Marijuana.com

Buzzby

Don't you mean people who are in prison because of crimes they committed after becoming meth abusers? I use amphetamines on a daily basis. I don't abuse them, they haven't made me sick, they haven't made me any crazier than I already was, and they haven't "made" me commit any crimes.

Drugs are not the problem. Drug abuse is a problem. Drugs do not "force" people to abuse them. People decide to do that on their own.

Prohibition doesn't prevent drug abuse. It encourages drug abuse by making drug use something people have to hide.

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troublemaker_42

Prohibition doesn't prevent drug abuse. It encourages drug abuse by making drug use something people have to hide.
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How do you see prohibtion encouraging abuse? I don't see my marijuana intake decreasing if it were legalized. i wouldn't have to hide it, so if anything, it would lead to me using it more often, as it would likely be much more socially acceptable in more situations. I don't smoke a joint at McDonald's as i'm eating lunch. I might though, if it weren't for fear of prosecution. if anything prohibtion decreases my use, as it is something I have to hide, therefore limiting the situations I use it in, as well as being too expensive to use on a constant basis.

As for you amphetamine use, yes, i know plenty of people who use amphetamines under the care of a DR and by prescribtion. However, I also know many people who started using METHamphetamine recreationally, and eveloped an addiction atonishingly quickly. No one forced them to take the drug to begin with, but I've yet to meet an addict who meant to become one. You say that people choose to abuse drugs. I don't believe that always is the case. I'm sure each and every person I know who has become dependant on methamphetamine wishes they could be a user and not an abuser. They didn't decide to become an addict, but it happened anyway. Where do you draw the line? How do you expect people to know their limits, when its slightly different for everyone?

Buzzby

Do you consider yourself to be a drug abuser? If not, what has your statement have to do with the issue? If you are not now a drug abuser, do you think legalization would make you one?

Prohibition places legal sanctions on what is actually a medical or social problem. Those sanctions keep people with problems in the closet and keeps them from seeking/getting help. The government interest in maintaining prohibition keeps a great deal of misinformation in circulation. When drug users hear these lies they dismiss the real dangers of drugs.


You wouldn't be able to after legalization either. McDonald's is a no-smoking environment. Alcohol is legal. Do you get drunk at lunch and then go back to work? Why would marijuana be any different?


Are you saying that the only thing stopping you from becoming a drug abuser are the laws and the cost? That doesn't stop most drug abusers.


Some people are stupid enough not to realize that they're becoming drug abusers. What difference does the drug's illegality make in this situation? It is up to every individual to make his own choices. If we give that up we have no freedom at all. Freedom includes the right to make bad choices. The arguments you're making about keeping one drug illegal can be equally applied to marijuana. I know a bunch of people who completely ruined their lives by becoming 24/7 marijuana smokers. All psychoactive drugs can be drugs of abuse.


Prohibition never works and it's an insult to human dignity. Adults are supposed to be able to make intelligent decisions. If we can trust them to elect a government we should trust them to decide what they put into their own bodies.


Education, education, education.

TheNewGuy

Any drug in the world can be done safely, if you aren't an idiot about it. If you start with very small doses at a time you can learn your limit, therfore eliminating or at least greatly minimizing the chance of overdosing, and decrease your chance of becoming addicted. I've never done a drug that I didn't research the hell out of, and never will. If I don't know exactly what it can do to a person, I don't do it. You can't make something illegal just because some people aren't that cautious about it.

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"Anyway, no drug, not even alcohol, causes the fundamental ills of society. If we're looking for the source of our troubles, we shouldn't test people for drugs, we should test them for stupidity, ignorance, greed and love of power." ~P.J. O'Rourke

oneluv4boognish

Lets stop for a second and analyze what is in meth...and then tell me how that's safe.

Also lets stop to realize that the average meth user doesn't have the intelligence that you or i might have to stop and take the time to give a damn what is in it.

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"Swirling with visions on man's confusion All of the work, done just to appease him The Argus cries, though love has its place in the sun It's only man's fear that carries him on..." Ween

 

troublemaker_42

Buzzby, while I agree that many people have ruined their lives with marijuana, I can't honestly see any comparison between the two substances beyond a theoretical one. Marijuana is mildly psychologically addicitive. Meth is physically and psychologically addicitve, and the onset of addiction is much more rapid among the majority of users. Long term marijuana use, or even abuse, doesn't cause the same degree of physical OR psychological harm when compared to methamphetamine. Comparing the two is like comparing apples and oranges....sure you COULD apply the my arguments against meth to marijuana, but it wouldn't make sense, at least the way I see it. Common sense says that they are vastly diffrent in almost every possible way, aside from being labeled as a "recreational drug"


Having an addiction or two myself, I find it offensive that you'd say "Some people are stupid enough not to realize that they're becoming drug abusers" i'm sorry, but I consider myself a pretty intelligent person. Are you saying only stupid people can become addicted to something? thats absurd. While my choices certainly played a role, theres evidence thaty alcoholism, for one, is hereditary. I don't think addiction's cause necessarily lies in a person's "stupidity" factor, as you seem to believe.

urania3

Methamphetamine is legally marketed in the United States under the trade name Desoxyn, manufactured by Abbott Laboratories. Generic formulations of the drug are also available. In medicine it is used as an appetite suppressant in treating obesity, anesthetic overdose, and narcolepsy.

I'd rather all chemicals be legal for a variety of reasons, but in this instance, two are prominent. One, the cost of prohibition is prohibitive (enforcement, environmental harm and physical risk via illegal production, etc.), and two, there could be honest discussion about these drugs. For example, methamphetamine must not be taken within 14 days of taking a MAOI, or by those individuals with glaucoma, moderate to severe hypertension, or cardiovascular disease.

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Why is it that we cannot face the simple truth? Religion is at best unsubstantiated superstition. (Massimo Pigliucci)

troublemaker_42

LOl....yes, these are the prescription meth-based meds that are available. however, the "street" meth, which is what is so commonly abused, contains a wide assortment of ingrediants. Psuedoephedrine (or ephedrine, if available) is the common precursor, but lithium, idodine, battry acid, coleman fuel,brake cleaner, muriatic acid, ehter, acetone,lye drain cleaners, etc are all routinely used in the manufacture of methmaphetamine. The resulting mess is so toxic that a hazerdous waste team must decontaminate the area of a lab. We're not talking about the person who pops a "pep pill" now and then.....the US meth user snorts, injects, and smokes meth, with oral use being relatively rare among those who use the drug (illictly)

oneluv4boognish

That's exactly my point...we're not talking about the "methamphetamine" that you can get your doc to write you a script for and go get at walgreens...i'm talking CRYSTAL METH aka glass (and other assorted names i'm sure there are for that crap). This really is comparing something more like apples to broccoli. Oranges is too close of a comparison. When weed has drano and camping fuel in it i'll say that shouldn't be legalized too. But to compare something that grows out of the ground from a seed with a little TLC to something you make in your toilet out of **** you buy from walmart....we need to analyze this on a serious note. Seems to me that it's a standpoint like that which makes some not take the whole legalization thing seriously. Honestly if it takes MJ being illegal to keep meth from becoming legal then i'm all for it.

Troublemaker, i TOTALLY agree with you on the statement about addiction being hereditary. Just because i have an addictive personality doesn't make me a moron. To say it's my fault that it happened i'm sure is partly true...but there's more to it. My mom's family of alcoholics is proof...and then there's my dad's who are all druggies...and where did i end up..strung out on cocaine by 15. I'm not using heredity as an excuse whatsoever...if it was i'd still be on all that ****. What i am saying is that there's been studies done on alcoholism and heredity...but have there been any done on "illicit drugs" and heredity? I'm guessing not...i'm sure the govt. won't sponsor studies done with illegal things...which baffles me....but that's this govt. for ya. If i'm wrong on that note (about the studies or the lack thereof) someone tell me...

TheNewGuy

It still doesn't change the fact that more harm comes from prohibition of it than the drug itself. People should still be allowed to make the choice. Also, if it was being produced under strict specifications, wouldn't it not contain all of those dangerous chemicals, because there would be no need to synthesize meth from common household products? If companies made it, it would have strict standards to adhere to. And heres the most important thing: How many more people would actually go out and do it if it was legal? Actually, thats a good point for the legalization of any illegal substance in existence. If heroin was legal tommarro, would you say "YES, now I can finally try heroin, sweet!"? If you already have no inclination to ever try anything more harmful than Marijuana, would it being legal all of a sudden make you go out and do it? The people that want to do meth are going to do it whether its against the law or not, prohibiting its use simply makes the whole game more dangerous.