Which drugs should be made legally available?

I think that there are a lot good and bad sides to legalizing pot, but on the other drugs, I really don't know enough about them to make a decision.

I believe marijuana & LSD should be legal, maybe opium, shrooms, peyote, & unprocessed coca leaves too. I used to enjoy grass twice a year anh a halucinogenic every 2 years. I had a decent library, and probably spent more time reading about them then using them. MDMA (X), cocaine, & heroin are too destructive &/or addictive and little can be learned from them. I wouldn't care to see addicts of any of these drugs any more than I'd care to see alcoholics. I drink on holidays, & haven't done anything heavy in about a decade.
I don't like taking the current trend to take psych meds for granted. Politics is tied in with pharmaceuticals. You notice all the US media is about whethar a president's plan will successfully cover all the meds, not about whethar we even want everyone on meds.

I don't think there should be any laws regarding which substances people choose to ingest into their own bodies. The government has no business protecting people from themselves.

I have to disagree about MDMA; I know many people who've learned an incredible amount thru its use. It used to be used therapeutically in the 70's and 80's before it was made illegal, and it's not physically addictive (at least in the way that cocaine and heroin are, though many users find that the intensity of their experience fades with time)

Someone very close to me used to make it. I've tried it a couple times and loved it, but if I understand correctly, it is damaging in a way mushrooms and acid are not. The unflattening of emotional awareness is wonderfull, unfortunately it wouldn't work as a consistent prescription because the affected receptors would kick into self-pruning, much like the intended behavior of the SSRI family.

I think they should all be made legal and be available either through doctors or regulated and taxed like liquor.

my understanding is that the receptors which are damaged do grow back. I'd never recommend it for regular use, just for occasional events.

As much as I enjoyed the experience, for the next week I had the feeling that my hair was made of fish skeleton accompanied by fizzly prickling whenever I smoked a cigarette. That told me I didn't want to try it again. Years later I had my spiritual awakening through which I can somewhat simulate the prior varieties of consciousness attainable through drugs, not that I don't now create some new hybrids.

For medical reasons, marijuana should be made legal!

I always thought marijuana should be legalised, although I haven't smoked it for years.

All.

for years!!!??

Are you sure about that!

that's bollox

That's your opinion.

I know it is!

See how I respected it?

Very impressed!!

Well I admit I had a few puffs in January this year, how on earth do you remember? You were in Australia at the time, it was ages ago and even I don't remember unless someone reminds me. lol

I don't know enough about ecstasy to have an opinion. I think that all of the rest should be available for either medical or recreational uses, or both.

Any of them for medical reasons, none for anything else.

I don't subscribe to the "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" approach to narcotics.

I beg to differ, because the consequences of people's actions may have adverse effects on everyone else. If you allow people to throw whatever they want into their bodies, who is going to look after them? The taxpayer.

People don't have the right to do whatever they want, in the name of personal choice - whether or not I choose to move to Saskatoon, eat a Big Mac for lunch, or use a red or blue pen today is not likely to cause grievance to society. But if I rob a bank, carry a gun around in my pocket, or become a drug junkie, odds are much greater I might harm someone else/society at large. Where the distinction should be made is up for debate - but the line does exist!

I'd rather have a nation of people consuming marijuana than Big Macs; my share of their medical bills will be lower.

How does making certain drugs illegal change that? Are prisons free? Trials? Court appointed lawyers? Police? The war on drugs costs taxpayers a fortune. I don't see that as a valid argument.

I didn't say that robbing banks or carrying a concealed weapon shouldn't be illegal.

Junkies commit crimes because heroin is illegal, therefore expensive. If heroin were not a source of profit for organized crime, we would all be better off.

You said:

"Junkies commit crimes because heroin is illegal, therefore expensive. If heroin were not a source of profit for organized crime, we would all be better off"

WRONG. If heroin was made legal, the number of users would increase!
Is that what you want!?

It's not gonna happen!

I'd rather have them outlaw Big Macs than legalize pot.

Wicksy is exactly right. Prisons, trials etc do cost money, but I think the costs to society (both socially and economically) would be much higher if illicit substances were legalized.

Furthermore, you are implying that the "war on drugs" is not worth spending money on. Why not? It does cost a fortune, but how much worse off could we be if the money wasn't spent.

what about the people who can take care of themselves? Are they to be denied something because some people can't take care of themselves? That's a dangerous principle when applied fully.

Personally, I've tried all sorts of psych meds in an effort to be productive. So far the only thing that has worked is grass. Under it's influence I composed a brilliant math proof, can do my cartooning work on the first stroke instead of ten redraws, and have the focus to work for hours instead of getting out of my chair absent-mindedly every few minutes. I also 'get' far more stuff going on in all the realms of art, science, spirit, and interpersonal communication. A couple puffs will influence me for nearly half a week, and often has the effect of keeping me up that long too. I don't know what negative effects it has (on me) other than the complete loss of what little time consciousness I have, or what the effects of continual usage would be, but I can assure you if I could get a prescription, I'd sure like to find out. My main problem with it was that it made things feel unreal, I found myself craving breeze and sunshine and ground under my toes to bring a sensation of crisp tangability to life. Now acid I enjoyed too, but that's the last thing on this planet to make my conventional work more productive. Unfortunately, they don't seem to be researching hemp as a psych med much at all, perhaps it doesn't help others the way it's helped me, about the only thing I've found is that they discovered the CB-2 receptor is the one that responds to both THC and chocolate, and NIMH is working on extracting and synthesizing various components of it.

I had a friend who managed to hold her job for years on heroin. She was going through withdrawals trying to get off every three weeks. Thankfully she got off of it about a year ago, and everything else for that matter. It sounded like hell.

PCP should definitely be made legal.

The only one that I believe should be legalized is marijuana and even then it should only be used for medical reasons.

I disagree with people eventually being able to by marijuana like cigarettes in a convenience store and I hope that never happens. If any of the other drugs were legalized society would just be a place full of hyper people, depressed people and zombies.

Point taken, but what is the alternative?

You know, I smoke cigarettes and I wouldn't have minded one bit if they had been illegal when I was a teen.
I think the people to poll about legalisisng heroin would be heroin users. I suspect most of them would have wished they never had the opportunity.
Cigarettes may be saving millions of lives; think of how many people got a first hand chance to experience the grim reality of addiction before making a choice on trying heroin. I did coke a few times when I was younger. There were parties at the house, I was invited, and you feel cheesy guilty if you don't pitch in on the next round. Except the first time which was with pure natural stuff, I never enjoyed it, though I did get 'the mores'. Only overwhelming continued free opportunity could have me to a point where I'd initiate a buy decision. Either thats what happens, or people enjoy it more than I did.

I think Zang's point was that, while number of users may increase, the number of crimes committed by users would decrease. Which I think is what everybody wants, even the anti-drug wing.

Whether organized crime would also go down is open to debate; I seriously doubt organized criminals would be incapable of finding another outlet.

Society is already full of hyper people, depressed people, and zombies.

Marijuana, it's as harmless as alcohol (which isn't all that harmless) but a lot of people use it and are fine, but many people are thrown in jail for selling it or posessing it, filling our jails. It's not even addictive.

But why make it any worse than it already is? Like we need anymore people walking around with their heads in the clouds! There's enough air heads already! lol

I agree. My answer was none.

Cocaine

For religious reasons, peyote should be legal

N O N E!! I think drugs are the downfall of many. I personally have never taken illegal drugs nor would I want to. I have unfortunately taken legal prescribed drugs, which I feel can be very damning (didn't know it at the time). The Bible warns us of the use of drugs. What a way for someone to control a country, but by the use of drugs. How easy it would be to control the masses of people but by mind twisting drugs, to lose their spirit and common sense. In my youth, thank God, drugs were not prevalent, the group of people I chose to be friends, never took drugs. Today, if I were young, because of my strong faith and guidance of my parents, I would still choose never to take drugs. I have a question for those of you that have taken drugs, WHY?? What we put in our bodies will affect our future generations. We have a responsibility to our future generations.

Marijuana is one of the safest drugs that is considered illegal, when in fact, it has not caused any deaths, is very natural, and most people who smoke it, aren't addicted to it, like cigarettes. You cannot overdose on it, like you can with alcohol, ending up in a coma or death. I say legalize it, like in Holland, where there are actual bars of the stuff, coming in different varieties.

I believe that all of these should be made legal in small amounts, and marijuana should be made completely legal.

How do you figure that legal heroin would be more popular than illegal heroin? Do you think that many people are so gullible that all it would take is legality to make them want to be junkies?

The "war on drugs" is a joke. The purpose is obviously to put more money into the hands of organized crime. It has nothing to do with helping the hapless victims of substance abuse. It isn't much of a stretch to make a comparison to the prohibition of alcohol in the U.S. in the 1920s. Things haven't changed since then. Do you think that all the levels of government that were being bribed back then, aren't being bribed now? What made it stop. Did everyone suddenly become honest? It doesn't require an enormous leap of logic to see what is happening.

One of my hobbies is collecting advertisements for crack. They're all over the place embedded in everything from TV ads to web banners to portrayal by radio jockeys. Those not fed that route are going the legal med route. Look at what minute portions get caught in spite of sniffing equipment, etc. The news points out that we don't have time to stop all the traffic at that the border. They don't bring up that even in the 20's we had things like shore to inland cave networks. Occasionally we have CIA planes get caught smuggling, but the public's memory is so dismally limited. When the story of bio-engineered 'coal' in taco bell and grocery store taco shells was replaced two days later with a story of bio-engineered 'corn', the media made no apology; they behaved as if the story had always been 'corn'. 1984. I've run into others who heard 'coal' who are left to debate their own sanity when those around them swept by the mainstream mimic 'corn'. The average person isn't aware that heating fuels are bio-engineered as cattle feed. They have no idea that the most intricate parts of the human brain have already been cloned, instead they are adjusted to the thought by main-stream stories of saving endangered species through cloning. None of this stuff is even kept secret if you go to the right official webssites. We just rely on people accepting whatever the TV says is true, without an interest in reserching further.

It is not the business of the government to regulate chemicals (Insomuch as the chemicals are intended for voluntary human consumption, and nothing else).

how many times have you heard of a person killing somebody in a car wreck because they were high on marijuana (which is NOT legal.) now how many times have you heard of someone getting killed by someone under the influence of alcohol (which is LEGAL). MAKES YOU THINK HUH

I've known people who drive better high than not, but maybe that's not your point; Maybe your point is legality increases usage, increases accidents. In either case I'm presuming you've had the same experience as I, hearing of numerous alcohol deaths but no marijuana deaths. Perhaps you could clarify these three points of uncertainty here.

all of the above.

Whoa, thats a wee bit of a conspiracy theory there. I'm pretty cynical, but that sounds paranoid!

I really doubt that the ``war on drugs'' was intended to put money into the hands of organized crime. Rather, it was intended to put money (and authority) into the hands of federal law enforcement officials, and to give Richard Nixon something to point at and say ``see, I'm all that stands between you and that scary thing!''

Yeah right. I'm sure that's what they would like us to think. What a kooky idea!

Whenever a government does something that appears to be completely irrational, one should ask "Who stands to profit from this?".

Sure. I just think the answer ``Richard Nixon and the Republican Party'' makes a lot more sense than ``organized crime'' in this case. Nixon not only stood to benefit from the thing, but he was overtly responsible for its institution. It doesn't seem necessary to suppose that he was doing it as a favor for his secret organized crime buddies. They may have thanked him for it later, but that doesn't mean they got him to do it in the first place.

It's not legal in The Netherlands.

what then!?

Marijuana and all psychedelics (including Ecstasy). Maybe all drugs, though, I'm not so sure about that. I'd want there to be a good amount of regulation, including purity standards.
Marijuana is similar to alcohol and should be as legal as it - really, I think it's a lot safer (stoned people cause less trouble than drunk people).
As for psychedelic drugs... I'm not sure. I have this vision of "trip centers" where people could go to try them. They could be checked for their mental state before they are let in. Once in, they would be kept there in comfort and given a positive environment in which to enjoy the drug.
I realize that this is a fantasy, that something would go wrong and it wouldn't work, but... *SHRUG*

The government allow coffeeshops to sell the stuff under very strict guidelines. They cannot sell more than 5 grams to a person and the shops are checked very often. If the owner has too much marijuana stored the shop is closed immediately and for good.
Importing is also illegal and growing also.

morphine

H&R Pufnstuff Trip Land!

Mind twisting drugs in limited controlled usage with directed intent can lead to making revelations & connections and creative insights as well as expose one to new forms of awareness and perception which they can later train into their consciousness. But with continued usgae they can lead to a complacent surreality ideal for keeping people in front of the TV set and accepting whatever they hear even if the story is different next week. I believe the government is promoting both prescription and illicit drugs for this reason. I just saw a senate campaign suggesting rehab, not incarceration re: drugs, with the slogan "what would you want for your kids". It leaves me wondering if the enforcement of stiff penalties on something a majority of the population does from time to time is done on a discriminatory basis, depending on things like your flavor of political activism or your social caste.

Here are some clippings that show up when you load pages containing drug terms. Squint. Am I seeing too much? Razor with powder , red lips w/ joint.. I have a lot more.
< img src="http://ereiam.com/images/album/banners.jpg"> or go to the bottom of this page.

I said positive, not absurdly weird.

Definitely marijuana, and I think also X and LSD; the others I'm not sure about, but I lean towards legalizing everything. Drug usage in the US is already so widespread that I don't believe legalization would make things worse, and I think it just might make them better by (hopefully) at least getting rid of the black market. We should have learned our lesson after Prohibition. And for medical use, I think it's ridiculous that morphine and codeine can be prescribed, but marijuana can't.
I also think it's ridiculous that alcohol is legal and other drugs aren't. If other drugs are legalized, though, I do think they should be subject to certain government regulations, as alcohol and tobacco are.

If it isnt addictive why are there withdrawl symptoms?

none of them

Pot yes. If alcohol and tobacco are I don't see why not. It's legal in the ACT (Australian Capital Territory) and South Australia for personal use. No amphetamines (trips, X, goey). Heroin becomes pointless after a while, addicts get nothing out of it but they need it to be 'normal' so no. Opium would significantly lower the productivity of users. Coke fudges people up too much.

Do they allow homegrown?

We'd have to change the name of the ATF to ATMLXF.

ASEXYBABE - Like, alcohol, Marijuana has not physically addictive components. People who use it, will not suffer physically if they sudden stop using it. Tobacco, Heroin/Opium(or other Opiates), and Cocaine drugs all have physically addictive components.

Still, like alcohol, there are is a psychological addiction that can occur with Marijuana (and really just about any substance). Anecdotal evidence seems to indicates that long time daily pot smokers
will often struggle to quit.

Alcohol is addictive also if it isnt how do you explain the shakes? And vomitting? I have seen these symptoms when alcoholics stop drinking that is why many alcoholics require medical detox. I have experienced withdrawl symptoms from marijuana firsthand. I had really bad stomach aches and massive weight loss no matter how much I ate. It was not like a struggle to quit it was withdrawl. I know that lots of people say there is no withdrawl but I disagree.

All drugs should be made legal. The government has no business telling us what substances we can put in our bodies. They use the excuse that drug use MIGHT lead to criminal behavior, but think of how many actions in this world MIGHT lead to criminal behavior. should we punish them all? Should we arrest and imprison everyone who has a fast car because there is a good chance they might drive recklessly and kill someone. Of course not. That would be ridiculous. That would be condemning someone who has not done anything wrong based on an assumption of what they could possibly do, which is exactly what we do to drug users and that is wrong. We can't punish crimes that haven't been committed yet. Someone who solely puts foreign substances in their body, is not hurting anyone else, and is not a criminal. We have far bigger problems in this country than a person who wants to feel high, and we should worry about those things.

Add morphine to that list, not to mention about 95% of all prescription drugs. Seriously, do we have a problem in this country with people O.D.ing on heart pill trying to get high?

It's not physically addictive, like heroine, but it (like anything really) can be psychologically addictive, used as a crutch.

What country is that?

I think marijuana should be legalized simply because too much money is wasted to keep it illegal. It's no worse than alcohol or cigarettes. And I think Heroin and Cocaine should be controlled by the government. If these drugs were given for free to addicts who were registered and monitored by the government, crime would fall because the need to steal money for drugs would be gone, drug dealers would be out of business and the billions of dollars wasted on maintaining criminalization could be spent on getting addicts rehabilitated.

Oh by the way, in August an Ontario judge struck down the Marijuana Law as being unconstitutional, so if a new one isn't written by August 2001, possession marijuana will not be illegal in Canada.
(There's a countdown at www.marijuanaparty.org)

Every place on earth.

mushrooms

Drugs yeah OK !, sure medical purposes should be respected !
Taking drugs of any sort in able body is of no importance, think smart,

Marijuana has pain relieving qualities.

When they can prove Marijuana is harmful, then make it illegal. Till then the Government is throwing away money trying to make it the "bad" drug.

If anything should be illegal it should be alcohol because you never hear anyone die from a car accident because they were high. There's nothing wrong with having a little fun with E.

A person should be allowed to pump whatever chemicals they want to into their bodies. Did I say I'm libertarian?

I have always believed that marijuana should be made legal.

after listening to a speech by Ralph Nadar I think industrial hemp should be a legal crop. i don't smoke or do drugs but it seems that marijuana is rather a mild drug and it would decrease arrests and provide more money in taxes

The only drugs that should be legalized are organic, non-lethal drugs such as marijuana, mushrooms, and peyote.

Milder, easily controlled and packaged marijuana cigarettes and opium pipe loads would increase the tax base while guaranteeing higher quality substances. They could be dispensed similarly to alcohol.

Legalize all the drugs. Have em available for a low price. That way we won't have to worry about drug addicts robbing and killing us for the overpriced goods dealers provide, and we won't have dealers ruining inner city neighborhoods. They might have to go out and get REAL jobs, like most law-abiding citizens.

All the above drugs should be kept illegal as there are good reasons for them currenlty being illegal. Side effects from mild drugs such as marijuana are still enough to keep such drugs on the "banned" list.

Here in California, prop. 36 is on the ballot. It makes personal use and posession not for sale an erasable rehab crime, not a jail crime unless accompanied by a weapon or actual crime.
Arizona has already done it.
It's on the Alska ballot too I hear. It the 70's you were allowed three plants in Alaska. This time, no plants. I guess business has it's hands in the 'pot'.

For medical resons Marijuana my be of so use.

Marijuana should be legal for medical reasons and medical reasons only. If you can help a cancer patient to have some quality of life by letting them smoke marijuana then let them.

The other I chose was Hasish..I mean, these aren't physically addictive..They're no worse than Alcohol (Which is legal...)Why are people so anal?

Natural drugs(marijuana,shrooms,opium,peyote)should be legalized for several reasons:
1.They all have possible medical value(and should be studied)
2.Our government is not supposed to butt in on our personal lives
3.Cuts down on crime, increases the economy, and frees LOTS of innocent people from prisons(which are getting too crowded, anyway)
There are more reasons, of course, but not enough space to list them here

I am strongly against all drugs. I don't even understand the 'for medical purposes' crap. I think that too many people would abuse their 'right' to the drugs available for that purpose.

So you'd make aspirin, penicillin, and sudafed illegal, even for medical purposes?

Marijuana has been decriminalized where i live!

Same here as of a week ago. Do you live in California?