Thanks for stopping by.

I must say that I never really thought about the message which legalization would send from that angle.

Furthermore, whilst I feel that it is critical to avoid sending any form of message which downplays the seriousness of drug use in any way, I also believe that it is important that those who suffer from addiction can be confident that society is their to help them, not to simply judge them, lock them away and throw away the key.

With respect to your suggestion about a media campaign, I certainly would have thought this would be worth a try. I don’t know a great deal about international experience in this regard, but in my home country of Australia, hard-hitting campaigns about the consequences of smoking and drink driving produced quite significant changes in both attitude and behavior. I wonder how a sustained media campaigns about drug use which didn’t beat around the bush would fare.

It must be worth a try at least.

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I don’t think it would send a bad message at all, I think it sends the message that we are more concerned about helping addicts become healthy than about punishing people. It would put the burden on parents + schools to teach kids that drug use to not acceptable, but isn’t that really the situation we have now? We could also have a media campaign (w/ some of the money we’re saving NOT prosecuting for possession) to show what effects drugs have on the body.

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Thanks for your comment and welcome to my blog.

I agree that drugs should be allowed for medical purposes, although of course they should be allowed on a prescription only basis. Doctors are in a reasonable position to make an informed judgment as to the benefits and risks of such prescriptions and should be given the freedom to do so.

Your viewpoint appears to be consistent with current international consensus. I read recently that a trio of United Nations conventions, signed in 1961, 1971 and 1988, drug use is prohibited except for scientific of medical purposes. More than 140 countries have signed and are bound by these conventions.

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A very well stated case,

I particularly like your second point – drugs and alcohol are not the same in terms of addiction, and whilst some people do develop a harmful addiction to alcoholic beverages, the vast majority of people who are exposed to alcohol are able to enjoy it in a sensible fashion.

As you say, this is obviously not the case with respect to drugs.

And on your third point, even the keenest proponents of legalization acknowledge that the prospect of criminal gangs being driven out of the business entirely is extremely remote.

One, the difference between alcohol and the “heavy” illicit drugs is that a drunk can always get by on the same one bottle before it may kill them; these other drugs require more and more, or more often, and at some point the consumer would be right back to stealing for the money to get these drugs, or buying them from some illegal dealer for less money.

Two, drug addiction takes hold of the brain much harder than alcohol, and pretty much, once someone has taken more than one hit of a drug, they’re an addict, whereas the majority of people who drink can go their entire lives, at some point, with one or two drinks a week and be just fine.

Three, I don’t know that even with government regulation prices could be kept down low enough to keep illegal competition from making and marketing their own. Heck, these days a kid can go to the store, buy what he or she wants, and within an hour create something potent enough for them to get high on.

Now, I’m not including marijuana in here, only the “hard” stuff. I just think that these things should still stay illegal, but maybe the handling of some of what people do in regards to some of these things should possible change. How, I’m not sure, but one thing is for certain. We have to find a way to prevent “drug lords” from consistently being created.

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With respect to your comment about prescription drugs, I am personally somewhat more comfortable about people taking drugs as prescribed by a GP, who is in a reasonable position to be able to assess any likely health benefits and risks, than I would be with people taking illicit drugs on their own.

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I guess you have both hit on an important point about the importance of identifying the underlying causes of underlying addiction.

The best way to solve a problem is at its root causes, regardless of whichever way we go in terms of legalization of the industry or otherwise, we, as a global society, will not win the war on drugs without a concerted effort to identify the root causes of drug experimentation and addiction.

You both mention alcohol and Anna mentions nicotine, both of which raise interesting comparisons. Some proponents of legalization for the drug industry point to the tobacco industry, and how consumption of tobacco seems to be on a slow but steady decline under a legalized industry structure throughout most of the western world.

Still, there are many factors behind the decline in tobacco consumption, and it is difficult to imagine that consumption levels of illicit drugs would necessarily follow suit under a legalized regime.

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Some people do take drugs, but don’t become addicted to them. This may be genetic, who knows. But the question is why humans have the need to escape in the first place. And if they are abusing a substance to the extent that they are destroying themselves, what has led them to this? What is the vacuum they are trying to fill? Is there something missing in our society that drives people to substitute that loss with drugs?

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