Should all drugs be decriminalized?

[learningtoneopet1]

So after thinking for a while, I'm wondering what everyone's viewpoints are on this topic. Portugal was the first (and the only?) country to completely decriminalize the possession and use of every type of drug. They have mixed ideas on whether or not it actually reduced major drug use/major trafficking and dealing. I'm kind of on the fence about this topic, because I think that it may reduce the usage by teenagers and young adults, but at the same time, it may also decrease productivity in the workplace and family life if more people are legally allowed to get whatever drugs they want. Sure they may be very available even when they are illegal as I'm sure all of us know at least one person related with the drug trade whether that be users or dealers. If all drugs were to be decriminalized, I believe that it would become a bigger burden on the general population who does not do anything because all the drug users will then be able to shoot up, smoke, etc. in public. Thus, the youth would be more exposed to such a drug culture making them more susceptible to addiction in the future.

[Vindictive]

I dont think it should be decriminalized, seeing people use in public would be pretty unsettling.

Im not going to lie though every once in a blue moon ill use cocaine to keep partying but I keep that shit to myself and out of the public eye.

[k80]

edit: ^^^^ I don't think anyone's hoping for drugs to be legal to do out in public. It'd probably be like alcohol's open container/public intoxication laws.

I'm on the fence too. On one hand seeing the illegal drug trade across the Mexican border totally collapse would be awesome. And the strain on the legal systems and prisons, that'd be nice. On the other hand, I would rather less people have access to the incredibly hard stuff. I've watched lives destroyed/complicated by meth, coke, and heroin. They're nasty substances that should never have been created. To be fair, most of the complications were legal in nature.

I'm not familiar with what other countries have done and how their societies responded, so I'm open to arguments on both sides. For now I think I like the idea of "Let's focus on weed first, then we'll decide what to do with the rest." Because let's be honest, we're never going to go from "all illegal" straight to "ALL THE DRUGS FOR EVERYONE!"

[Vindictive]

edit: ^^^^ I don't think anyone's hoping for drugs to be legal to do out in public. It'd probably be like alcohol's open container/public intoxication laws.

I'm on the fence too. On one hand seeing the illegal drug trade across the Mexican border totally collapse would be awesome. And the strain on the legal systems and prisons, that'd be nice. On the other hand, I would rather less people have access to the incredibly hard stuff. I've watched lives destroyed/complicated by meth, coke, and heroin. They're nasty substances that should never have been created. To be fair, most of the complications were legal in nature.

I'm not familiar with what other countries have done and how their societies responded, so I'm open to arguments on both sides. For now I think I like the idea of "Let's focus on weed first, then we'll decide what to do with the rest." Because let's be honest, we're never going to go from "all illegal" straight to "ALL THE DRUGS FOR EVERYONE!"

Im not a weed smoker but i do think it would be wise to legalize it but laws should still be kept for those who fail drug tests and of course try to drive while under the influence.

[Targaryen]

I'm all down for making marijuana legal and things like shrooms (mehh) anything else no thanks.
Its a bad idea. I don't think we want a large majority of the population trying and getting hooked on heroine, meth, cocaine D:

I mean do what you want to do on your own terms but the idea of EVERY person being able to access that sort of thing..is just terrifying.

[Six]

Short answer: Yes.

[GKBrendan]

First of all, portugal decriminalizing every drug does not make every drug legal in portugal, its just a different way of thinking about things.

I do think a lot of drugs should be decriminalized (weed, mdma, coke etc)

Some drugs should always be illegal (never heard of any mildly successful person doing heroin or meth)

[Skarl]

Short answer: Yes.

I like your swag.

[Naked Gamer]

To be straight only the naturally grown drugs should be decriminalised any thing else like pills mixed with what ever just shouldn't be as no one knows how the person made them and where.


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[Octopus]

Nope. Anything un natural shouldnt be legal. Cocaine ruined my life and I know what drugs do to people. There should be no allowance for that. Keep it trees

[Naked Gamer]

Nope. Anything un natural shouldnt be legal. Cocaine ruined my life and I know what drugs do to people. There should be no allowance for that. Keep it trees

Cocaine is natural I thought? Thought it was just the flower milled into powder!

I do know deals sometimes add crushed glass into cocaine to make it more heavy for money hungry reasons which fucks peoples lives.


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[Targaryen]

To be straight only the naturally grown drugs should be decriminalised any thing else like pills mixed with what ever just shouldn't be as no one knows how the person made them and where.


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Amen brother.

[Katie]

I think that all drugs should not only be decriminalized, but should be made legal.

I don't believe that just because drugs become decriminalized means that people are going to rush out and do them en mass. Like, if heroin became legal tomorrow, I wouldn't run out and try it. But I think that making them legal would help the purity problems with "unnatural" drugs. Cocaine and heroin and pills can be cut with so much shit which makes it even worse for you.

I mean, obviously there'd still be abuse, but they need to figure that shit out.
Like how you need to sign a sheet when you buy too much decongestant.

[Doll]

I think the issue with some of the arguments I'm seeing about this is that people seem to think that people AREN'T doing drugs because they're illegal. Most people who don't do drugs don't do them because they don't WANT to do them. They don't like the loss of control, they worry about physical/mental/general health effects and dependency and above all they're expensive. If we all woke up tomorrow and drugs had been decriminalised everywhere I don't think clraik would suddenly have 0 people online because everyone is off shooting up.
Most people, if they really wanted to get fucked up, could go out and get fucked up regardless of the law.

Social stigma wouldn't change regardless of whether or not they were decriminalised - it would still be massively frowned upon to let drug use affect your family or work, there wouldn't be meetings in the local old folks home where grandma discusses how proud she is of little Johnny for tripping on the regular.

The pros to decriminalisation are that more CONTROL can be brought in. People wouldn't be afraid to go to a doctor or the hospital or even the police if they've had some sort of drug related health incident or have fallen into bad ways. Regardless of confidentiality laws there's no way anyone -happily- walks into a hospital and says they've taken xyz drugs, it's normally left until overdose is well underway or someone finds them unconscious. Something that makes the general population safer is a-okay by me, especially when you consider that decriminalisation could definitely adversely affect the drug underworld and we could (hopefully) see some more control put into the production of drugs. I would rather people be taking decriminalised/maybe even legal MDMA than have people going out taking pills cut with god knows what.

No, it's not ideal, but drugs are a fact of life. A lot of them come from natural sources and they will always be around. Surely it's better to reduce drug related gang crime and to make people feel able to speak up if something drug related is going wrong for them.
But most importantly I'd say the biggest change to the drug "system" both legal and illegal needs to be education. People need to understand why it's important to source their drugs and understand what can happen if they become drug dependent. Not taking new drugs for the first time on your own or in unfamiliar places and all that good stuff. It's amazing how ignorant a lot of people are, even if they dabble in drugs themselves.

I would say anything that is known to not be life threatening (looking at you, Mary Jane) should be legalised. The police are stretched thin enough without having to worry about people who sell and smoke plants.

[Misha]

Marijuana and Mushrooms should be legal. I firmly believe that they have health benefits if used correctly for certain issues (pain management, stress, anxiety, depression, hunger issues associated with nausea from cancer treatment, a million other things). Now, saying that, I do not smoke pot or do drugs, I did very heavily in the past and developed severe anxiety because of a bad acid trip so now I cant smoke pot anymore. Wish I could, I was much more outgoing and happy and productive back when I was only smoking, now that I drink (pretty much every day) I kind of lost my ability to have conversations with people, short-term memory loss, depression, etcetera. I think alcohol should be illegal if anything, it does no good.

[Banannie]

Drugs should be legal. I was gunna make a long post but Doll pretty much has said everything I would say on the subject. :)

[zxzero]

For some it would increase productivity, I know people in like china and stuff take opiates so they can maintain for the day in their work places. Over all though, I think people should be educated of what the drugs do, what short term/long term effects it has on the body etc.

[Six]

Exactly what I believe Doll, thank you for putting it that eloquently. I would also like to highlight that I firmly believe decriminalization would save lives and that reason alone makes it worth it.

[Ape]

Drugs should be legal if your over 18 you are old enough to vote and even die for your country why can you not choose what to put into your body

[Meepit]

I don't think they should, I mean weed that kinda natural stuff is fine and should be treated probably like alcohol with and age limit and obviously you shouldn't be driving and shit while you are high but all the hard stuff that kills people shouldn't be decriminalized. People will still be doing crazy shit and killing others or themselves over it whether the law is intervening or not.

[Zhukov]

A bit tangential, but I've always thought that the "Weed is natural, ergo it's good" philosophy was just dumb. Poison hemlock is natural, go smoke that and tell me how good it is. If anything artificial stuff should be viewed as more trustworthy, because artificial things are (generally) specifically made to be attractive and helpful to humans, whereas natural organic things develop with self-defenses to protect themselves from predators such as humans.

[Hawknyr]

short answer: no.

Most to do with if it was legalized, our governments would probably make and distribute it. That just sounds like a plot to some dystopian movie.

[Clraik Perry]

I believe that should not be decriminalized because the negative effects of each of them in our body would lead to very high mortality rates, even by the side effects they cause. The whole system is supported by them too, and there goes another thread already...

[auzereis]

yea why not? just legalize it and put laws in place for it same as alcohol and we put the money to enforce drugs to better use

[Thommy]

If drugs were legalized, they'd have to be regulated to some extent - think back to the opium shops of the 1800s, you had people that knew dosages and how to adminster/monitor those on the drug.

People already drink irresponsibly and certain drugs have a far lower threshold where you hit a point of no return and OD/die.

If the drugs were regulated in something akin to the opium parlors, you'd still run into people that couldnt afford them and there'd be a black market still, albeit much less profitable.

However, drug addiction comes with its own set of problems and as it stands at least in the US, it would be tough to take on drug addiction as a medical ailment as far as insurance goes. But, that has far less to do with drugs rather than the state of healthcare and hospital crowding.

Drugs are harmful, liquor and tobacco do fit this bill as well but they are grandfathered. For some reason there werent riots when Opium parlors got shut down by govts, at least not in the sense of booze, but /shrug.

I have no problem if stuff is done safely, as long as it doesnt have a cost to me (in terms of insurance, hospital times, etc). Opiums are still used by doctors on patients, rather than outright banned (as are most drugs). They key word again comes down to responsibility, and theres no real way to enforce it.

[Unfounded]

I think weed should be legalized, alcohol should be criminalized again, and the rest should stay criminalized. You can't stop the spread of drugs, but you can at least try to rehabilitate the users.. and there will be users either way. Make it harder for them to be users.

[zxzero]

I think weed should be legalized, alcohol should be criminalized again, and the rest should stay criminalized. You can't stop the spread of drugs, but you can at least try to rehabilitate the users.. and there will be users either way. Make it harder for them to be users.

What about mind expanding drugs like mushrooms, LSD, DMT etc. ?

[Cheeky Chimp]

I think that drugs should be decriminalized just as long as not done in public or in the vinicity of children

[Cheeky Chimp]

no as long as not done in front of children or in public

[raxn]

I think some drugs should stay criminalised, but weed shouldn't? Again, though if we criminalised everything the country may turn into a nanny state/a replication of 1984.

[awright60]

I think it depends on the drug, I have smoked weed for 15+ years, and dont find anything wrong with it. I am a highly productive person so the myth that says weed makes you slow in my opinion is unfounded. Honestly, have you ever seem people get in a murderous rage smoking weed? look at what drinking does to people, and it is legal! (I dont drink, but I dont have a problem with people who do, since it is all about choice, driving while drinking is still a big NO in my book, but getting slammed and such in a safe enviroment is fine)

[guppy breeder]

also this it depends on the drug, weed is fine as its all natural and many medical benifits have been found that cannibals produces when smoked

[kiyomi]

I don't think any of it should be legalized with the exception of marijuana. I've seen people in my life lose everything because of their over the top drug use. I used to drink every now and then but only tried marijuana twice. I'd say marijuana is the least addictive out of all of it.

[t0ast]

Not all drugs should be legal. Some, but definitely not all.

[Stormpower]

I would have to agree with a lot of you and say definitely not, I have seen just how badly drugs can ruin someone's life and I think we need to be doing everything in our power to prevent it happening to others.

[firehawk]

drugs shouldn't be legal imo
it doesn't solve problems, it creates them
weed is kinda safe but still if it were hard to come by ppl wouldn't be wasting their lives as much. i had friends who did nothing else but smoke weed, what a waste of time.
but thats just my 2c

[learningtoneopet1]

The problem I see with even legalizing something as tame as weed is that it may not be as physically addictive like other drugs (I do know people who are psychologically addicted to it where they cannot go about daily activities without a smoke). Also, it is so easy for dealers to spike with other crazy stuff that can really mess a life up. Even though a lot of people see differently than I do, I also think it is just a burden to the public considering I don't particularly want to see anyone getting high in public + the smoke bothers those with asthma and allergies (I sneeze really badly whenever I'm around any kind of smoke, even cigarettes) and I have family members who need inhalers after even being within 50 feet of a smoker. So yeah I even think cigarettes, cigars, etc should be banned.

[AskJeeves]

If you are going to legalize drugs like meth or heroin, there should be specific places you can go to be on the drug and be safe and not hurting other people.

If you want to poison yourself, fine, whatever, but don't put other people at risk.

Don't ask me how exactly this would work out, I'm sure these places would be heavily targeted by junkies and robbed often - but that would be the price of legalizing all drugs.

If it were up to me, only drugs with low rates of violence and addiction should be ok.
No one wants to work in a drug den where a guy on PCP could take out most of the workers without batting an eye, or a crack head comes in with a gun demanding crack.

[Double.Trouble]

Certain drugs, probably. Weed is safer than alcohol, but there should be laws against driving under the influence and such. Smoking it was pretty chill, but I ate very strong weed brownies once and it felt very much like ecstasy did to me without the nice feelings. I wouldn't wanna drive or go out feeling like that.

I've seen first hand what stronger drugs like meth and heroin do to people, so those should stay illegal.

[Psudoprofessionalism]

I really don't think the decriminalization of illegal substances would influence people to start using them. If there was a big bucket of meth and heroin on every street corner I would be no more likely to try it out than I am now.

I absolutely support the regulation of controlled substances though. The war on drugs has been a critical failure and his made some very bad people very wealthy.

[Lincoln]

I love this debate.

I believe that the drugs should be legalized. As long as people are made aware of the danger, I see no problem with the addition of more autonomy to citizens. Alcohol has ruined lives, but remains. The reason is that you are, to a lesser extent, taking a risk. As with alcohol, drugs should be a choice.

---------- Post added at 09:10 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:08 PM ----------


A bit tangential, but I've always thought that the "Weed is natural, ergo it's good" philosophy was just dumb. Poison hemlock is natural, go smoke that and tell me how good it is. If anything artificial stuff should be viewed as more trustworthy, because artificial things are (generally) specifically made to be attractive and helpful to humans, whereas natural organic things develop with self-defenses to protect themselves from predators such as humans.

Poison Hemlock:

9/10, nice buzz, would recommend.

[Psudoprofessionalism]

"People say that marijuana is good for you because it's natural, but they don't realize that just because it's natural doesn't mean it's safe. Wanna know what else is natural? Bears."

I have no idea where I heard that, but it never gets less funny.

[Josh]

As a recovering addict, I believe the idea of legalizing all drugs is the stupidest thing ever. Theres already drugs that are more powerful then heroin, but you need a prescription to get them. Legalizing a drug like heroin or coke would destroy so many lives. Heroin addiction is the most fucked up addiction you could ever imagine. People say it "controls you", but thats an understatement. Heroin becomes your entire life. The second you wake up in the morning, you're worried about how are you going to get dope that day, so that you aren't ill (withdraws fucking suck. Worse 5 days you could ever experience).

I believe in legalizing weed, but thats it. Anyone who claims weed is addictive, hasn't experienced real addiction. They haven't watched friends die, and then their first thought is trying to figure out where to get that dope, because they want the dope that just killed their friend. Ive been an addict for 4-5 years, and I can't even talk about half the shit Ive seen. Seen people die, ended up in the hospital at least 3-5 times with no heartbeat (and then went right back to the city to get more, every time), been in and out of jail/rehabs, had plenty of guns pulled on me, and a hell of a lot more.

(Btw, dont do drugs. But weed isn't a real drug)


Also, it is so easy for dealers to spike with other crazy stuff that can really mess a life up

Sorry, but thats completely ridiculous. People who smoke weed will know if its laced with something else (Plus unless its PCP, they will know just by looking at it). Other drugs cost a hell of a lot more then weed, so its not profitable to lace weed. You dont get addicted to a drug the first time you do it. Anyone who gets laced weed (Which is really rare) would know it immediately, and would stop buying from that dealer.

And legalizing weed would make that even more unlikely, since you wouldnt be buying from a dealering on the streets, you would be buying from a store

[eggloo]

I believe that should not be decriminalized because the negative effects of each of them in our body would lead to very high mortality rates, even by the side effects they cause. The whole system is supported by them too, and there goes another thread already...

[Bill]

I personally believe anything above weed (heroin,coke,meth etc.) should NOT be legalized. Drugs like these ruin so many peoples lives as it is, don't need for them to be open for the everyone to use. If anything make cigarettes illegal and legalize pot.

[Lincoln]

I personally believe anything above weed (heroin,coke,meth etc.) should NOT be legalized. Drugs like these ruin so many peoples lives as it is, don't need for them to be open for the everyone to use. If anything make cigarettes illegal and legalize pot.

This is the problem. We need to be looking to put a priority on individual autonomy. Smoking hurts no one but the smoker. While a small case of the ability to harm others can be made against the other drugs you spoke about, your case for banning cigarettes is because it hurts the smoker. The Book 'The Giver' paints a picture of a totalitarian society in which individual choice was taken away because "When people have a choice, they choose wrong." This is the idea you have there, and many alike you, but it's fucked up. If someone wants to take the risk of cancer, let them. Ban smoking in highly populated areas, for the reason that secondhand smoke could kill, fine. But we can't ban cigarettes because 'they hurt the smoker'.

---------- Post added at 04:29 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:23 PM ----------


As a recovering addict, I believe the idea of legalizing all drugs is the stupidest thing ever. Theres already drugs that are more powerful then heroin, but you need a prescription to get them. Legalizing a drug like heroin or coke would destroy so many lives. Heroin addiction is the most fucked up addiction you could ever imagine. People say it "controls you", but thats an understatement. Heroin becomes your entire life. The second you wake up in the morning, you're worried about how are you going to get dope that day, so that you aren't ill (withdraws fucking suck. Worse 5 days you could ever experience).

I believe in legalizing weed, but thats it. Anyone who claims weed is addictive, hasn't experienced real addiction. They haven't watched friends die, and then their first thought is trying to figure out where to get that dope, because they want the dope that just killed their friend. Ive been an addict for 4-5 years, and I can't even talk about half the shit Ive seen. Seen people die, ended up in the hospital at least 3-5 times with no heartbeat (and then went right back to the city to get more, every time), been in and out of jail/rehabs, had plenty of guns pulled on me, and a hell of a lot more.

(Btw, dont do drugs. But weed isn't a real drug)



Sorry, but thats completely ridiculous. People who smoke weed will know if its laced with something else (Plus unless its PCP, they will know just by looking at it). Other drugs cost a hell of a lot more then weed, so its not profitable to lace weed. You dont get addicted to a drug the first time you do it. Anyone who gets laced weed (Which is really rare) would know it immediately, and would stop buying from that dealer.

And legalizing weed would make that even more unlikely, since you wouldnt be buying from a dealering on the streets, you would be buying from a store

Only veteran smokers would know that. I agree with everything you said, with the exception of that bit. 8th graders will obviously be trying to light up eventually, as they did when I was growing up.

The illegal output of weed doesn't always go down when it is legalized. The reason for this is that the ability to profit is still there, as people will be able to pay LESS for weed from an illegal dealer, because of less taxes. In addition, it could be a lot easier to grow, because with legality, the sight of weed doesn't warrant a 911 call as often. Although a permit is required to grow weed legally once it is legalized, This doesn't mean that all will follow this to a fault.

In essence, There is no easy fix for the problem. The best way to keep everyone happy and safe is to go back in time and stop ourselves from ever making pot illegal at all.

[XxGevaudanxX]

Personally, I believe that marijuana should be legalized really for a couple of reasons. 1. The governments have already found out how much more money they are making from taxing the stuff already so why just stop there? 2. There are so many people in jail for possession of marijuana it's not even funny. This would clearly cut down on the amount of people that taxpayers are paying to keep in jail and could possibly help get it back into each economy. If we put that same amount of money into education or something of more use, things might be better.

Or we could just Purge every year... your call lol

[AleeSohma]

Well, from my point of view, if drugs are permited, at first yeah we'll see a lot in stores and people with them, but they would get bored as they are already legalized, people love prohibited things and this creates war and violence most of the times.

[Guy]

I'd personally prefer all drugs to be banned outside of medicinal usage lol

[Neal Caffrey]

as said: you cant say that marijuana and cocain are equal. one is as bad as alcohol. the other one is like rat poison.

[Ph0enix]

Of course not, that's ludicrous. It would be bedlam.

[Aska]

In short, yes, I think it should be decriminalized.

While I have no urge to go out and do things like heroin and meth, there are plenty of people who do. They're illegal to begin with and yet people go out and risk their lives to get it and do it. If it were regulated and have the ingredients listed (like a box of cookies), it could help with the drugs with being mixed with something nasty.

It shouldn't be up to the government to decide what you put, or don't put, into your body. Cigarettes kill people as does alcohol. No one is out forcing you to buy these products; you're buying them because you want to. If you want to go out and destroy your life, then be my guest. There are a lot more horrible offenses out there than selling cocaine on the streets. Hell, there are a lot of prescription drugs that are stronger than the drugs on the street. But with all the abuse of LEGAL drugs, it has made it hard for people like me with chronic pain to get the meds I need to help me function.

So of course, it'll be abused like legal drugs are but why is it a crime for these chemicals to be banned but I can go get shit like morphine?

[Daviid]

Soft drugs should be decriminalized.
I don't remember where but there's a country where the gov built a place where meth addicts had clean syringes, trash to dispose of them and medical staff in case something happened, also police where not permmited to go in and arrest anyone.

[riedy]

Yes, they should be. But there should also be more control and help towards sellers and users. I think it's crazy that people can spent years in prison for selling something that people want.