There's a black market now. There will be a black market if drugs are legalised.
Following legalisation, the black market will be smaller, and less pervasive. Following legalisation, the government will make money from safer sources of drugs.
Neither the fact that legalisation won't eliminate black market trade, nor the fact that it'll have a high initial overhead, are valid reasons against instituting such a policy.
According to here
http://www.whitehous...end/index.html. The drug market is 69 billion a year. Give it 9 years growth....
Tell me how you expect the drug dealers to cope with that loss?
Aaaaah how I love waking up to a nice, hot, steamy debate. Here we go.
I ... I ... I am lost for words. Let me make a list for you of drugs that can be potentially abused and are still sold as "medicine."
1. Morphine, Oxycodone, Hydrocodone (any kind of opiate)
2. Benzodiazepines (muscle relaxants, anti anxiety)
3. Adderall, Vyvanse, Ritalin (ADD medication, basically legal meth)
I can go on and on
Saying that if you can sell a substance legally it negates the fact that it's a drug is ... well stupid.
Perhaps you should learn about Social Acceptation of words, Slang, and being politically correct.
I can abuse Toothpaste, Air Freshener, Paint, and many other household items. I guess that they are drugs as well. There is a common seperation between, drugs that are illegal, and drugs that are legal. When a drug is used as medicine, its not illegel, therefor we properly refer to it as
medicine, and when the drug is used illegally, its called a
drug.
Why do we separate things like this? So that way you can use them socially and anyone can understand what you mean. When someone says drug, 90% of people think cocaine/weed/heroine. When you say medicine, 90% of people think aspirin/Morphine/Oxycodone.
Furthure more, a drug is anything that alters your bodies chemistry. So, there are many types of food that are drugs. There are perfumes/colones. Body sweat. We adapt words to mean specific things.
Anyway, I did read the article, and that "changing of laws" is actually called decriminalization, which means they no longer classify drug use or possession in small quantities as a crime punishable by jail time. The whole point is that they completely disproved the myth that jail time is a deterrent for drug users, because if that was the case decriminalization would have led to an increase in drug use.
Where are you getting your information because most of it seems either fabricated or literally pulled out your ass for the sake of a really bad point.
Some people do get jail time. Some people dont.
http://www.passyourd....com/mjlaws.htm9 states have it decriminalized. One of the states (California) also has the biggest drug problem, and its only gotten worse over the years.
I never said No One goes to jail for drug usage, but most of the people do not. I know several friends in florida (Where is a 1 year sentence) that have been caught with it, and only spent a night in jail, and then paid a fine and whent on probation. The laws are based upon a three strikes sentence, and generally your first strike is never jail time. This is all based upon the judge, and the situation. Thousand of people get off with fines/rehap. They are infact the majority.
Edited by iargue, 31 August 2009 - 09:26 AM.
