Why Drug Addiction Isn’t That Bad

Fatwah / December 1, 2008

By Yasha Levine

The real junk is inside National Geographic

Tomorrow evening, the National Geographic Channel is going to hit cable viewers with a huge dose of drug propaganda cloaked as investigative reporting in a three-part special that will look at Heroin, Meth and Marijuana. I have to admit, I had high hopes for it as I went to check out the preview. With anti-drug crusaders like Joe Biden recently admitting that the War on Drugs is not living up to its promises, maybe America’s anti-drug tide has finally started turning into a drug-embracing rush. Will I be so lucky?

Meth being my personal favorite, I watched this episode first. The preview started off all right, pointing out exactly what makes meth so damn enjoyable, confirming that it is much more effective than cocaine (a drug long considered by The eXiled as “fool’s meth”). But when the preview started talking about addiction and prevention, it became clear that this was just another run-of-the-mill anti-drug crusade video series, a more CGI-intesive version of what I was forced to watch in my high school Health Education class. It was not just sad, it was infuriating. The prohibition of drugs is one of the most blatant assaults on our liberties, and yet no one is speaking up for drug-users’ rights. Illegal immigrants are getting rights, gays are on the cusp of being allowed to marry and, the way things are going, Mormons will push through the legalization of polygamy before we get around to talking about drugs. Drug hate is so entrenched in our society and political system, it’s hard to know where to start hacking away at it.

So let me start with a quote by H.L. Mencken, the only American consistent in his hate for the Puritan values that are to blame for our ridiculous drug laws:

“[The] democratic state…almost always shows a strong tendency to be also a Puritan state. Puritan legislation, especially in the field of law, is a thing of many grandiose pretensions…The Puritan, discussing it voluptuously, always tries to convenience himself (and the rest of us) that it is grounded upon altruistic and evangelical motives—that its aim is to work the other fellow’s benefit against the other fellow’s will. Such is the theory behind Prohibition, comstockery, vice crusading and all its other familiar devices of oppression. That theory, of course is, false. The Puritan’s actual motives are (a) to punish the other fellow for having a better time in the world, and (b) to bring the other fellow down to to his own unhappy level.

And bring the other fellow down they do. As the preview for the National Geographic’s heroin segment gratuitously shows, amid a lot of painful footage of crusty track mark close-ups, hardcore junkies live in squalor and misery. Getting their next fix is the sole purpose of their lives. They do anything for it. Women give blowjobs to truck drivers, men strip copper pipes and rob houses. All this is true. But their alleged fall from grace is not a function of their addiction. A lot of people are able to fit their addictions into their daily routine, or better yet, to handle their highs. The reason they descend into hell is the fact that they are addicted to an illegal drug.

Take functional alcoholics. You don’t see too many of them giving handjobs for booze or stealing TVs to buy another 40oz. Alcohol is too cheap and easy to get to cause that kind of behavior. You can be drunk all day for five dollars and get booze refills while you put some gas into your car. That kind of carefree addiction leaves plenty of time for work, wife and kids. But make booze illegal, expensive and difficult to get and you’ll turn most Americans into sniveling, pathetic junkies roaming the streets in search of booze and spending all their time and money on it. Hardcore alcoholics would never be able to hold their shit together. So why should the heroin addicts?

The Europeans are starting to figure this shit out. The Swiss just announced they are going to give smack out to addicts for free. FOR FREE! Why? Because the drugs are not an addict’s main problem. The hard knock reality of the illicit drug market are to blame for their sorry state.

Here’s a quote from an Independent article about the program:

The addicts attend one of the country’s 23 heroin centers and, in groups of four, inject themselves under the watchful eye of a nurse. They leave after a few minutes — those with jobs going back to work.

Did they just say, “work”? Junkies going to work? Yep. It just goes to show that when you free a junkie from having to constantly scheme about where and how they’ll get the cash for their next fix, a miracle occurs. All of a sudden, they turn into upstanding citizens. Like hundreds of millions of functional alcoholics all around the world, they go to work, pay taxes and raise families. Some may even do a little volunteering at the local church. Make drugs free, and everyone lives in harmony.

This setup should also please the anti-drug crusaders. During the trial stage of the Swiss smack soup kitchen program, a third of the people who signed up — all of them hardcore junkies with more than a decade of addiction — got off the drug. They realized that heroin was boring the shit out of them. After being high for ten years straight, how could it not? Clarity on drugs!

A little legalization goes a long way. We just need to go further. All drugs must be legalized immediately.

Here is the preview to National Geographic’s drug-hating special:

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34 Comments

Add your own

1. wYSe Guy | December 1st, 2008 at 3:24 pm
LEGALISE!
NOW!
2. wYSe Guy | December 1st, 2008 at 3:26 pm
Viva La Mencken.
“The American Language” was best.
3. robotslave | December 1st, 2008 at 7:23 pm
The real problem with legalizing pot and Meth and all those fun things is that once you’ve limited the government’s role to making sure the supply is clean and keeping the kids away, people are going to look at Prozac and Xanax and Depakote and dick-pills and other steroids and heart pills and hyperactive-children pills and blood-pressure meds and ask, “Hey, what the hell, if I can get my rocks off without paying a doctor $300 for the scrip-visit, why the hell do I have to go through the whitecoats to get to all this other stuff?”
And that’s where the real money is (or at least the legitimate money), and more importantly, where the real societal capital lives. The health care industry has an enormous stake in maintaining its gatekeeper role, and Pharma’s obvious financial interests are only a small part of it.
4. DocAmazing | December 1st, 2008 at 10:40 pm
Speaking as a physician, I would be delighted never to have to write scrips for people who want to get high and connive to sell me horseshit stories to get their opioids. Legalize, and free my time up to take care of sick people.
5. DrKiwano | December 1st, 2008 at 11:04 pm
I ride my bike everywhere, so I’ve been proposing free smack and free crack for a while now.
It’s really painfully obvious, after dropping a hundred odd bucks on a bike lock, that it makes way more sense to pay 20 cents of taxes for an addicts hit than it does to have a couple hundred bucks worth of bicycle stolen by said same addict, so that the bicycle can be fenced for the $10 that he’d need to get his fix on the street.
Hell, even forget a potentially stolen bicycle. Instead, take the hundred bucks I dropped on the lock, stick it in a savings bond, and buy as many drugs as can possibly be doled out for free. If you do that for damn near everyone with a decent bike lock, I’m pretty sure that you’ll have drugs to spare long after you run out of addicts to dole them out to.
(There’s a reason why the Europeans are quick to pick this one up).
6. Izy | December 1st, 2008 at 11:11 pm
“Speaking as a physician” … In those days some countries aren’t meeting the proper standards for educating medical doctors.
So you may have a degree in medicine, but you are also writing total nonsense.
People who get high, are sick people. They are not just people who get high and do they job as the author of the article is suggesting. The guy who wrote this article has the right not to have a clue about addiction. He is rationalising his addiction and writing such lame articles because of that. But the fact, that medical doctors don’t see addicted people a sick, is sad. But as I said, some counties in the world have poor standards …
7. Rosalie | December 2nd, 2008 at 1:39 am
In response to the last comment – take a second look at the facts about alcoholism and the “functioning alcoholic”. Yes there are people who are so hopelessly addicted to alcohol that they cannot function, and there will always be people who get this bad over their particular drug of choice. There are pot heads who can’t hold a job or maintain a decent relationship, but I would venture to say this has a lot to do with these people’s personality.
You’re also forgetting that there is a difference between drug users and drug addicts. Use and abuse are not the same. Because of alcohol’s legal status, most people recognize this, yet according to the law, if I get caught smoking weed, I am an addict and could be forced to go to brainwashing sessions at AlAnon (after I spend a little time in jail).
I live in Russia where booze and tobacco is readily available, 24 hours a day, cheaply, and at every corner yet all other drugs are very strictly prohibited. These factors combined with their culture and traditions leads to a society where it is totally acceptable to drink in the morning, drink before work, drink far, far too much. It’s acceptable to be a raging alcoholic, but smoking weed can get you tossed in jail for years. All drugs must be legalized now. If they were, how many people would find what they’ve been looking for in that bottle all these years at far less damage to their ability to work, family and social life, and health?
8. Izy | December 2nd, 2008 at 2:57 am
I was talking about this:
“would be delighted never to have to write scrips for people who want to get high and connive to sell me horseshit stories to get their opioids. Legalize, and free my time up to take care of sick people.”
Those who came to their doctor to get their opioids are addicts ! I think that is clear.
“… how many people would find what they’ve been looking for in that bottle all these years at far less damage to their ability to work, family and social life, and health?”
The problem is with: “find what they’ve been looking for in that bottle …” … for me that is addiction if you are looking for … If you get drunk or high to often, you are addicted. Simple as that. It is quite natural, that you will say, you are not. This comes with it in the package.
9. Required | December 2nd, 2008 at 3:15 am
Izy, why do you think that DrKiwano doesn’t see addicted people as sick? Maybe he wants them to feel better and at the same time to make the whole society healthier. When drugs will be legalized, junkies will take big dozes of it and die sooner and with pleasure. So everyone will be happy and pleased. Amen.
10. Kavuye Toon | December 2nd, 2008 at 3:18 am
Unfortunately, the Discovery, History, Science, etc channels’ target market seems to have become the typical fat american evangelicals who want to see cgi reproductions of bible stories, hour long special reports about Dan Brown theories, and the complete demonization of anything they don’t do.
11. joz | December 2nd, 2008 at 4:34 am
agreed
Drugs have made criminals of most of us. It is tacitly excepted that we will lie by obfiscation when speaking to anyone in a legal context about activity in our lives that infringed these absurd laws. Steal a car, shop lift even speeding: these are all crimes which can be generally accepted to be risky and unhelpful to other people. Everyone accepts that. But drugs? No one really thinks they are on the same level so your lie about past usage is sort of a politeness, a point of good behavior. Do a little B&Eing and people will avoid you. You’re a dick really. Deal pot? No one really cares. Yet you can go to jail for drugs as soon as anything else.
12. esch | December 2nd, 2008 at 7:19 am
there’s another side of the story. Illicit drugs are a great way for the world various intelligence agencies to make invisible money.
There’s books out there about the subject, Terence McKennas “Food of the Gods” deals with it and quotes an even more in depth book which I can’t remember of find “Food of the Gods” right now to quote but it has been researched that the CIA has or has had deals with drugs lords and maybe even has had them under their thumb. Illegal drugs cost way more, so you can make money off of them, so that’s another bastard that has to be dealt with before legalization or maybe even decriminilzation can occur
13. Lex | December 2nd, 2008 at 10:07 am
But what would the government do if it wasn’t so busy protecting us from ourselves?
14. swiss guy | December 2nd, 2008 at 11:09 am
just to get this straight: heroin in switzerland is still an illegal substance. it’s given to addicts similar to the way meds are given to sick people.
reason for this… do a search for platzspitz, letten or just needle park.
btw: legalisation of cannabis stood no chance on that very same ballot weekend.
15. Joe Blow | December 2nd, 2008 at 12:15 pm
The War on People Who Take Drugs is part of the Police State. It allows them to tax people, to number and identify them and to control them. It uses vast amounts of tax dollars for police, courts and prisons.
It makes people afraid.
and the worst part is that pot and mushrooms can be used as medicine and the law arrests terminally ill old ladies for smoking pot.
16. John Smith | December 2nd, 2008 at 1:06 pm
Instead of demonizing the drugs themselves, it would be nice if we instead looked at the personality traits that lead to addiction.
17. Angelika | December 2nd, 2008 at 1:48 pm
Yasha, you are hot!
18. Rick | December 2nd, 2008 at 7:52 pm
“Hard” drugs have horrible side effects, see the Exile editors’ impotence, but don’t bleat about “addiction.” Life is complete shit, and you can easily have the most intense sexual experiences of your life on speed…alone, if needs be. You feel filthy afterwards, but so do people watching “True Blood.” I have cokehead friends who pawn their TVs, but seriously, looking at their lives, I see the value-exchange proposition rather clearly in favor of their night coked up. Normal life is a chemically-induced joke of habits, and it sucks when somebody mixes coke and heroin (i.e., all the overdoses) or loses their will for other aspects of the life-charade, but it’s all an idiotic charade. If your muse is genuine enthusiasm for life, it can be bought, joyously, but drugs have its own set of problems, just like idiotic television or any other entertainment. Maybe worse, when hardcore addiction is involved, but like noted in the article, if it was all at Wallgreens, it’d all be decent fun. I’d go buy heroin now.
As it is, my father is dying and I’d much rather he do speed and visit hookers than waste another goddamned hour in front of the television. What a waste of life.
19. Izy | December 3rd, 2008 at 1:47 am
“As it is, my father is dying and I’d much rather he do speed and visit hookers than waste another goddamned hour in front of the television. What a waste of life.”
There are other alternatives in live too. Maybe your father has only to choose between those two. Than he is really a poor soul. I agree with you, some people don’t manage to make more of their life. Probably because nobody took the time to teach them, how to do it the other way.
I agree with you, that if you have to choose between televison and hookers, then go for the hookers 😉 I am not so sure for drugs though .. but maybe you are right.
But, this is only for desperate people, who didn’t manage to arange their life. It isn’t something that you should propose to anyone. I hope you will not end up like your father, with such poor choices.
20. WE | December 4th, 2008 at 3:04 pm
There is one strange irony I see in this, being that from a Russian perspective, the normalisation of alcohol abuse has become both a contributing factor and a symptom of a broken society, vicious circle cliche I know, and I would fear that a further liberalisation of our attitude towards other drugs would only lead us further down the spiral. In saying that I am for the decriminilization of all drugs, regardless of one’s attitude this is a public health issue, not a police matter, and as someone who drinks constantly and smokes pot occasionally I’m not even trying to be moralistic or judgemental towards other people’s addictions.
The real issue is philosophical, when I drink on a regular basis for extended periods of time I am completely functional, but there is an emotional ceiling of melancholy which I rarely breach, and if I stop drinking for around a month I start to feel that techicolor superimposition of hope again, I’m not sure which is closer to the truth, it’s all a balance of chemicals after all, there’s no instruction manuel, I don’t know the default settings.
It’s all philosophy I guess, if you live and believe your live has meaning then you’ll be less inclined to self-medicate and obfuscate whatever it is that leads you to that tear choked sense of nihilism in the first place. Once again, I don’t know the manufacturer’s settings, let alone who or what the manufacturer is, the decision to delve in or escape is completely based on a premise in which none of us has the answer, whether we’re escaping reality for an illusion, illusion for reality, or simply upgrading our illusion to something or palitable.
I’d like to think there is some hope in this, even the exile with all of it’s depravity showed it’s own puritanical tones in regards to western hyprocisy. I for example see prostitution as the highest form of capitalism (after the Real World and reality television), turning another human being into a product to be consumed, often outsourcing the violence to a pimp like fat US patriots do with Blackwater, feeling sick by all of the heartless ex-pats who are still feeding off of the dish of cheap provincial girls whose economic desperation and poor education were manufactured by the IMF’s breaking of this country in the 90’s. And while this paper turns the degradation of those women into artful pornography, they show incredible contempt for ignorance, neo-liberalism and journalistic hacks who merely tow party lines to the benefit of western power brokers. The question being why, they must care, there is some point where most people feel outraged about something, we cry for the degredation of one while benefiting from the degredation of the other. Or maybe outrage just belies hope, maybe it’s just another form of hatred made sweeter by self-righteousness. I just figure the reason between every pill drink and needle comes down to this, do I really care about anything? The answer to that question is the answer to what we do about the rest of it.
21. Kevin John | December 5th, 2008 at 6:38 pm
Excellent points here. I’ve heard of Vox, and intend to return, but forgive me if I’m naive on protocol.
Yea, Yasha I can relate. Years ago Meth was my favorite rec drug, but saw how it was slowly destroying me and my friends and got out, and that was not easy.
Not to sound pompous, if it was legal I might be persuaded to purchasing a bit, but for now I am happy to eunthanize myself with a few beers, after work and after hours,which usually means I can make a fool of myself with the minimal of amount of people that matter, and I usually have more than a few beers.
‘WE’ made an excellent point in that philosophically a person will do what their belief in reality persuades them to do.
Their reality about life, about others and especially about them directs one’s decision to finally give up and become addicted.
I found out I would rather sacrifice and earn others respect than become ‘rich’ from others pity. No judgement call, I don’t know others circumstances, just mine now, and with the US economy going to hell in a handbasket no one knows what stuff could be around the corner.
I pray there’s not a monster under my bed.
22. John Smith | December 6th, 2008 at 4:04 am
#6: I don’t think everyone who scams opioids from doctors is necessarily addicted, any more than every kid who once snuck a drink from their parents’ liquor cabinet was an addict. Plus, those that are addicted may be better off just maintaining the addiction with regular cheap doses than being dragged unwillingly towards a cure. And finally, maintaining the addiction requires a pharmacist or drugstore clerk, dragging the user away from it requires a jailer, but neither should require a doctor’s time and attention.
#20: I don’t think hope and melancholy are matters of truth. “2 and 2 is 4” and “2 and 2 is 5” are opposing statements of fact, and only one can ever be true. But “the world has hope” and “the world has no hope” are just ways of saying “I feel hopeful” and “I feel hopeless.” Those can both be true at different times, and you can even choose which one to make true. If you have the self control, that is, which most of us don’t, most of the time.
23. WE | December 6th, 2008 at 7:45 am
You’re correct John Smith, circumstantially hope and hopelessness are not counterfactual but situational, I guess what I meant was that on a deeper philosophical level for me as an individual, the belief in something beyond myself is a prerequisite for hope, but it’s a more specific form of hope, which for me is actually meaning, I need to believe that my life has some form of meaning that transcends myself, that we all are connected to this meaning, that the evil we inflict upon each other is done in opposition to something higher than us, that acts like the holocaust were somehow in opposition to the universe. Of course I have no means of ever prooving any of it, or that any of the countless deaths or pain inflicted on the innocent will ever see justice, or that justice even exits. But for me a universe without justice is a hopeless one, and I oscillate between believing there is or isn’t justice in the universe, but from an athiests perspective that would still return to your original position, whereby I was the one making it true, but if there is some higher order, than some form of hope would be definable, if hope were an offshoot of one’s proximity to this truth, and if hopelessness could be quantified as a distancing from that which is univeral and true, then whatever’s going on inside of me would also be a sign of that which is without as well, but it’s all speculation, or it’s not. Peace.
24. Carpenter | December 8th, 2008 at 4:58 am
Gee, taking drugs suddenly sounds like fun. I can almost forget that it fries your brain, turns you into an animal, and, if we are lucky, kills you before you have raped and killed others.
Pakistan is a country where drugs are de facto free, and very cheap. Does that solve the problems? The backstreets of Islamabad are full of heroin-addicted Pakis, even tie-and-suit husbands who have abandoned their families and married a syringe instead. When they die they are just thrown in the nearest river, where their bloated corpses decorate a tourist’s Islamabad experience. If the tourist hasn’t been killed for his money first.
No, giving people legal poison doesn’t solve anything. It is still poison. The problem with middle-class pro-druggers is that they imagine a smart liberal middle-class couple doing a little reefer together before work. They have no idea what drug use looks like in the inner city.
25. L. Macarius | January 15th, 2009 at 8:25 am
This report is biased beyond logic. It completely excludes statistics, odds and rudimentary knowledge of how neurochemistry works. (not to mention it is a f###ing selfish standpoint, typical of a consumer-country, that is totally oblivious to reality in producer-countries).
Well, alcohol IS a drug and CAN be extremely adicting and unlike the text states, most truly alcoholic individuals are FAR from being functional (and many of those who are functional professionaly, have great tedencies of child abuse and neglect).
BUT it misses the very basci perception that addiction runs differently for every sort of chemical and different kinds of genetical profile. The odds of becoming addicted to heroin for example, are WAY BIGGER than becoming addicted to alcohol or even coke.
But the rule is, taking any sort of psychoactive drug is almost a genetic russian rulette, untill you try, you’ll never know wether you might have an inherent chance of getting extremely addicted. (not counting behavioral profiles that influence a lot too).
So, how could know? If alcohol itself is already a enourmous issue on car accidents, child abuse, neglet and so on… what would society have to do deal with other drugs? You can test and punish a drunk driver through a simple test, but how could you prevent accidents from other drugs that are harder to test? How could you avoid accidents from drugs that deposit on fat and cause flashbacks days, or even months, after consuming (like LSD)?
A world where drugs are cheap and easy to find, already exists in many producing countries… and honestly, where there are abundant cheap drugs, you’ll find some of the worst human conditions in this planet.
As a native from a drug-producing country, I must say:
Why the FUCK don’t you “developed world” sissies spoiled tards stop whinning, shape up, grow up, throw away your RIDICULOUS “emmotional wheelchairs” fill your pathetic empty and shallow lives with something (go play in the sun, make some therapy, get relationship with real human beings instead of white dust) and please FUCKING STOP THROWING YOUR CASH TO THE DRUG INDUSTRY… which is no better and it will NEVER BE, than any other bloodsucking manipulative brain-washing industry in this world.
nuff said…
26. Brando | January 27th, 2009 at 5:54 am
It’s clear (even to those euro fags) that there’s NO POINT “to life.” That shit’s silly. If someone wants to fuck, get high, and hang out with their friends and family, they ought to be able to do that.
27. piter | August 5th, 2009 at 9:09 am
Hello all you people , i start saying first to forgive my poor english , but i am from Greece and i live there . Second ,
28. piter | August 5th, 2009 at 9:27 am
Hello all you people , i start saying first to forgive my poor english , but i am from Greece and i live there . Second , euro fags??? lol .
Anyway , me and many of my friends have a hobby of growing and smoking pot , the good pot the natural. We all have good jobs and some got families of their own. I am not writing to defend pot , it can defend it self since and many things have been written.
I want to say though that heroin meth and all those shit are drugs just like the ones you get from the hospital, some got bad things coming with them , who made them anyway? for what reason?
People taking drugs are just victims nothing more , they can get it over with help and support , or by finding another hobby …
MARIJHUANA is not a drug . If you are a drug addict then you got a reason for that , analyse the reasons , talk to friends and family , they will guide you and you will find the answer . What my father told me when i was 16 and got me high on lsd , : son if you don’t like reality change it , if you cant change it , i will help you , make reality fun so you don’t have to take substitutes of happiness .I don’t know if it was lcd or his words but since then me and people with same logic try to make something good . That’s all from a silly euro fag , (hahahahahahaha).
29. Hermano of Infirmity | May 23rd, 2010 at 11:43 pm
I can’t say that I’m surprised by a modern version of Reefer Madness. Most who work in law enforcement realize that the plague on society, if there is such a thing, isn’t meth or pot but our ol’ standby of booze. Though I wish that the “meth epidemic” would be condemned in the same way as “islamofascism” deserves to be both are the new sacred cash-cows for their respective industries. Smiddy is Johnny Law’s new boogeyman and the shady towelhead is the quasi-racist Boeing and Lockheed gate to heaven.
30. mdshrinkguy | September 28th, 2012 at 6:52 pm
To the poster of “As a Physician” I can definitely relate to your frustration in dealing with substance patients – they lie, they beg for what they want – at times even to try to postpone the pain of withdrawal. I’m a physician too, a psychiatrist – in an ideal world those patients would go to psychiatrists or addiction medicine specialist. But since you are in bind of having to see these patients anyway (req Xanax, OXY, perc30s): remind your self the patient may likely have an illness, mild –> severe.
Physical signs as you know are those of whatever they may be withdrawing from or high on.
But try to start thinking of the lying, the cheating, the stealing, the prostitution:
these are all symptoms; usually (of course not always) it is a good person but who steals from pure desperation and a desire to stop the sickness which I’ve seen and it looks very rough.
And its an organ disease which needs to be treated.
You wouldn’t be pissed of, dissaprove or be dismissive of a pancreas, so why bother having those thoughts about the caudate nucleus
Once you make a diagnosis prescribe the best option for the patient; namely at-home detox with AA/NA or partial hospitizion. many other options.
Also I do want to legalize it ( : Probly all of it
31. No. | December 19th, 2013 at 8:07 am
I agree with a lot in this article
However, I don’t agree that just because you have a job means you’re a functioning citizen.
32. Bri | March 28th, 2014 at 3:07 am
Umm is this article a sick little joke ? I just had 7 friends die in one year of heroin overdoses – and a few years back my own father died to prescription pill addiction (part of his death) how can any person right in their mind think that people on heroine can “function” You might be able to for a little bit but after a while your life really does fall apart… What are you going to do sit there and nod off at work… I’ve seen them I’ve seen friends on it there is no absolute way you can be a functioning person of society on drugs and it’s people like you that are corrupting our world it’s like saying hey kids this stuff is like candy take it lets have a world full of alcys and drug addicts and lets see where that’s gets everyone – now I’ll agree on some points like the big pharm companies / the govt/ money how many docs are pill pushers and there is much corruption within the laws and most of these companies are looking just for the profit I get that and all but if you were to legalize hardcore drugs a little kid can try it them get hooked and their life be over…. How is that logical – now weed is a whole other story while I’am not a smoker I know the benefits of Marijuana and there has never been a recorded death from weed alone ever ! It’s natural from the earth – now these other hard core drugs may have been derived from natural plants etc but many are laced and then man made- I just can’t beleive there are people in the world that possibly think legalizing hardcore drugs would do what benefit the world and our country ? So you’re pretty much saying ya screw it make if all legal and free so the addicts will pretty much never have a fighting chance since it’s all just handed to them and most will prob just die of an Od- I mean hell at that point we pretty much would be living in hell- I know many people now adays are prob driving on drugs etc etc but laws and even though some can fail us and there is corruption laws do try to create some type of order in the world without that everyone would be running around rampant it would be like the freaking purge movie without anytime of law (not saying the law is perfect I know there is corruption )and I’ll have to do more research about Europe and how they’re drug overdose rates / and additions rate are but i dont know maybe I feel so strongly against it because so many people in my life I’ve seen destroy their life’s because of drugs… Once people that had their life’s together , that had good things going for them that had so much ahead of them and then drugs came into the picture and now their dead….. I dont know to each their own with their opinions …. But of course a user in denial is going to justify their behavior and their drug . They’re going to downplay the situation. And while your point about alcohol is relevant to a point it is also a completely different kind of addiction to that of heroin… While yes overtime alcohol can be damaging – you can take a drug like heroin once and die from it so there is a major difference – also most people cant get away with driving to work wasted I’m sure they would either get pulled over first of eventually fired – it has nothing to do with society’s view on drugs the bottom line is that alcohol even cigarettes which are also legal but one of the worst things and addictions out there as well ciggarette addiction is up there with heroin in the sense of how hard it can be to quit but my point being is that all this shit is bad ! The pain pills the hard drugs the alcohol – in high quantities and abused everyday ! The ciggarettes! It’s all bad there’s nothing great about any of that shit and you’re always going to be chasing that first high but it’s never going to come back…. Drugs aren’t cool kids – it’s hell disguised as heaven ! It’s an illusion that will trap your mind and your body and soul and will eventually spit you out – some get lucky and seek out of the darkness but most taste an early death…. If that’s what you want for your destiny. It’s scary shit I’ve seen and witnessed first hand… Nothing great about using drugs and the high feelings only last a couple minutes to hours then you feel like shit afterwards , it’s a vicious cycle there is nothing great about that – I’ve never met an addict that enjoys being an addict.
33. pmj | April 18th, 2015 at 9:59 am
You ask why drug is not legalize:
1. It destroys your brain cells.
2. It destroys your fucking brain cells .
3. IT FUCKING DESTROY YOUR BRAIN CELLS.
Although i agree that everyone is free to kill themselves, i think that people should at least be educated on how the fucking drug DESTROY YOUR FUCKING BRAIN CELLS!
Not to mention that life expectancy of a drug user is 15-20 years after the addiction and only 5 years after heavy uses.
To put it simply, IT JUST FUCKING KILLS YOU.
34. Joe | April 24th, 2016 at 10:47 am
I agree that drugs should be decriminalized, but I’m not sure about legalization. The problem with legalization (meaning, you could buy heroin or methamphetamine legally at stores) is that these drugs are very effective at treating anxiety, depression, and other social issues in the short term (but of course end up causing more harm than good long term) and MILLIONS of Americans suffer from these disorders. If these drugs were completely legal, I think we would see huge spike in addictions, accidents (automobile and other), and crime (related to people hopped up or impaired).
I think a better idea is to legalize any drug that you can produce, store, and use PRIVATELY. This means, for example, you could grow marijuana in your backyard or in an indoor hydroponic garden and consume it where appropiate (ie maybe just you r own property, maybe certain public places as well). Same applies for opium, you could grow opium and even convert it to heroin and use it.
What you CANT do is sell recreational drugs like weed or heroin, produce large amounts (amounts way more than any single person or small group of people could consume on their own) and of course no driving or doing anything else dangerous.
I like this better than legalization with commercial sale because if people were allowed to have buisnesses where they produce and sell drugs, I fear we would see a hige spike in use just like the tobacco industry got millions of americans to smoke cigarettes.
With this proposal, everyone is free to legally produce and consume whatever drug they want, but we avoid problems related to businesses pushing drugs on people and make it harder for someone to impulsively use drugs (they mound not just drive to the store). I think the same regulations should be in place for alcohol and tobacco, it should not be legal to profit by selling substances known to be addictive and harmful.