Question:

If drugs were legalized, wouldn't that put dealers out of business, and then create regulated companies/corporations that delt in "drugs"?  Wouldn't it then bring the cost down considerably?  Wouldn't also answer the argument "what's worse, the stoned guy hitting the car of people vs. the innocent bystander being shot in a rival dealer shootout" be answered by essentially erasing the latter?

I am still undecided as to legalizing drugs, hence the questions. Have you seen "Traffic"?
It always reminds me of the gun debate, should people be allowed to carry a gun to protect themselves? People always freak out and say "can you imagine the chaos if everyone had a gun?" but what they fail to remember is that there are very few people that actually would WANT to carry a gun around.

Back to drugs, "If we legalize drugs, could you imagine the chaos of everyone getting stoned, or spun out on crack or whatever". There we go again, how many of us would suddenly decide to go destroy our brains all of a sudden? Wouldn't the problem basically fix itself?  Sure things might get a little hairy at the beginning, the media would have a frenzy, drug commercials, movies, etc. But if/when a majority of the drug crime dissapeared, then what? (Or would the crime persist?) Just because it'd be legal doesn't mean it'd be accepted, same as alcohol for a lot of people.  Companies, professions, they could still all have their rules about drugs, as they have them for alcohol. People wouldn't suddenly be allowed to roam the streets high. You'd still be responsible for yourself, but at lest now the drug wars would be regulated...

All the questions stem from my opinion that the government is not here to take care of US, it's here to take care of the country, and it's borders. I feel that the government should stay out of my life (never touched drugs, never will) until I go out in the street and run someone over, steal something, blow something up, or hurt someone. Then it is protecting it's interests, and the interests of others by locking me away. But at the same time, it's not the governments job to predict my actions, or to keep removing my rights in a hope that someday, so many rights will have been removed, that there's no way I can commit a crime, but at the same time, there's no way I can live my own life.

I'm looking for viewpoints on both sides, as I've seen this question alluded to in a few recent posts.

I agree that drugs are stupid... Although it seems the only way to regulate it would be to legalize it.  I don't know, use the revenue from taxes for education or something.  Alls I know is that a junior high kid or a high school kid can get a bag of weed or a gram of cocaine easier than a case of beer.

DO IT FOR THE CHILDREN!  :)

Semper Fi

Smalls

Easy! Ya just don't lead 'em so much!

I don't believe that legalizing drugs would put dealers out of business, because most drugs are too easy and too cheap to grow or manufacture. Also, unlike alcohol which lasts for up to a few hours after you stop drinking, meth for instance, can last days so it's not like you could go get dinner and a hit of crank then drive home an hour or two later and be anywhere near sober or in control. Just what we need is a bunch more doped up, paranoid, gun toting lunatics running around.
[whacko]   [whacko]   [whacko]   [whacko]

The war on drugs in not about fighting drugs, at least not at the top level of government.  The war on drugs is for desensitizing the American people to the loss of their rights.

This one is easy, how many liquor "Boot leggers" exists today. NONE!

Not that I'm for totally legalizing all drugs but it totally makes sense that if they were available in a store, there would be no need for a drug dealer. And prices would be rock bottom cheap just like plain wrap beer.

Maybe just decriminalizing drugs might be better so we can keep all the monsters that deserve to be in jail locked up. My main concern is that 80% of the prison population is locked due to some kind of drug related crime. That means way too many rapists and murders get early release just to make room for pot smokers or trendy coke heads. I'd much rather live next to a 100 pot heads than one stinking child molester or serial killer.

I know the war on drugs is a lost cause. Hell, I used to work dope. At DEA school, they even tell you interdiction won't work. Only when there is a societal demand for change, and demand goes down will the problem abate.
On the other hand, more americans die each year from legal drugs, such as alcohol, and tobacco. So is legalization the answer? I don't know, I am pulled both ways. This is the time for King Solomon to step in.

Bingo.  There was more craze for alcohol during prohibition then there EVER was before or after.  The only difference is, alcohol was once legal, then made illegal, and then legal again - marijuana/cocaine was never that prominent (although it was used heavily in medicines and soft drinks, respectively), while alcohol was a common topic.  Still, the analogy works quite well.  If you legalize pot, pot dealers will run out of business, corporations will be formed to monopolize on the new commerce, and there would be no more drug problem - you'd either do it or you wouldn't.  Remember, most of the "drug war" involves the underworld of drug trading, not the people actually doing the drugs themselves.

Marijuana hardly ever hurt anybody.  Besides, I'd like you tally up the number of deaths that have been caused by alcohol and tobacco (both legal) over the past 10 years, and compare that to the number of fatalities attributed to pot over the past 100 years.  Sorry, A&T wins.

[brown]Evil Jew~[/brown]

the main reason why im for legalizing drugs is look what legalizing alchol did! crime rate dropped like a rock when they stopped prohibition it took the money out of it. just do what they do know with alchol require a license or a tax on it. dont have the licsence bam pay a fine. or something like that

What is the benefit of making "recreational" drugs illegal?  People that are not inclined to abuse drugs don't.  People that are inclined to abuse them do.  In my whole life I can't recall a single instance where someone said "I'd really like to get high on 'blank' but unfortunately it is against the law so I can't"  As far as I can see, drug laws provide no real impediment to drug abuse.  All they really accomplish is to turn drug users into outlaws.  A much more compassionate approach is to legalize and tax them with the proceeds of the tax going toward drug treatment programs for those that wish to get clean.
You would have to exile that Rob Reiner a-hole first or else he'll be writing initiatives to tax the unpopular coloreds (nope that was the 1800s'), I mean jews (that was Germany, drat), I mean smokers (darn, that was the '90's), druggies (that it! druggies).  Tax the druggies and use the money for government indoctrination programs.  

Yes, it would bring the price down, making drugs seem unattractive to traffikers looking to make money, disagree all you want, in countries where it has been decriminalized, crime has gone down.

use amsterdam as a reference. its not so bad there, hell i could live there i think. and i love the idea of taxing it and using the tax money for drug treatment. i am pro marijuana, i never in my 15 yrs of smoking have seen anyone get hurt or hurt someone else by using it. honestly people are just to stoned to go and rob anyone, if at all anything came about it would make the price of pizza go up.....peace

The commercial growing of hemp is practiced in most of the countries of this world. the u.s. is in the minority for not allowing it......a agriculture market that could replace "farm aid" ............also, medicinal useage of pot is almost completely agreeable to the public....so let`s get with it big brother!.....[smoke]

I work in the city (Baltimore) and I'm sick and tired of innocent people getting shot in the cross-fire of  drug related fights. If people want to use the crap and ruin their own health, then fine with me. But to try to stop them means a drastic reduction in personal liberty and I'm not willing to trade that. Legalize it and let Darwin's theory sort them out. Much cheaper, much more compassionate, and much much less intrusive. Why won't it happen? Too many LEO's, Feds, Corrections officers, politicians, and yes, drug dealers would lose their livelyhood. The Govt. would lose its grip on the power that it derives soley through the war on drugs. They have already whipped this up into such a frenzy now that they can't back out without looking really bad.

Morphine was once a over the counter drug...[smoke]..........cocain was once advertised as a substance used to "enhance the health and spirit".........[beer]

Legalize all drugs?....No, we cant do that.  That would put the beloved DEA out of business.  It would also put an awful financial strain on the CIA, and we might have to give central and south america some real help, instead of just throwing billons of dollars at them to "combat" cocain. And lastly, and most importantly, we couldnt relieve honest American citizens of their lives, liberty, and billions (I do stress billions) of dollars of property every year.  Legalizing drugs of any kind, especially marijuana (its highly addictive and dangerous, dont you know?) is just bad business.

13th Monkey

p.s. I hoped you noted my sarcasm, i was layin it on pretty thick.  "FIGHT CRIME, NOT DRUGS"

We're supposed to be a nation of free people.  What we do to [i]ourselves[/i] is [i]our[/i] business, not the government's.  

Now, if you inflict yourself on others in an "altered state of consciousness" and break the law, then you've proven that you aren't responsible enough for the freedom, just as if you use a firearm in the commission of a crime you prove that you are not responsible enough for that right.  Forced drug rehab seems to me to be appropriate.  Do it again, and you should get forced drug rehab while behind bars.

That way those who can handle recreational drugs responsibly will, those who cannot will get treatment.  Fund treatment through taxes on the drugs.  Yes, inevitably some will "fall through the cracks", but we see that with alcohol, and we see it now when drugs are illegal.  Some people will be hurt, but many are being hurt now.  We [red]can't[/red] make the world a padded cell for everyone, and I refuse to live that way anyway.

I'm sick and tired of my Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights being dissolved so that Uncle Sam can fight the War on (some) Drugs.  It's a war that [red]cannot[/red] be won so long as there is a demand, and there will [red]always[/red] be a demand.  There hasn't been a society in history that hasn't used mind-altering chemicals.

It's time to stop the war.