Legalization of All Drugs - Gateway to Addiction?

[tbc OG]

Recently, my roomate injured his back and is on some pain killers so it got me thinking. Not that he would abuse them, in fact, he asked for the weakest dosage possible, but it got me thinking to when I had been on pain killers...

Now first some background..Since I began smoking weed I have been for the legalization of all drugs as a means of lowering the crime rate associated with drugs. If crack was cheap and readily available to addicts, you would not have addicts holding up gas stations for a fix. You would not have dangerous cartels and gangs importing and exporting drugs. Not to mention, we would not be spending billions for the war on drugs and prisoning a significant chunk of our population...

But it got me thinking back to a couple years ago when I had my wisdom teeth removed...I was given a perscription to Vicadin. Probably about enough to last 2 weeks. Luckily, the operation had gone very well and I was in very little pain at all. This meant I was really feeling the effects of the pills, because there wasn't much pain for them to numb. Anyway, I liked the feeling the pills produced. Life was good, no matter what was going on. I would take them before work and not mind being there all day. I was happy, outgoing and had very little anxiety. Note, I was also someone who had never before abused pills or any drugs besides weed and alcohol.

So anyway, I had a good couple of weeks, but before I knew it the perscription was up. I wanted more so I had actually called the doctor saying it still hurt (it did mildly) so I could get more. I went and saw them and they told me that advil should be enough at this point and that was all. I honestly felt like shit for the next couple days, very down, and missing the feeling I had. And now here is my point...

If I had been able to go into a drug store and simply by Vicadin or Oxys or whatever it is, I probably would have. The fact that they weren't available to me is what stopped me from taking any more and I havent touched a pill since then...again its been a couple years.

I also feel like I don't have a very addictive personality... I smoke weed a good amount, but don't smoke cigs, drink once or twice a month, don't do any other drugs, get A's in school, and I work a good job. But, its like the feeling the drug produces is stronger than any of this.

So if all drugs were legal and available, people would be put in my situation, but would have the option to stay on the drugs when the perscription ran out. This happens already today, but this would be at a much more frequent rate.

Secondly, people might experiment more and do the whole "I'm only gonna try OXY, COKE, METH, whatever the drug once and never again". And we all know where that can lead....

Anyway, please don't flame and call me a pig or whatever, i'm just giving an opinion. I'm always going to be 100% for the legalization of pot because it seems to be the safest substance I have ever touched, and I would call it a medicince instead of a drug...but this isnt the same for every substance.

Well..i'm just looking for some discussion so go ahead and tell me what you think....

 

[Homer J Simpson]

Some drugs just have no benefit. I cannot see the point in legalizing Meth for instance.

Painkillers, they have their uses. I've seen alot of people abuse them however....

It's not that a crack addict hold ups a gas station for crack, he holds it up for money FOR crack. How would the situation be any differant if that crack head could legally buy crack?

Some drugs would do far greater good than bad if legalized. However, some drugs would do no good at all.

With legalization of drugs, you need to think drug by drug. Some are useful, some have a high potential for abuse and no potential for good....

 

[tbc OG]

Some drugs just have no benefit. I cannot see the point in legalizing Meth for instance.

Painkillers, they have their uses. I've seen alot of people abuse them however....

It's not that a crack addict hold ups a gas station for crack, he holds it up for money FOR crack. How would the situation be any differant if that crack head could legally buy crack?

Some drugs would do far greater good than bad if legalized. However, some drugs would do no good at all.

With legalization of drugs, you need to think drug by drug. Some are useful, some have a high potential for abuse and no potential for good....

Right, the crack head is after money not the drug itself...It is assumed though that if crack or cocaine were legal it would be a hell of a lot cheaper than it is now in its illegal state. Maintaining a coke habit now is difficult even for the rich.

Anyway, yeah I agree, that each drug would need to be analyzed beforehand. Personally, I feel like weed and psychoactive drugs such as acid and shrooms should have open legalization but addictive drugs like coke and heroine should have more regulation and perhaps only be available to those addicted....that would mean there would still be cartels pushing coke though...

 

[Homer J Simpson]

True, that is a good point.

Who would manufactor the drugs if they were legal? If it was someone like a tabacco company growing our weed who's to say they don't put shit in there to make it more addictive?

If it was the government, you could probibly say goodbye to strong strains of marijuana.

Psychedelics need tio be researched alot more. Hopefully legalizing some of them would help. They have such a great potential....

Even Ecstasy when it first came out was used very successfully by psychiatrists. Now it's cut with coke, meth, herion, ketamine and tons of other shit thats not even drugs.

Hopefully there would be cleaner drugs if it was legalized....

 

[Big Calhoun]

I think the basic problem that you run into is it depends on the society in which this is done.

You look at Europe an alcohol for example. Totally legal, no real age limits, accepted socially. Hell, I remember buying beer off the street from a 'soda' machine in Spain!! But, for the most parts, Europeans treat alcohol differently from Americans. Don't get me wrong, you still get people who abuse it and drink till they're throwing up their insides, but it happens less often than on, say, the campuses of the U.S.

It's always going to come down to the society at large. IMO, Americans would not be able to handle it responsibly. Until this country gets a hold on the social issues that drive people to want to use drugs as an 'escape', people will still be prone to abuse. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see a day where I could walk to 7-11 and pick up a pack of papers and 1/8th of the sticky icky. But I honestly don't think that most Americans would be able to deal with it responsibly. So I don't even want to imagine if crack, cocoa, peruvian, colombian, and meth become legal.

BiglegalizeitCalhoun

 

[sogman]

Well I'm all for legalization of every drug, but widespread education on the true effects and nature of the drugs. Spend some of that war on drugs money where it should be.

I just recently tried crack myself. Infact I spent 300 dollars bingeing on rocks. The guy who scored it for me was a total fuckin looney and I lost him right after i got the rocks. Don't need him ripping me off. Anyhow it's a 10min high that's feels decent but I've had more profound experiences from marijuana. So I never tried it again and I never will cause it's a shitty drug period.

Ya gotta keep reloading on it constantly and I just hate that.
Personally I never felt any sort of addicting feeling towards it.
Infact weed has me hooked for good

I will never stick a needle in my arm, and I don't plan on smoking meth. Do I really need to fuck myself up more to learn this, no!.

You say you don't have an addictive personality yet you went back to the doctor playing it like you were in pain. Pfft that's schemeing and shit right there. You were fiending, no doubt!

It's better your off them, I hope you realize your body will become dependant on opiates for pain relief if you abuse them.

Just do some research on ur stuff beforehand.

 

[sogman]

Morphine is actually produced naturally in the brain.
Find a way to boost those levels without adding opiates from outside the body, then you've got an interesting drug.

 

[Reinhold]

Well first off I think drugs should be legal, but as stated above not all drugs because some drugs are totally useless besides the high they give. Also if legalized there'd have to be certain restrictions like how to go about buying them and which ones can sold at stores, and what type of stores? Mom and pop or pharmacy? I think certain ones like good ole mary good be sold at mom and pops and more serious ones such as heroin sold at pharmacys etc.

Another thing is theyd have to have checks and balances for everything. For example they'd have to regulate who can do them and who cant, cause personally I dont want the leader of my country addicted to crack and treating with a prescription.

Also, another angle to look at this is if drugs were legalized they'd be more readily available and even with restrictions on who can get em lets face it kids will get someone who can get the drugs to aquire them and now you got the youth trying crack or whatever and personally I dont want the future generation to be a fucked up one.

Either way it has its up and it has its downs.

 

[sogman]

Dude people who get addicted to crack A have bad taste in drugs first of all. B Have no ability to control themselves what so ever which is pretty outright sad. Sound's like they have no self-worth to me personally. And C they need to understand how bad they are getting ripped off for their money!

I was dumb enough to try it once, and was totally insulted by the shitty nature of the drug itself. They burn all the coca tree in columbia it doesent fuckin matter to me.

 

[robobond]

It is my personal belief that noone should be restricted to putting any substance into their body if it is their free will. Once free will crosses into addiction then action should be taken in the form of treatment not prison. No drugs should be illegal. Perhaps illegal to sell to keep down use however not illegal to possese in the sense of doing so = jail. Peolple addicted to crack dont get help in prison. The way I see it in the ideolegy that drugs cause crime well untill the person commits one he is not guilty. Untill someone under the influence of a drug does something illegal then it should not require restriction of the substance. Some drugs do cause people to do more stupid things than others. Well if the do enough stupid things then they will either stop and realize what they are doing is a bad choice or get treatment.

Also as a side note most of us here if offered legal crack prolly wouldnt take it. Just cause something is legal doesnt mean people run out and get it suddenly. Especially with drugs such as that. I dont think there should be much worry of if crack were legal then it would spread so. However there are some stupid people in the world but in my mind if they want to do crack let em. Evoulution at its finest.

 

[sogman]

I hope I'm not considered an idiot for trying it once.
I have enough respect for myself to obviously not do it again, and I don't enjoy the shit anyways.

I opened up a can of worms when my friends found out.

It seems people these day's people are too interested in labelling each other. There are some people out there with major priority issues and I think crack is the worst thing they could get their hands on.

I've seen these fiends up close, analyzed them, and you can really see how crack is taking over their minds. It's very very sad.

 

[tbc OG]

Yeah, I don't think I have an addictive personality, which is why pain killers scared me...it was one of the only things thats been addictive for me. If all drugs were legal, I wouldn't be out looking for coke...but if the doctor put me on pain killers and then when I was supposed to be off the, I could get right back on them....that could be a problem.

 

[sogman]

I think a very large portion of the population is guilty of indulging in cocaine or opiates in some way. You likely will succumb to your interest cause regardless of being intelligent or not curiosity is powerful my friend.

it's simple some people like coke too much and they screwthemselves up on it. Other's much like me don't enjoy the drug and encourage other's not to bother trying it.

But when has that ever stopped anybody.

 

[mriko]

I also feel like I don't have a very addictive personality... I smoke weed a good amount, but don't smoke cigs, drink once or twice a month, don't do any other drugs, get A's in school, and I work a good job. But, its like the feeling the drug produces is stronger than any of this.

How do you know that if you don't do other drugs. Your experience witht hese pills seems to proove the opposite for me,that indeed, you might have an addictive personnality. You've been unable to resist the buzz of the pills for as long as you had them with you. take noof fense please

If crack was cheap and readily available to addicts, you would not have addicts holding up gas stations for a fix. You would not have dangerous cartels and gangs importing and exporting drugs. Not to mention, we would not be spending billions for the war on drugs and prisoning a significant chunk of our population...

There are places were it is very cheap and very easily available. But it doesn' prevent addict from attacking people for a few coins, still. When they can afford cartels sell their dope very cheap actually. It's only the journey and border corsing which add to the value.
But I would rather say "If you had no dangerous cartels and gangs importing and exporting drugs, crack (or any other dope) would be cheaper and you would not have addicts holding up gas station. " Problem is not the rpice of the dope itself, but rather the source of the dope which is criminal.
Alas, we (Western Gov.) have ourselves eased the creation and long-time settling of major drug trafficking rings in the world for geopolitical reasons, and we all know today's results...

All drugs legally available ? not all, you mention crack for instance, this one must be fought by all means this is real poison which does nothing but destroying. There's no way to get a normal sociall ife with that, and if so (means if you're very rich and can afford quality stuff and quality doctor) it wouldn't even last long 'caus it fries your brain at very fast rate. Meth/Ice is fucking shit as well.
Heroin should be legally available for already addicted people so they can socialise and build some life instead of spending days andnights for money and dope.
MDMA, Amphetamines, LSD and other tryptamines and indole should be available only on prescription.
Actions must be taken to reduce as much as possible the consumption of drugs such as heroin or cocaine (but they should be available on prescription as well), and for that coca leaves and and poppy pods should be widely and easily available.
We should favour the plant themselves which have cohabited peacefully and fruitfully with humanity for thousands of years.

gateway to addiction... hmmm, nope nope, addiction doesn't necessarily mean drugs. Even in a world without any drugs you still would have people addicted to this or that. Look nowadays, some get totally hooked on their mobilephone or video games.

I have tried lots'n'lots of things, sometimes more than trying (been smoking since more than 16 years) and it had nothing to do with addiction, as months before having my very first hashpuff I had decided, at the age of 14) that I would have to try one of these days LSD and psilocybe mushrooms (sounded really interesting, just felt there was something good for me inthe'). At the same time I knew what were ice, speed, cocaine, heroin, mdma and although I wasn't as "interested" as I was by LSD and mushrooms, I knew in the dept of myself that these other ones I would know as well.

A drug is the result of the mmeting between a product, a personnality and a social setting. Anything can happen, from best to worst. So in order to get fight adiction problemwe need to get good products (means good and accurate information available as well), ill and weak personnalities must be helped and take care of and adequat and safe social settings for the consumption of a given drug must be established and accepted.

And of course, our governments need a few puff of nice green or gold or red in order to expand a bit their mind beyond their money/power trip.

Actually, the whole world is already addicted to... cannabis ! yes ! very true ! just look around, everybody going nuts, wars and corruption and so on, there's a whole loada shit going, eh ! This is because not enough cannabis,not enough people smoke ! People are denied the right to free, enlight and expand their minds. Yeah ! too many people with brain sick because no thc inthere ! all these wars and bad deeds are only some kind of collective craving for some Light, which only cannabis can bring in ! heheh, first morning joint is blazing, that call for another one !

Irie !

 

[Pythagllio]

Well if you guys want to keep crack Prohibition, that means no powder cocaine either since it just takes water, baking soda, and heat to turn powder into rock. Also, it's chemically identical to powder cocaine.

I'm not sure what the poster who referred to it as 'cheap' means. I recall back in the 80s it was referred to as 'cheap' but that really was propaganda hype. Cheap meant a habit was only a few hundred a day instead of 1000 or more. Anyway, reality is that alcohol is at least as extreme of a drug than cocaine, and probably worse. But a guy with a heavy addiction to alcohol can support his MD 20/20 habit with a 'will work for money or food god bless' sign because he can be totally stewed 24/7 for less than $5 a day.

 

[sogman]

I'm with Mriko and Pyth on this one!
Natural organic etheogen's are the true spiritual drugs.
Cannabis, mushrooms, lsd, DMT.

None of those are toxic either I might add.

I didn't include salvia cause there's not enough research on it.

ppl just need to get high and relax more.

 

[mriko]

heheh, 3, that's a start sogman, we need more people !

None of those are toxic either I might add.

Well, I think it depends. First, difference between the drug and the poison is in the dosage.
Second, Everybody reacts differently to a same product.
For instance, there's a whole fuss going around in France about cannabis making people schizo. That's bloodily unhonnest to claim such a thing. But it's fair to say that about 20 % of population lacks a specific gene which makes that their system can't bare cannabis compounds and are at some risk to declare some problems (already underlying due to this mising gene, thus not CREATED by cannabis).

Plants can be as dangerous as any bad chemical is wrongly/unwisely used. This is why information and education (part of it creation of socially acceptable and manageable settings).

Salvia is a good example of the lack of education. It appeared recently on the market, and straight was used and abused, leading to its ban in some countries. It only took a few years for a plant traditionnaly used for divination, to be turned into a psychedelic hype. Traditionnaly chewed and bringing a mellow high, the thing went up smoked providing something which is far than being mellow, and of course purified. very experienced acid-head cried and called for their mom during a trip on pure salvinorin.

It's funny and eerie as well how the western materialist society is able to turn mind expanding (and keys to un-material realms) plants into mind-destroying substances, eh ?
This is a crucial part of the education, to make the people know that these plants have not been put on earth for big fun (or destruction), but that they have something to teach us, that they can be of great help.
Still, we're everyday claiming the superiority of our science, everyday drinking, eating "scientificaly proven", but our societies keep on sticking to the religious moto consisting of diabolizing the teaching-plants and their use (even though science has proven their numerous healing abilities). Schizo world...

Irie !

 

[Guest]

maybe this has already been mentioned. but back in the day years ago in america when opiate type drugs were legal, some people used them regularly... and were not addicted. I think it just depends on the person.

 

[Jam Master Jaco]

Here's my two cents on it

I don't need anyone else telling me what to put in my own body in the privacy of my own home. If I'm not harming anyone else but myself, it should be legal. Not to say that I'd do harder drugs if they became legal...but if the only thing that is holding someone back from trying these drugs is the fact that the government said it's wrong is ridiculous. The facts alone should scare people away from harder drugs, not propaganda that labels all drugs into the same bad, stereotypical category.

 

[brightside]

I disagree with you guys about crack - i say legalise all drugs - with legalisation comes control - all prohibition does is allow criminals to make money - and it obviously does not work. The choice is clear - legalise and control under the law or prohibit and continue to play cops and robbers

Unfortunately I think our governments will be playing 'Cops and robbers' and trying to gain votes by appearing to be 'hard' on drugs for many years to come