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Should Cocaine Be Legal?
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Post by
TheMediator
The closest arguement was the opium wars arguement, but even that isn't really the same thing.
How is it not? If America was addicted to cocaine it would be nearly the same thing, people would be lazy and only do whatever it took to get their next fix, like how opium addicted china men were. There's a huge difference between the addictive properties of cocaine and opium, and marijuana; not all drugs are equal in terms of their damage and addictive properties.
You have to look at what is good for the country as a whole, and losing a lot of our labor force to cocaine is not.
btw if anyone here uses cocaine, i hope you go to hell.
They probably are already in hell.
Post by
MyTie
TheMediator -
The difference is that in China, the perils of Opium use were not widely known and recognised, as cocaine use in the US is today. Also the government was not only fighting opium use in its own country, but also fighting a trade war with a larger country. That isn't the case either, in modern America. Although the situations are similar, the results would be very different today.
I would bet that making regulated cocaine legal would not result in a sharp increase in the number of users. An increase? Perhaps, but you making it sound as if we will lose our workforce because all the men will be snorting coke instead of working is a little on the extreme side.
Post by
260787
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Post by
260787
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Post by
MyTie
I know quite a few people who use it when partying and they don't go out killing people, or fighting. They enjoy the night and just have a good time being high. Of course, I don't agree with them using it around me but as long as they aren't getting aggressive, I'm not going to care.
You should care. You should care a lot. I'm not going to explain why, because that should be obvious.
If someone I know used cocaine, I wouldn't know them anymore. I would disown them, until I had proof of treatment and lifestyle change. I don't need that garbage in my life.
Post by
260787
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Post by
Ghoso
The problem with this is, most people who use cocaine, or most drugs for that matter, cannot be counted on to do this. making it legal would not change this.
btw if anyone here uses cocaine, i hope you go to hell.
Please provide your source if you're going to state things as fact. I don't see how drug users aren't competent or informed, most of the people who use drugs I've met know more about them than I do. Most of them also don't break laws other than those associated with drugs.
i state this as fact, because the statement itself would be a contradiction. I don't see a cocaine user, who is in full knowledge of: The damage the drug does to ones brain and body, where the drug came from, what it funds, how it effect other people, to be using the drug and also call them self responsible.
Just google FARC and you'll see what im talking about. while your at it, google every other organization that uses drug money to fund murders and kidnapping.
edit: and as far as making it legal changing nothing, why would people buy pharmaceutical grade drugs that are controlled and priced by the company and the government, when these organizations that currently manufacture the stuff to fund there extortions can pump it out at higher potencies for much cheaper.
Post by
MyTie
Gorefiend - People should be able to choose what to do with thier body. True. And they will with or without the government's approval. Making it legal will simply making it taxable and remove the gang element. That's it.
The same thing with smoking. None of my friends smoke. None. I don't spend my time with smokers. I think smoking should be legal, but I will not be around anyone that does, because I want to set a firm example for my children. I will teach them that they have the ability to choose right and wrong, and teach them how to distinguish the difference. Alcohol abuse is another. Exercising self restraint while drinking is a different story, but you can't exercise self restraint while smoking or doing cocaine.
Not allowing government to be the deciding factor in personal responsibility is not the same thing as approving of the negative action you think government shouldn't disallow.
People should be allowed the option of destroying themselves. I should be allowed the option of not associating with destructive people. That personality type is not something I want to influence me or the ones that I love.
Post by
260787
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Post by
182246
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Post by
TheMediator
Pretty strong statement. You know, not everyone who does cocaine is bad. I know quite a few people who use it when partying and they don't go out killing people, or fighting. They enjoy the night and just have a good time being high. Of course, I don't agree with them using it around me but as long as they aren't getting aggressive, I'm not going to care.
I meant in the context that a lot of crack addicts are in hell in terms of how their body is so dependent on it, not that they're going to hell (not that I believe hell exists anyways).
Anyways, I find it so strange that MyTie is so heavily for choosing what people should do with their body, yet he is so against women being able to make that same choice, when it comes to abortion (not to side track the thread, just find it interesting).
Post by
Ghoso
Since when did people have to make responsible or "good" decisions? I could rant on about how large multinational corporations simultaneously exploit people and the Earth in order to fetch a profit but I'm not going to ask to criminalize them. I don't consider my own moral code to be the one by which everyone should live their life.
fine do all the cocaine you want. enjoy life.
Post by
182246
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Post by
Malgayne
Edit
: While I wrote this there were seven more replies. I have to copy and paste my responses and refresh the thread before I hit "Submit", or risk my arguments no longer being relevant. =/
It seems like for the most part this thread has stayed on track while I slept. Keep the flames to a minimum and we should be good here.
Now here's something I'm wondering.
Not allowing government to be the deciding factor in personal responsibility is not the same thing as approving of the negative action you think government shouldn't disallow.
I agree whole-heartedly. There are a number of behaviors which I believe are destructive and morally wrong, and yet I firmly believe that those actions must be legally allowed—though that is another debate entirely. Here's what I wonder about though.
Exercising self restraint while drinking is a different story, but you can't exercise self restraint while smoking or doing cocaine.
If you really CAN'T exercise self-restraint while doing cocaine, then how can you argue that someone should be prosecuted as normal for crimes that are committed while under the influence of cocaine?
If I get hopped up on coke because I'm looking to have a good time, but instead I lose my self-restraint and rape someone—and
then
sober up and go to the person and her family in hysterical tears begging them for the opportunity to make it up to them, offering to marry the girl if she becomes pregnant, etc. etc.—do you really think I should receive the same punishment as someone who carefully and soberly plans to ambush the same person, rape her, and then leave town to avoid prosecution?
In the latter case, my error was in thinking it was okay to rape someone. This is absolutely inexcusable and should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
In the former case, my error was in thinking that I could handle a little cocaine. This is a small, forgivable, understandable mistake—but the result was the same act.
The reason I believe that cocaine should continue to be illegal is because, as you say: you can't exercise self-restraint while doing cocaine. It's a drug that transforms very small mistakes (like thinking "a little coke won't hurt") into much larger ones (like "killing this person is acceptable").
Cocaine should not be made illegal to protect cocaine users from cocaine. It should be illegal so as to protect
all people
from the actions people may take—in fact, are more likely to take—while under the influence. If I know that using cocaine
more often than not
turns otherwise normal people into dangerous criminals, it would be foolish of me to allow its sale, just like it would be foolish of me not to take action to prevent a disease BEFORE it spreads.
Post by
TheMediator
The reason I believe that cocaine should continue to be illegal is because, as you say: you can't exercise self-restraint while doing cocaine. It's a drug that transforms very small mistakes (like thinking "a little coke won't hurt") into much larger ones (like "killing this person is acceptable").
Totally agree with you there Malygane.
Post by
MyTie
Malgayne-
The difference is that if I have a glass of wine, I'm not going to go ape and start rapeing people. Illicit drugs are a different story, we both realize that. Two points here:
1) Making it legal or illegal will not affect its usage as much as you think. Therefore, usage isn't the point I'm argueing.
2) Personal responsibility comes BEFORE you do cocaine in the first place. Same with drinking. It comes BEFORE you get smashed and get behind the wheel. If I were to get drunk I would drive. I would be violent. I would not be in control. So, I exercise that self control by not allowing myself to get drunk, or to do cocaine.
So, since we are drawing the alcohol/cocaine responsibility parallel... should getting drunk be illegal?
Post by
182246
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Post by
Ghoso
It's not that strange really, since he believes live begins at conception they're choosing what to do with someone else's body as well.
fine do all the cocaine you want. enjoy life.
I will, thank you. I don't get why people assume anyone who's for drug legalization use accusations of drug use as a detractor.
im not directly accusing you to do coke, im just saying, if your argument that a large corporation is as harmful to society as paramilitary groups, then so be it, i wont get in the way of how you arrange your morals.
i just wish that some weren't so selfish to choose a brain altering high for themselves at the expense of others.
Post by
172996
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Post by
Malgayne
1) Making it legal or illegal will not affect its usage as much as you think. Therefore, usage isn't the point I'm argueing.
Good point. But can we agree then, that
if
it is within the government's power to effectively restrict its use, then the government should do so—and beyond that it's not a question of whether it should be done but whether the government is capable?
2) Personal responsibility comes BEFORE you do cocaine in the first place. Same with drinking. It comes BEFORE you get smashed and get behind the wheel. If I were to get drunk I would drive. I would be violent. I would not be in control. So, I exercise that self control by not allowing myself to get drunk, or to do cocaine.
So, since we are drawing the alcohol/cocaine responsibility parallel... should getting drunk be illegal?
You said yourself: "Exercising self restraint while drinking is a different story, but you can't exercise self restraint while smoking or doing cocaine". Clearly you put them in a different category, as do I. I believe the two cases are different, and should be treated differently by the government.
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