toxic than ethanol… when booze is perfectly acceptable, linked as a confounding factor to many, many homicides/violent crimes

If burden relating to healthcare is the issue here… have you seen the statistics regarding burden of disease induced by cannabis vs alcohol?

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51

Texting and driving should result in a very hefty fine and loss of one’s driving privileges or their hands smashed with a 3 pound beater.

That’s a very real danger not to mention those dumb shits cause traffic congestion.

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52

My brother drove into a ditch whilst texting and driving

Australia is the biggest nanny/police state, I believe texting and driving incurs a 1000$+ fine

In NSW tossing out a lot cigarette due to the bushfires incurs a 12000$+ fine

Biking without a helmet (cycling) induces a hefty fine… they’re putting up speed limits for cyclists now… it’s getting seriously pathetic

At the legal limit… what about those blowing a BAC of say 0.2

There’s typically no excuse for driving impaired (though particularly drunk and/on meth/stims)… there’s no excuse for texting and driving, there’s no excuse for calling and driving absent of Bluetooth being enabled

I will admit there’s somewhat of a hysteria going on, for good reason though. My father told me when he was my age everyone drove drunk, then proceeded to tell me he’d kill me if I ever did it… fair enough…

Though recently Australia has proposed lowering the BAC to 0.00… in a knee jerk reaction after a guy with a BAC of .25 ran over four kids… this fucking country man… if it’s a new regulation aimed at stiffening penalties, you’ll bet Aus will pass it

I think we are stuck in a bit of a rut, we’ve gone from “one of the most progressive, laid back, forward thinking states” to “nanny/police state, regulations and rules for everything, many politicians are so uptight if you put a lump of coal up their ass it’d come out a diamond”… I believe within say the next twenty years (depending on how close we get with China, as supposedly trials of mass surveillance have been conducted here) we will revert back to our more relaxed ways.

Driving under the influence puts others at risk besides yourself, pedestrians and passengers are also at risk. I don’t know whether you don’t think it’s particularly bad due to inherent beliefs or because you’ve driven under the influence before… either way, no judgement from me towards you… I personally think it’s a really dumb and potentially selfish thing to do

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Not to mention one can’t see the road adequately when texting… almost like driving blind

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I am just pointing out that in the US the penalties are inconsistent. One conclusion you can make from that is that the penalty for cell phone use is too low, another is that the penalty for drunk driving is too high in some cases.

People will make it seem like someone with a DUI in the US is the antichrist, but will not bat an eye at phone use. It is an inconsistent position to take. This post also is responding to @gorija

55

Geez. Scary. At least no one was hurt.

56

1000% this. It’s truly moronic that it’s not treated like the scourge that it is

57

Your car travels like 300 yards in just a few seconds while you’re looking at your phone.

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Agreed. In Aus a guy caught drunk driving it’s ehhhh… but caught with pot in you’re system from smoking a joint a few days ago (roadside drug test) and the penalty is legitimately worse than had you blown say 0.3

If you fail the test, they take it to a lab for further analysis (looking for traces/metabolites mind you)… I say, just bring them in, give them a blood test… this method is actually somewhat reliable in relation to determining “has he used within say the last six hours”

If I recall correctly Canada has come up with a device that actually detects impairment. An investigation regarding the roadside testing here came to the conclusion that the tests were wildly inaccurate, sometimes pinging people who had legitimately never used anything throughout their entire lifetime… yet we still use these incredibly inaccurate, flawed methods to criminalise casual users. I also find it very irritating when workplaces will test employees urine for cannabis… you can be caught out for doing something 30 days ago… in QLD a jockey was recently caught, suspended for four years and this huge hysteria of “how dare he race under the influence” started… please, metabolites/traces of THC doesn’t need equate to impairment at all. I expect many places will phase/ have already phased out cannabis testing. I expect Aus to keep it for at least another 20 years lol.

The military in aus is draconian, drinking is fine… but they routinely urine test (trialling HAIR testing now) soldiers for everything from recreational drugs to PED’s

This actually enforces the user to perhaps use harder substances and/or drugs they won’t test for. A select few within the general populace are going to get high no matter what. If they’re not testing for say racemic amphetamine, benzodiazepines/other pharmaceuticals such as fentanyl… but smoking cannabis 30 days ago is a big no, six months in relation to hair testing

Granted most wont be stupid enough to use fentanyl

59

The car was totaled, cost thiusands to fix

60

Sadly most people will keep doing it even after a scary wake up call

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