
What happens when an entire country legalizes drug use? - robg
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2011/01/16/drug_experiment/?p1=Well_MostPop_Emailed1
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fourspace
It should come as no surprise that the right answer is treating drug addiction
and substance abuse like medical conditions rather than legal ones. The idea
that the government should regulate what I choose to put in my own body is
preposterous to begin with.

If you want to criminalize something, try starting with the actions that drug
addicts take towards others, not themselves. Driving while intoxicated, theft,
vandalism and more serious crimes are already illegal and should stay so. It
is impossible to violate your own rights; why should making a 100% personal
decision be a crime?

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corin_
Devil's advocate: should that right extend to allowing people to commit
suicide without any attempt at prevention?

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cabalamat
You can hardly make successful suicide a crime. (Though there have been
regimes that made unsuccessful suicide attempts illegal).

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corin_
I said "any attempt at prevention", not "making succesful suicide a crime".

IANAL, but, in the UK at least, it's possible for somebody who is suicidal to
be locked up for their own safety. That goes against the parent comment's
logic that we have the right to do whatever we wish to our own bodies... so
I'm not sure the what the issue is with my question.

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pyre
I think that the logic is that you are 'not in your right mind,' though I
suppose you could end up in a situation where drugs are legal, but anyone that
would use them is 'not in their right mind' according to the establishment.

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madmaze
I think there are a few counties that could benefit from this approach of
battling ramped drug use. It seems to have done something in Cali aswell as
here in Massachusetts, for Mary-Jane that is. I have witnessed a few of my
school mates succumb to heavy use of marijuana and some of them have had their
problems with the law, but the majority of pot-heads I know can hold it within
limits and actually do rather well. I was amazed to see how much drug use
there was going to school in boston. Freshman year I would estimate that about
75-80% of people smoked atleast weed and close to everyone drank. To put my
estimations into proportion, I must mention that I dont smoke and i cant say I
hung-out with lots of potheads.

To the point: I think there is a great number of people that can deal with
light drug use in everyday life, but there are some, in my experience mostly
bipolar or psychologically depressed people have a hard time controlling
themselves. Therefore I think that it may be a good idea for other countries
to try similar measures.

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wil2k
Looking at the other replies, this topic just begs for a reference to the work
of Terence McKenna.

Especially to a speech like "The World & It's Double"

Terence McKenna: The World & It's Double - 1/11 -
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkUkGUY7hsY>

It goes into subjects like boundary dissolution, how this is not something
that some parties (governments, many religions, etc.) really like.

It also mentions how particular drugs (the ones that make you productive, e.g.
caffeine) are the ones that are allowed. Not those which make you snap out of
the standard Western materialistic view of the world:

"All the boundaries we put up to keep ourselves from feeling our circumstance
are dissolved [when using psychedelics]. And boundary dissolution is the most
threatening activity that can go on in a society. Government institutions
become very nervous when people begin to talk to each other. The whole name of
the Western game is to create boundaries and maintain them."

"The drugs that Western society has traditionally favored have either been
drugs which maintain boundaries or drugs which promote mindless, repetitious
physical activity on the assembly line, in the slave galley, on the slave-
driven agricultural projects, in the corporate office, whatever it is."

I've once listened to this when I was in a skyscraper, looking at the world
below.. seeing all those tiny people and vehicles move and pondering about
this is really something that puts things in perspective.

Finally, although I don't use drugs/alcohol/caffeine myself.. I too cannot
help wondering why one should not be allowed to experiment with ones own
consciousness. Why not allow this in a legal, safe, special environment which
watches over things?

Perhaps not all drugs are suitable for this, but let's not forget that drugs
like DMT, which as McKenna describes give one 'the ride of a lifetime', are
naturally occuring in our own bodies... yet they are one of the most illegal
things out there.

Isn't that odd?

#daretoask, #questioneverything ;)

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eduardo_f
It's the same in Spain. You get a fine (around $500), but you don't go to
prison.

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TGJ
“We really needed to learn how to prevent and discourage the use of drugs,
especially in adolescent years. But you should use tools appropriate to the
purpose, and criminal sanctions carried a lot of costs that really weren’t
appropriate.”

I've always thought that the war on drugs was fought on the wrong side. That
instead of working towards punishing people after the fact, we should have
figured out why people use drugs and how to fix that problem. As with most
things though, the easy way (prosecution) is the most traveled.

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idm
Mental illness is a major factor leading to the use of drugs, either by
prescription or not. Lots of people have mental illnesses, therefore lots of
people use drugs. Here's the trick: prescription drugs may be sanctioned, but
they are not definitely safer, either for the individual or for society.

I tend to agree with you about the "wrong side" argument, but where I disagree
is: sometimes, drugs are the fix for the problem. For one individual, maybe
meth isn't the answer, but perhaps adderall is (i.e. still an amphetamine, but
less acutely active)

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wglb
Registration required. Personally, it is harder to find better journalistic
photography on the web.

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beoba
Worked for me. Try querying your favorite search engine (Bing) for the opening
sentence. I've found news sites tend to like you if you have a search engine
as your referer.

"In the end, there was no way to ignore the problem, and no way for
politicians to spin it, either"

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wglb
Ah I meant to be more clear. I didn't mind registering for the site as there
is good photography there. And thanks for the reminder on how to find it
otherwise.

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zemanel
as far as i know, drug use has been legal here in Portugal at least since 10
years ago and, like, the sky is still up where it's supposed to be

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Vieira
not legal, decriminalized.

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pyre
I don't get the difference between "drug use is legal" and "drug use is
decriminalized." It sounds like mere possession is legal, but
selling/trafficking is not, I would qualify that as 'drug use is legal.'

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Vieira
Drug use is not legal. It constitutes an infraction of the law and if caught
you may be forced to see a psychologist and/or rehab. Decriminalized means
there are no criminal penalties. Other penalties may still apply.

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maeon3
Malcolm Gladwell talks about this phenomenon in his book: "The Tipping Point".
He calls it the 'stickiness factor'. He analyzes the phenomenon where children
begin taking drugs even when they fully understand that it greatly harms them.

Teenagers are inherently, perhaps even genetically predisposed to imitate
others and try on new behaviors and attitudes during adolescence. Second, the
types of the people who are more likely to engage in dramatic, easily
romanticized behavior such as early cigarette smoking or suicide are also more
likely to be those that others tend to gravitate toward and seek to emulate.

When Portugal legalized all drugs, they greatly lowered the 'Stickiness
Factor' for those drugs.

[http://www.wikisummaries.org/The_Tipping_Point#Chapter_7:_Ca...](http://www.wikisummaries.org/The_Tipping_Point#Chapter_7:_Case_Study:_Suicide.2C_Smoking.2C_and_the_Search_for_the_Unsticky_Cigarette)

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drivebyacct2
Strange. I was always pressured to do drugs but refused. I'd always been
curious about marijuana, and I knew the actual risks and major lack there of.
Sometime in college I tried it, but only one other person knew and with the
people I run around with, drug use isn't "cool". It's not as bad for me and
doesn't have the morning-after effects of alcohol and considerably less is
enjoyable enough to relax in the evenings. I guess I'm more of a minority than
I'd assumed.

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keefe
immigration...

