JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION
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Why do some celebrities self-destruct due to substance abuse?
( 14 )
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What do you think are the main reasons why U.S. car sales are so low in Japan?
( 34 )
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What can be done to ease escalating tensions between the West and Iran over its nuclear program? And should Japan join sanctions against Iran?
( 14 )
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What do you think of the revised plan to realign U.S. forces in Japan by sending some Marines to Guam, and rotating others to Australia, the Philippines, Hawaii and possibly Iwakuni in Yamaguchi Prefecture?
( 17 )
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Why are there so many deaths due to snow-related accidents (people falling off rooftops, for example) in Japan this winter?
( 15 )
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- English Instructor (Osaka, Kyoto, Kobe)
- Berlitz Japan, Inc. (ベルリッツ・ジャパン株式会社), Kansai
- Salary: ¥125,000 ~ ¥250,000 / Month
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- FT English Teachers for Kids - Osaka
- Kohgakusha Co., Ltd. （株式会社興学社）, Osaka
- Salary: ¥255,000 ~ ¥275,000 / Month Travel Expenses, Encouragement of Japanese learning*
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- Translator
- ZAIHON, Inc. (日本財務翻訳株式会社), Tokyo
- Salary: ¥6.0M / Year Negotiable
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56 Comments
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0
goldsounds
They should all be legal purely because it's wrong to use force to prevent someone from engaging in a victimless crime.
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buddha4brains
goldsounds define "victimless". Do you mean that the money and other material goods stolen in order to get more drugs did not create hardship for the person(s) who no longer had those things? How about relationships that have been destroyed by behaviour altered by drugs? The poor decisions made? The accidents caused?
I understand your reefer logic and I think it has some validity, but don't claim it is victimless. Even alcohol drinkers cannot make that claim about their drug of choice.
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Farmboy
Legalize all drugs, and prevent people from using them while at work, while driving, and at other times when concentration is important. Use would be regulated and discouraged, but not illegal.
You would put half the criminals out of work, shutting down the drug cartels. You would also keep drug sales from being the best paying job for the poor in the inner cities.
There are problems that would arise from this approach, as noted above, but they could be dealt with more easily than what is being dealt with right now.
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smartacus
I am against legalizing drugs because I would like to see society move in the opposite direction -- to eradicate drug use.
But if drugs were legal, how would they be distributed? Would there be neighborhood distribution points, where "customers" would drop by as they might for a drink after work at the local pub? What drugs would be sold there? What would be the hours of business? I can't imagine too many neighborhoods welcoming such establishments.
Besides, I think that most drug takers would prefer to remain anonymous and snort their garbage in privacy at home or where they can't be seen.
And how would legalizing drugs affect health insurance? What would and would not be covered?
What about work? As an employer, I would not employ a person if I was aware that he or she was taking drugs. If I fired such a person, or didn't hire them, would I be liable for legal action?
Finally, drugs do have an impact on the users' actions, whether they are aware of it or not. Look what Noriko Sakai did (dumping her child with a friend and going on the run), and she was only using a tiny amount of stimulants. Drug users' behavior can range from bizarre to downright reckless or dangerous, especially if they are in need of money to purchase their fix. Who is to say, "Sorry, you've had enough."
Overall, I just see more cons than pros.
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Disillusioned
Drugs will always be a part of any society, including alcohol and tobacco. There is no way of wiping them out and the more the law makers try the further underground the drugs go and the more money the cartels make from it. Legalizing is NOT the answer, however, decriminalizing and regulating the supply does have a positive effect on society as whole, which has been proven in quite a few countries. Most people believe drug use destroys lives. What do the drug laws do with heavy fines, jail terms and in some countries, hanging. These laws destroy more lives than the drugs they outlaw. Pros and cons? I think there are more cons with strict drug laws than cons.
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AK619
I think the only drugs that should be legal in Japan are the drugs that are perscribed from a license Doctor, and not from a street person. Illegal drugs are bad for peoples health, mind, future, family, and can be used by criminals to control weak minded people.
Illegal drugs are used by criminals and can control children and adults. Drugs have been used to force people to murder others, and many drug users steal money and rob others to continue the drug habit. To legalize drugs in Japan, would be the most stupid ignorant decision for public saftey.
Illegal drugs should never be made legal, it creates mobsters and gang lords, such as the drug Cartels which Mexico's government and America are fighting. In addition, it'll cost the Japanese governemnt lots of money to rehabilitate drug users.
To legalize drugs in Japan would just make the Yakuza and present gangs more powerful, and would spread corruption every where. This is what Japan should do about illegal drugs, they should make the penalties tougher for illegal drug sales and use, and implement a death penalty for shipment of drugs into the country like used in Singapore.
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bushlover
Yeah lets have a free for all. That will make the world a better place. Only druggies can think like this. Have another toke hippies.
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Brainiac
Disillusioned No, Sakai's actions were the end result of her taking drugs. She was irresponsible and stupid. If she had told her husband, "I won't take drugs. Get that garbage out of my house," she wouldn't be where she is today.
Nothing good can come out of legalizing drugs.
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FineDiner
They should all be legal purely because it's wrong to use force to prevent someone from engaging in a victimless crime.
Ditto
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GenevaMan
Unfortunately what is good for a country might not be good for another. Even though the Dutch legalized weed, their consumption is far less than France, Italy or UK. Apart from weed, it is a big no no.
And btw, I am sure pot is the exact thing that the japanese need. A lot of them would be more sociable and would quit chilling with AV, TV, pachinko, retarded music, extreme drunkness, cell phones and kabakyura.
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TokyoRoughGuy
They should all be legal purely because it's wrong to use force to prevent someone from engaging in a victimless crime.
Yup.
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Davin
"it creates mobsters and gang lords"
I think you have it backwards, look at what prohibition did to the U.S Mafia, made them stronger and richer, Government control is the answer,people who want to use drugs, will use them, legal or not!
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MeanRingo
For all you nay sayers... try replacing the word "drugs" with "alcohol" and you sound like a bible thumper of the 20s. Get off your high horses and look at the problems criminalizing substances creates.
Let's try it: Smartacus wrote: But if ALCOHOL were legal, how would (IT) be distributed? Would there be neighborhood distribution points, where "customers" would drop by as they might for a (SODA) after work at the local ? What ALCOHOL would be sold there? What would be the hours of business? I can't imagine too many neighborhoods welcoming such establishments.
Had to add a few other changes there but my point remains. And AK, it is the criminalization that creates drug lords and cartels. When it is a legal substance we call those drug lords and cartels the government. Have some respect!
It is thinking like many of the above that has created the problem.
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KallyPygous
I feel great about legalising some drugs, bad about others. I think prussic acid should always remain a strictly controlled substance.
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AK619
@Davin, I've personally witnessed and experienced what illegal drugs will do to a person and community.... it produces crime when its unchecked and destroys families and futures.
There are some people that use drugs in America, they're victims of drug dealers and outcast of society. Most drug users can't pass a drug test and get a job. There a burden on tax payers because there always on Welfare and social security disability benefits. How dose destroying your health and mind benefit an individual and society? Can you tell me five reasons how legalizing drugs will benefit a society?
Overall clean public safety is more important then a few individuals high on controlled substances. There are some areas in America where individuals on drugs will blow your brains out over a few dollars to get a drug hit. I've seen it to many times.... the only reason Pot was legalized in some parts of America is because it just grows there natrually.
In certain parts of California and Arizona WEED just grows natrually. I believe those are the only two states that have legalized a citizen to carry a small amount. If your caught with Pot in Navada or other states you face hard jail penalties for it. The US. Government has tried to destroy it many times in California however to no avail.
Don't think WEED is innocent either, I've met many people addicted to WEED and it destroyed there lifes.
It dosen't make sense to legalize any controlled substance in Japan, exspecially if it dosen't grow natrually in the country. Only criminals want the drugs here, so they can pollute society with there filth and further drag people down to the grown.
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Wakarimasen
AK 619 - your logic is ridiculous. alcohol and tobacco are legal drugs and they aren't controlled by Yakuza. It is precisely because many drugs are aillegal that gangsters can control their production and distribution and make so much money out of them.
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Damien15
Legalizing some drugs will make others dissapear!! If Cannabis was legal, 80% of the drug dealers couldn't survive, because that's their primary income. If Cannabis was legal, it wouldn't be a gateway drug. Just because it's available among in same place that other very harmful drugs are available. Dealer will push other drugs if what customer wants is not available. Legaizing cannabis will solve problems with other drugs!! Drugs don't ruin people's lifes, people ruin their own lifes. Just like you can quit smoking cigarettes, you can quit any drug anytime. Except we all know heroin addiction is harder to kick off. So weak minded people should be kept away from hard drugs, even if it means to criminalize them. But keeping an innocent little plant like cannabis illegal is a shame for any modern country.
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KallyPygous
In Portugal drug users are not considered criminals, but instead recognised as victims. Drug use remains illegal, but users don't get automatically get a criminal record and are offered the chance to reclaim their lives. In the United States drugs users are treated as criminals but drug use is nowhere more universal than in the prisons where drug users are punished.
Given the correct education regarding drug use and the availability of clean, unadulterated drugs, there is no sensible reason for their prohibition, except for general fear and hysteria.
It seems strange that drug use is most vociferously opposed by conservative parties who would most benefit from laxer drug laws. All the jobless, made redundant by conservative economic policies, need something to keep them occupied and off the streets. The most dangerous junkie is one who wants to get high, not one who can do so safely and easily.
Drugs do ruin lives, but if people were educated impartially about the risks they would be free to make the choice for themselves - isn't that what freedom is all about?
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Valmain
@AK619 I don’t know where you get your facts, but your Reefer Madness era rhetoric and purely incorrect statements lead me to believe that you know next to nothing about illegal substances other than what you can see on after school public television. Just a few points:
Absolutely wrong. Do you know about Prohibition in America from the 20s? Alcohol was made illegal by a number of holier-than-thou preachers who wanted to rid society of the “evils.” Well, making alcohol illegal led to a huge surge in gangs and gang-related violence, giving birth to characters like Al Capone. Alcohol was made legal again NOT because it was deemed a harmless and healthy substance, but because the societal ramifications of making it illegal were much greater than making it legal. I believe the same can be said of many substances, cannabis being on the forefront of those. You mentioned the gang-related violence that plagues the AZ/CA border with Mexico. Think about it, how many more people would die from drug cartel killings if the substance they were fighting over was regulated and sold legally in the city? Nobody. Do you still hear about people getting shot over barrels of whisky? No, because you can buy it anywhere. Also, those substances sold would be more reliable because they would be sold by legitimate companies that you can make legal claims to, not Jose down in Tijuana growing in his bathtub (sorry if that generalization offends anyone, I’m just trying to make a point).
Wrong. Cannabis grows naturally in a huge number of places, including almost all of the continental US. It’s very resilient. AZ and CA are the only places? Dead wrong. Last I checked 13 states have medical cannabis laws, and even more have decriminalized personal possession. AZ, however, is not one of them.
>
Dead wrong. First, the state is called Nevada, and second, possession of less than one ounce in “Navada” is a misdemeanor that carries a maximum $600 fine. No jail time. Check; http://norml.org/index.cfm?wtmview=&GroupID=4550
In my opinion, making drugs illegal only worsens the problem. This war on them has gone on too long and shown no real results. People will take them if they want to, and it only makes them more appealing to add that forbidden fruit aura of taboo-ness. Take a look at Portugal, they’ve legalized all drugs and yet their society hasn’t fallen apart. They don’t line their streets with homeless junkies. Why? Because people are not as dumb as you think they are. Yes, some people will abuse substances, but most know better. Give them information and let them make their own decisions.
Making substances illegal makes it harder to recover for those who do become addicted. An alcoholic can walk into a clinic and he’s applauded for having the courage to come forward and admit his problem, but a meth addict may never come forward for fear of the legal backlash, hence furthering their downward spiral. What these people need is a helping hand on the road to recovery, not a cold jail cell. I would bet that the rate of relapses in those who have done time for hard drugs is much higher than those who have gone through rehab.
While I think that substances like meth and heroin are vices, making them illegal solves nothing. Psychedelics like cannabis, psilocybin, DMT, and MDMA (among others) have been shown to be extremely safe when used in moderation and I think it is very unfairly damning to group them together with the other aforementioned substances. Entheogens like yagi, ayahuasca, ibogaine, mushrooms, and cannabis have been used since before written history. They were used because they were safe and beneficial. Yet our “modern scientific mind” has deemed it fitting to classify these substances as dangerous, even though we can’t find a way to live with each other, much less this planet. With all the other crap going on around us, I should think that spending a Saturday contemplating our own existence should be the least of our worries.
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Damien15
Valmain, totally agree with your points. I'd vote for you if you were running for something.
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boboh
Yeah, bushlover, thats right!! Lets throw a few more billions at the War on Drugs cos its been so effective in the past, hasn`t it?
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2020hindsight
AK619
I wonder how you determined 'five'. But OK, here's five:
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2020hindsight
Sorry correction: The drugs themselves would be safer. At the moment a drug taker doesn't know what he is buying. The dealer could throw anything into the mix. This would be regulated if they were legalised.
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stirfry
obvious pros would be better quality and lower price...can't seem to think of any cons though
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AK619
I don't hear no drug problems in Singapore because the governments iron fist against it stops the dealers from polluting the public. I have to say they believe in public safety and the care for their people's health and well being.
What Japan should do is implement the same laws just like Singapore. If your caught bringing drugs into Japan or making it in a certain amount, then the penalty should be hanging you from a tree branch until your neck is broken in half.
I hate drug dealers, and I know from my own experience that drugs only harm you, control you, and can lead to worse drug abuse. Japan already has a people of weak minds and many social problems, what they don't need is to legalize drugs for a bunch of drug dealers.
Drugs have no positive benefit period when it makes you high and distorts your thinking and decision making. Drugs are to take advantage of someone by a predator, so I'm not suprised they would wish to legalize a street drug.
Beer and smoking can be a harmful habit if its abused, now all we need to do is just ad on illegal drugs to that list worse. What Japan needs to do, is start posting to teenagers and adults to stay away from drug dealers and drugs period. Make the punishment worse for people that get caught having it, or using it. Implement a death policy for thoughs bringing it in the country or caught making it.
If Japan legalizes Pot, it will create violent gangs that will start mapping out turfs where they will make a profit from there drug addicts. Japanese, Chinese, British, Americans, and many other foreigners will turn Japan into a drug money making land full of corruption and filth.
There will be gang wars because some other gang boss is trying to make a profit on another gang members turf, now you have street wars and innocent people being killed, besides destroyed families, minds, and health.
Make the laws stronger and the penalties iron fisted in Japan. Ad on the dealth penalty policy.
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AK619
All you people that believe in legalizing drugs, how would you feel if you had a beautiful young daughter, and I got her on drugs, controlled her by it, and made her into my prostitute slave? With that thought, I don't hope you have peace of mind. Illegal drugs have no good use, accept to injure yourself or someone else.
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Damien15
Pros:
Cons:
Some Points: 1. It must not be privatized. No commercials should be allowed.
2. Only people with license should be allowed to consume. If they act irresponsibly, license should be provoked, just like driving license.
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nisegaijin
not much more to add here. all drugs should be legal and there is no questions about it.
too bad it will never happen while we have our corrupt governments doing under the table deals with high profile gang cartels for their own profit while eliminating competition for the gang lords they favor.
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nisegaijin
can you explain under what logic a beautiful young daughter would become a prostitute because of drugs?
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Damien15
AK619, you don't know what you're talking about!!
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Patrick Smash
Governments should legalize weed, package it, and tax it. Then can crack down on hard drugs if they really have nothing better to do.
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Beelzebub
Drug users have been extolled and glorified in the movies and on TV from the late 1960s. Now they are accepted as a "lifestyle choice." Sow the wind and reap the whirlwind...
0
Farmboy
Ak619,
You seem to be imagining something very different than what most people are imagining. The idea people have is that if drugs are legal, that means they can be bought legally. They do not have to be bought illegally from gangs. That is why people are saying that the gangs will lose power, not gain power. In some countries, large corporations are ready to sell legal marijuana, for instance. If it happens, then all the gangs that are selling marijuana will lose business because the gangs only make money if the price is high. If it's legal, the price will be low.
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Dilbert14
Pros: 1. People's lives won't be ruined. Most people looses their job if cought on drug charges. And they will never be able to find respectable job. Law is ruining innocent people's lives. Look what they are doing to person they loved for all these years Norippi. Brutal!! Media and police working together to make an example of her. Wasn't even a gram! All the videos they show her DJ'ing, looks like she was having fun. What's wrong with that?
And yes, legalizing even only Pot will make drug dealing obsolete. Licence idea is very good. Just like driving school, people can be thought how to treat Pot. How to make most of it without impacting one's life in bad way. Many people have been doing it for many generations. Healthchecks are welcome. All pot smokers I know are healthier than alcohol drinkers I know.
Definately it will be easier to track hard drugs like heroin and meth. And it may even help definance terrorism. Wouldn't it be great pot is legalized and terrorism is over? Pot will have save the world. Amen to that.
Cons:
I can't think of any cons legalizing pot. Should not be advertised, or consumed in public places.
0
Venlo
Get this all you debating folks.
The Economist Magazine, one of the top international weekly business & news magazines in the world, (one of my favorites too, for may years) recently devoted their cover to the issue of drugs. Here is what they had to say in their March 3, 2009 issue.
"The Economist continues to believe that the least bad policy is to legalise drugs.
“Least bad” does not mean good. Legalisation, though clearly better for producer countries, would bring (different) risks to consumer countries. As we outline below, many vulnerable drug-takers would suffer. But in our view, more would gain."
They go on to say many more interesting things. Check it out.
"The failure of the drug war has led a few of its braver generals, especially from Europe and Latin America, to suggest shifting the focus from locking up people to public health and “harm reduction”
And more...
"There are two main reasons for arguing that prohibition should be scrapped all the same. The first is one of liberal principle. Although some illegal drugs are extremely dangerous to some people, most are not especially harmful. (Tobacco is more addictive than virtually all of them.) Most consumers of illegal drugs, including cocaine and even heroin, take them only occasionally. They do so because they derive enjoyment from them (as they do from whisky or a Marlboro Light). It is not the state’s job to stop them from doing so.
What about addiction? That is partly covered by this first argument, as the harm involved is primarily visited upon the user. But addiction can also inflict misery on the families and especially the children of any addict, and involves wider social costs. That is why discouraging and treating addiction should be the priority for drug policy. Hence the second argument: legalisation offers the opportunity to deal with addiction properly.
By providing honest information about the health risks of different drugs, and pricing them accordingly, governments could steer consumers towards the least harmful ones. Prohibition has failed to prevent the proliferation of designer drugs, dreamed up in laboratories. Legalisation might encourage legitimate drug companies to try to improve the stuff that people take. The resources gained from tax and saved on repression would allow governments to guarantee treatment to addicts—a way of making legalisation more politically palatable. The success of developed countries in stopping people smoking tobacco, which is similarly subject to tax and regulation, provides grounds for hope."
What more can I add?
Comments please.
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Dilbert14
Great article. I have a hope that we will break this taboo.
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Icewind007
I am somewhat for it. It has to be well regulated/taxed/kept in order. Some blindly call for the complete eradication of all drugs... I find those people as bad as those for the Prohibition. Some drugs are safer and have less effects than alcohol, but retain the good feeling (this is from psychology study, not personal experience).
There will be good and bad from this. One of the main drugs in question is usually cannabis. This is currently circulated underground. It is the driving force of some crime syndicates. It makes very little money for the economy.
If it were legal, the crime involving that drug would lower. However, people may misinterpret this and think other drugs are also legal. Or they may just push on toward another illegal drug. Legalizing would bring a lot of official revenue to the government (high tax). And once it get legalized, there may be a large influx of people suddenly wanting to try it out, which may lead to people getting bored of it or giving it the same reputation as cigarettes. However, it may also push people to try out other drugs.
The outcome will only be known when/if it happens.
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Valmain
@AK619
I don’t even know where to start with you. My first thought was that you were a troll, and I hope that’s on the money. If you’re not a troll, then your closed-minded inability to grasp some of the basic logic people (including myself) have presented here. I am willing to recognize that there are cons to drug legalization, but it seems that all the points you have presented so far are straight out of inane movie plots. Using drugs to control my daughter?? What kind of crap is that? I’d be careful if I were you, someone out there just may take that as a threat.
You really miss the point that drug legalization ELIMINATES drug dealers and cartels. The point of legalization is that there would be legitimate shops where you could buy these substances. There would be no need for drug dealers any more. If drugs were legal, how could you control anyone with them? If you threaten to take their drugs away, they can simply go to the conbini and buy another pack of joints.
I would be curious to know exactly what your experience with drugs and drug dealers is. Do tell.
Ouch. Keep digging, my friend.
@Damien15 I agree with your license idea %100 and I’ve had similar ideas in the past. With legalization comes the need for regulation. Advertisement would be limited and where it can be sold also needs to be limited. Tests to check for intoxicated driving and the like would need to be developed and age limits and health regulations need to be put in place. Rehab and treatment facilities need to be established as well as open information regarding the safe way to use substances as well as the negative effects they can have if abused. I agree that a license system should be developed where people need to take training courses where they learn about the history, composition, effects, and safe way to use a certain substance. After a health check, they are issued a license. You can’t make it too hard to obtain a license because then that will create a market for forged licenses, making for further substance abuse. Oh, and of course alcohol and tobacco will require licenses as well.
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Valmain
Here 's a good related article I came across today:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/16/AR2009081601758.html
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viking68
The biggest obstacle to legalization of any drug is the current industries that profit from its illegality, namely the tobacco and alcohol undustries. Both industries would take a huge hit to their profits. Many states in the US are legalizing marijuana becuase it is not associated with health issues and the penalties are disproportionate with using the drug.
Another obstacle is the fundamentalists who think that nobody should do anything outside of social "norms". They want to mandate a social cohesion by eliminating anything outside their own norms. From a libertarian point of view, if you are not hurting someone else, then you should not be prevented from doing what you want, i.e., your liberties should not affect another's liberties. If they do, then what you are doing is wrong.
The current state of the law is too broad. It has created an artificial vacuum where bad things are inherrent. If the law were more libertarian, then we would not have "gangs" profiting hand-in-hand with tobacco and alcohol companies.
By the way, the US originally banned marijuanna because it competed with cotton and other textiles and booze. It was purely an economic/political move on the US' part. Later it was demonized to give everyone a scapegoat and to further support these industries.
On the other hand, drugs like meth still concern me because users are typically driven to steal to support their addiction. I like what the NE has done by providing the drug free to users. Undobtedly, people will use these harmful drugs, so it is best to allow their use in a way that keeps these high risk users in a controlled environment.
Moderator: Tobacco and alcohol are not relevant to this discussion.
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SiouxGirl
Pros: (1) death blow to the dealers big and small, (2) ppl with medical problems would benefit from legal marijuana
Con: smacks of Brave New World by Aldous Huxley where the government anesthetizes the masses to the point where everyone works, takes their drug, spends their money and keeps smiling
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blvtzpk
The last time I commented on this statement it was pulled. Let's see if this fits the bill.
Alcohol is a drug that is legal here, but not legal in other places. Tobacco contains drugs, and there is no discouragement by the Japanese government to stop using it, because sales of this product in Japan's best (fiduciary) interests.
The issue of what is 'legal' and 'illegal' is set by the standards or mores of the society. If a drug is illegal in your country, IT does not mean it IS bad - but the general thinking and belief about it is that it is bad.
If one were to suggest that Japan take a good hard look at the effects of alcohol and tobacco on "peoples health, mind, future, family", then it would be deemed bad and made illegal. During Prohibition in the US when alcohol was illegal it was often controlled by criminals, but were the people who chose to go to Speakeasies and illicit sellers of liquor 'weak minded' just because it was illegal? Do people in Japan who drink and smoke 'weak minded people' who are simply living in a place were the substance they enjoy is legal?
Moderator: Readers, please stay on topic. Alcohol and tobacco are legal. Focus your comments on those drugs that are not legal.
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viking68
If a government is willing to kill people with legal drugs (i.e., alcohol (8,700 deaths in 2008 in the US), tobacco (440,000 deaths per year in the US), and prescription drugs (320,000 deaths per year in the US)), why not legalize drugs that are not associated with such high death rates.
Marijuana has a zero death rate and has been proven to not only not cause lung cancer, but it may be able to prevent the cancers associated with tobacco, i.e., it has the some of the same cancer causing agents as tobacco but doesn't cause cancer, so it must have some protective effect (medical study from the University of Southern California).
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blvtzpk
Let me succinct then. Alcohol WAS an drug that was made illegal at one time but eventually was allowed back for public consumption. And when Prohibition was over, the the US did not go to 'hell in a handbasket' as a result. It's the same with similar drugs. ;)
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Icewind007
"Con: smacks of Brave New World by Aldous Huxley where the government anesthetizes the masses to the point where everyone works, takes their drug, spends their money and keeps smiling"
Minority Report anyone? If certain drugs are allowed on the market, I doubt they will introduce something worse. They may even be improved health-wise by allowing production studies that would make for healthier usage.
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kenbrady
Everyone arguing that drug use isn't victimless by saying "What about the crimes surrounding drug use?" are so missing the point. Those surrounding crimes have victims, sure. Theft, murder, rape, and other things people do while on drugs (or not on drugs) are rightfully illegal and have victims. But those offenses stand alone. Drug use is not the only catalyst.
AK619: Wow, you spout the official line well. Kudos to Valmain for trying to get through to you.
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Dilbert14
Kenbradrady,
All the bad things you listed people doing while on drugs, are done even when not on drugs. There's no reason to put the blame on drugs, because some criminals decided to do them too. What about crimes surrounding legal substance alcohol? Aren't they in majority? How can anyone show drugs as his reason of rape or theft? People affraid of what they don't know. Have you thought about doing some research?
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