Smoke that crack!

[dick]

Other drug-related threads are going off on seemingly crack-fueled tangents, so I thought I'd start up something here that's completely and totally all about drugs.

Legal.

Illegal.

Whatever.

I see some wailing about how drugs are the end of times... others say we should get Darwinian and let people toast themselves to oblivion.

Should drugs be banned? Legalized?

Why?

How?

Hell, I'd like to get my hands on a jug of absinthe, but that's pretty hard to do (I still have two intact earlobes, dammit!). I've taken my tokes of weed, but it doesn't agree with me. I enjoy a hit of tobacco now and then, even though that's borderline illegal now. I drink like a fish.

And now, let the floodgates open...

[Queenolu]

Re: Smoke that crack!

Other drug-related threads are going off on seemingly crack-fueled tangents, so I thought I'd start up something here that's completely and totally all about drugs.

Legal.

Illegal.

Whatever.

I see some wailing about how drugs are the end of times... others say we should get Darwinian and let people toast themselves to oblivion.

Should drugs be banned? Legalized?

Why?

How?

Hell, I'd like to get my hands on a jug of absinthe, but that's pretty hard to do (I still have two intact earlobes, dammit!). I've taken my tokes of weed, but it doesn't agree with me. I enjoy a hit of tobacco now and then, even though that's borderline illegal now. I drink like a fish.

And now, let the floodgates open...

I am all for legalizing the crazy things. I don't have any experience with any of them... goodness... I have never had alcohol or some anything as a matter of fact. The damage it cost is sooo great and to me it seems more like the "do what your parents don't approve of mentality". You know, how kids seems to end up doing those things they know their parents don't want them to do...such as dating a boy or girl... you always end up wanting to do it more because your parents don't approve. That is what I think is going on with all these drugs.

If they legalize it... it will put all these drup pushers out of business and people will not be getting killed left and right to get it... to sell it.... or what not. Its like cigarette.... do it if you want just as long as you know the damage it causes. Just don't come back and try to sue everyone because you decide to smoke the stuff.

I say legalize it like cigarette, alcohol and such...and tax it as everything else.... let us get some income out of it and not the low lifes that are currently selling it and keeping all the money.

Who are we to say what someone should do with their life ....... and I believe that if drugs are legalized.... less people will want to do it.... because the trill of doing it will not be there anymore.

[Leo Lakio]

Re: Smoke that crack!

Hell, I'd like to get my hands on a jug of absinthe, but that's pretty hard to do

I believe there are sources for it in Vancouver, BC - but I don't know any of them directly.

[Surfingfarmboy]

Re: Smoke that crack!

Who are we to say what someone should do with their life

True...who ARE we to dictate what people choose to do. If people choose to get high on pot, ice, or crack..let them. If they choose to get drunk on Jack Daniels..let them. If they choose to smoke cigarettes..let them. It should be their right to to destroy their health, mental and physical, in any way they see fit.

Unfortunately, there have been too many innocent victims of others who have chosen their "right" to smoke, get high, get wasted, whatever. Babies born addicted to heroin. Children abused by pornographers. Wives abused by strung-out husbands. Families destroyed by drug abuse. Farmboys who lose loved ones to drunk drivers.

Will legalizing illicit substances or materials solve any problems that come with their use? I doubt it. It's only going to legitimize their existance in the eyes of the law. The social problems associated with their use with continue on ad infinitum.

In theory, it's easy to say that one should be able to put what they want into their bodies. And that would be fine if the effect of using a drug ended with the person using it and only that person. But it never does end with just that one person. It ultimately affects far more than just the user. Legal cigarettes and alcohol prove this to us on a daily basis.

[timkona]

Re: Smoke that crack!

Legal Alcohol.

History books, and sociologists, villify the Prohibition-Era. Imagine if cigarettes were illegal. Black markets, higher prices, increased theft crimes.

Those who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat it. The War on Drugs is like a moebius strip.

If drugs were legal, would you start?
You think a user ever quit cuz of law?

Logic is anathema to a true believer.

[nachodaddy]

Re: Smoke that crack!

Tried absinthe in Mexico. Nothing too exotic to say about the buzz but the ritualization of the whole affair was interesting. Can always get cool stuff in Mexico.....

Pot, ice, alcohol, saturated fats, crispy cream donuts, even pancakes. The key is moderation or you pay the price later. Or others pay the price when they have to take care of you after the doctor saws off your leg for adult onset diabetes. Or we all pay the price in our insurance premiums when your cholesterol rises above 400 and you elect for quadruple bypass surgery instead of dropping the 4 cheeseburger a day habit.

Not everyone is capable of moderation, so that is why we have laws. And as surfingfarmboy stated above, merely legalizing an illegal substance may take the lawlessness out of the equation, the problem still exists why they chose to use in the first place. Putting a tax stamp on a pack of MJ cigs is not going to fix the problem. People still eat at McDonalds everyday.

In summary, legalize pot so I can get stoned and not lose my job.

[tutusue]

Re: Smoke that crack!

[...]In theory, it's easy to say that one should be able to put what they want into their bodies. And that would be fine if the effect of using a drug ended with the person using it and only that person. But it never does end with just that one person. It ultimately affects far more than just the user. Legal cigarettes and alcohol prove this to us on a daily basis.

[...]Not everyone is capable of moderation, so that is why we have laws. And as surfingfarmboy stated above, merely legalizing an illegal substance may take the lawlessness out of the equation, the problem still exists why they chose to use in the first place. Putting a tax stamp on a pack of MJ cigs is not going to fix the problem. People still eat at McDonalds everyday.[...]

I agree with both of you...legalizing drugs won't solve the usage problem and the effect it has on society. I'm not sure there is anything that might fix the problem. However, I agree with Tayo that it will eliminate the drug lords and pushers and the huge amount of illegal money they make. And, with legalization, the crapola drugs could be taxed up the wazoo. Better the government get the money than the pushers, imnsho. Crimes committed to fund a very expensive drug habit might decrease, too, altho' crimes committed due to actual usage probably won't.

Just look what happened to Lee Anzai. Sad.

[Hellbent]

Re: Smoke that crack!

Tried absinthe in Mexico. Nothing too exotic to say about the buzz but the ritualization of the whole affair was interesting. Can always get cool stuff in Mexico.....

I think the current absinthe recipe takes out the wormwood, or some ingredient that makes the green fairies come out.

[Leo Lakio]

Re: Smoke that crack!

I think the current absinthe recipe takes out the wormwood, or some ingredient that makes the green fairies come out.

That would make it "absenthe," wouldn't it?

[Palolo Joe]

Re: Smoke that crack!

That would make it "absenthe," wouldn't it?

What is it with you and stupid one-liners lately?

Back on topic: I've tried Absinthe... didn't really do much for me. Maybe I didn't drink enough of it.

[Surfingfarmboy]

Re: Smoke that crack!

If drugs were legal, would you start?
You think a user ever quit cuz of law?

Definitely not. And no user ever quit because of a law.

But I do wonder how many people, who had no intention of ever becoming hooked on a drug have done so because it is legal and easily obtained? How many people have become addicted to nicotine through heavy-handed Madison Avenue sales tactics. Or alcohol. You've seen the ads and their implicit messages: Smoke this cigarette and you too will be socially "cool". Drink this beer or liquor and members of the opposite sex will find you sexually attractive. Madison Avenue gives non-users (and potential new customers) of legal drugs every reason to use them, while intentionally ignoring to mention to them, what the negative health effects of using them are.

Legalizing and making a current prohibited drug easily available to the public will in time create an entirely new market of customers (users) who might not have ever considered even thinking about using them before. The advertising gurus of this nation will, in an attempt to gin up sales, give us plenty of reasons to use herion, cocaine, ice...but I doubt they will also tell us the downsides of them as well.

Heck, I never thought I'd ever own a cell phone. But somehow, the Madison Avenue wags convinced me I "needed" one. And so I now do. The advertisers successfully created a "need". You can best bet they will do the same with cocaine, heroin, and whatever other drug they think consumers "need", should they ever become legal. And thus, a whole new legion of duped addicts.

[dick]

Re: Smoke that crack!

Absinthe is one of the most amazing drugs I've encountered.

It was never a matter of "Madison Ave" for me when I smoked tobacco (and I still do on occasion). The same with liquor. Some friends turned me on, and the rest was history, so to speak.

I've tried a lot of things, and so far all I've stuck with are tobacco and alcohol. The rest didn't do much for me. Well, aside from the green fairie.

[timkona]

Re: Smoke that crack!

I don't buy the psycho-babble of the power of Madison Avenue either. I truly believe that people can think for themselves. See Dick, we do agree on some stuff.

Cell Phones are simply new technology. In fact, my land line is nearly obsolete. The notion that advertising caused me to own a cell phone is funny.

[Surfingfarmboy]

Re: Smoke that crack!

I just don't see why people find it necessary to use drugs, be they legal or illegal. Why are so many so willing to pay money for a product, regardless of its cost, that at most, does absolutely nothing good for a person other than to produce a short-lived feeling of euphoria that ultimately dissipates, leaving an addict yearning for more and more of it? Man..what a racket! A product like that is one I'm going to avoid at all costs.

I cannot think of any benefit to the human body that can be had with the consumption of nicotine. Or cocaine. Or heroin. All I see are negatives, yet those addicted to these drugs keep using them, and in many instances, do what ever it takes to obtain more of the drug used. I saw my brother-in-law rob from his grandmother, on a continual basis, to feed his addiction to crack. He actually stole from his grandmother, living on a pension, to feed his silly desire to get temporarily high...total lunacy.

I guess it boils down to the fact that many people simply don't have the willpower or discipline to live a life free from drugs. I truly wish that all dope users had the power to realize that life can be better lived without drugs. I live a life free from alcohol, nicotine, and any mind-altering drug. The only drug I use the one my body makes on its own while running 10Ks and marathons....endorphine. I can say with surety that by avoiding drugs, I'm not missing anything...I have no desire to get "high", or "escape from reality for just awhile" by consuming a cocktail....I, as well as my saving account and wallet, do just fine without drugs. Quite frankly, I just don't understand why others have that constant desire..or need..to get buzzed.

TK, I am somewhat aware of your views on "The War on Drugs"; I don't know them intimately though. I'd like to ask you: Do you find the war on drugs futile because you find it a complete waste of government funds, or do feel that it is more in line with the government attempting to ultimately take away more of an individual's personal freedoms?

Do you think that drug use is a personal choice that needs to be protected, in spite of the documented ills they have on our society?

And if you do think illegal drug use needs to be decriminalized as a way of asserting and insuring one's personal freedoms and liberty, would you go so far as to ask for the decriminalization of other illegal entities, such as child pornography? After all, what right does a government possess to try and dictate thought control by limiting what an individual reads and thinks, inherently base as child pornography is?

[timkona]

Re: Smoke that crack!

Do you find the war on drugs futile because you find it a complete waste of government funds, or do feel that it is more in line with the government attempting to ultimately take away more of an individual's personal freedoms?

Do you think that drug use is a personal choice that needs to be protected, in spite of the documented ills they have on our society?

And if you do think illegal drug use needs to be decriminalized as a way of asserting and insuring one's personal freedoms and liberty, would you go so far as to ask for the decriminalization of other illegal entities, such as child pornography? After all, what right does a government possess to try and dictate thought control by limiting what an individual reads and thinks, inherently base as child pornography is?

It's a waste of govt funds because it's reactive spending. Proactive spending would include more money on education, even up to more money for college. It's not a "personal freedom" issue with me. More a wasteful spending issue.

Drug use is a personal choice with, or without, the laws. Society must be protected from users the same way we regulate drunk driving, et al.

Decriminalization is the only way the government can have a hand in controlling the problem. Laws against drugs exclude only the government from controlling the situation. I'm not even gonna comment on CP.