[AdamNF]

To start im not a drug user, im a beer drinker.

There is a lot of debate in Canada about drugs. And most other countries for that matter, legalizing and stuff of that nature. Some countries i.e. USA think drugs should be banned without question, zero tolerance blah. Canada though seems to be leaning towards what a lot of European countries are starting to do, which is legalizing/decriminalizing. In these European countries drugs are used freely and not thought of as such a bad thing. Personally I donÂ’t think the government should have the right to tell you what to do with your body . I mean The idea of cigarettes and booze being legal and drugs illegal is just silly. In countries where drugs tolerated the crime rates are lower. Look at the USA, the drug trade bring in Billions, and where there is money there is violence. look what happened in the 20's with prohibition, organized crime ran ramped. So why not let people do what they want and lower the crime rate?

[karra]

Are you drinking beer now?

[AdamNF]

maybe...

just prime'in up before i go out...nothing wrong with that i assume

[Rosco]

Not practical.

For one I believe legallizing certain drugs would eventually create a Big Narcotics industry in the mold of Big Oil, but with even more of a corrupting influence. The drug companies would be able to own customers through addiction and politicians throught revenue like nothing seen before.

Also the illegal drug trade has come to figure so large in our economy and has replace so many long lost blue collar opportunities for the lower income folks out there especially that it's overnight disappearance would not go over well. I could easily see it where kidnapping, home invasions or arms trading becomes the new bread and butter source of income for organized and unorganized criminals alike.

[figfarmer]

Honestly, I don't care who does what drug. I tried all that were available when I was young. The fact is though that people will get high and drive, killing other people. The fact is too that there are a lot of health risks involved with drugs, driving up the cost of medicare. That is why rational people don't want to see a lot of drug usage.

[AdamNF]

$1:

The fact is too that there are a lot of health risks involved with drugs, driving up the cost of medicare.

And there arnt with ciggarettes and alcohole? There is no arguemnt anyone can make that can justify why alchole is legal, people drive drunk and kil people everyday. If your going to have drugs illegal then why the hell isnt alcohol illegal.

[figfarmer]

Smokes and booze. Anybody who uses them should be denied medicare.

[othello]

Cigarettes and alcohol are big business and have been big business for a long time. They employ thousands of people in this country and millions more elsewhere. As a result of their history, a large proportion of the population consumes one or the other or both. To attempt to criminalize either in this day and age would be political suicide.

Due to the addictive nature of many drugs, the potentially long-term harmful medical effects of certain drugs and the risk associated with impairment, the vast majority of drugs should not be decriminalized.

[AdamNF]

Ciggarettes and alchole are the same as any drug. If pot was legal that would become big business. There is no drug as harmfull as a ciggarette, look at the long term effects of alchole, they rivel that of any other drug, drug are made out by the media to me life runing killers. the trruth is that there realy not that bad at all. You only here about drug when its in a bad context. What if we only heard about cars in a bad context...then people would never drive, cars killed 1000's of people every day, why not ban them. Fire is also bad...but good. We need fire, but it kills too.

[figfarmer]

I've seen pics of a guy who skinned his own face and fed it to the dogs because he was on PCP. I've seen people drive in the strangest places and park on nice people because they were high. I don't know how many people I've known that were robbed or beaten up over drug money. I even knew a girl who was killed over it. They called her Cocaine Katy around Napanee. Sure, smoking a j and sitting around watching cartoons isn't any more harmful than smoking a Putters Light and sitting around watching cartoons. I did it for years. I also realise how lucky I am to have not killed myself in some of the stupid stunts I've been involved in, or been killed in some of the accidents I've been in with stoned drivers.

[Rev_Blair]

If the drugs were decriminalised, or in the case of pot legalised, there would at least be government controls on some of what happens.

Opium and coca were around long before we made them illegal. When they were made illegal it was largely for political reasons...nothing to do with the public safety or the health of the users. Decriminalising the use (not the sale) of hard drugs would allow us to treat addiction as a medical problem.

It would help to stop the street crime associated with drugs and severely limit the violence that comes with prohibition.

You want to really affect the availability of drugs? Ban agricultural subsidies in the US and EU so small farmers in drug producing countries can make a living growing other crops.

[mike2277]

figfarmer figfarmer:

Smokes and booze. Anybody who uses them should be denied medicare.

But if the people who use them die sooner, doesn't that save money??

"The government could take away all the drugs in the world and people would spin around on their lawn until they fell down and saw God."
- Dennis Miller

[figfarmer]

I think I've spoken out here before on the insanity of telling truths the world doesn't want to know.

[othello]

$1:

But if the people who use them die sooner, doesn't that save money??

Believe it or not, there have been so very serious studies to examine this very issue. From what I understand, the results can be spun both ways.

Unfortunately, current drug laws clearly don't work. My concern with decriminalizing the simple possession of small amounts of "hard" drugs would be the impact that might have law enforcement to identify and hold potential traffickers.

[Rev_Blair]

The cops can't identify potential drug dealers now with any degree of certainty, Othello. Our whole system is a joke. In the end it encourages the cops to become as corrupt as the people they are supposed to be busting and gives a lot of people nowhere to turn. Look at the rate of drug use when wer first brought the prohibitions in and the rate of drug use now. Would you say that our policies to date have been a success?

As for not offering medicare to those who drink and/or smoke...okay but I want fat people, people who partake in contact and extreme sports, business people (high heart attack rate in that demographic), and anybody with a recognised medical problem stricken from that list too. That'd be everybody. When we get sick, just leave us outside to die.