
Legalize Drugs, Deal with the Downsides - jseliger
http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2014-08-21/legalize-drugs-deal-with-the-downsides
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Broken_Hippo
I have fully supported legalization for a very long time, and probably include
more in my 'legal drug' category. For me, the trade in is always that
addiction help must be freely available and based on medicine. Age
restrictions are a must, as are fairly tough laws on public intoxication.

It seems most countries experimenting have had good results. Portugal is
especially interesting - they didn't exactly legalize everything, but have
decriminalized everything (including things like heroin), made treatment free,
and are flexible on the fines they do happen to give.

All this said, though, complete legalization of all forms of cannibus
(possible strength restrictions) and some hallucinogens are a start. It is
wonderfully freeing and nice to be able to sit in a coffee shop or bar and
smoke in the same manner that others drink - and be able to walk out of the
same place less obviously inebriated than the patrons drinking alcohol.

