drug legalization

Once again I believe it should be an individual choice. If we are educated on the dangers why should we not be able to make up our own mind? You are saying that the brain doesn't fully develope until 25 and I won't dispute that. Then should we restrict other things too? No sex before 25 because that also has an affect on the brain and no relationships for that matter either because they will alter your thinking as well. I guess we shouldn't do anything before the age of 25 then? I won't argue that heroin and cocaine are bad but I still think they should be legal. If they were legal they could be regulated. There could be places to get clean drugs and clean needles so as to cut down on std's and other diseases. Instead we keep it illegal and it makes it a dirty trade with drug cartels and drug gangs who profit from this. How many lives would we save if these cartels were put out of business? You have to trust people to make up their own minds. If we are educated on use and abuse. Your argument suggest that everything harmful should be illegal. Especially under the age of 25. We can't nerf the world and expect everyone to live happily ever after. This is a dangerous place and we have to do the best we can with the info we are given. How many non-violent drug offenders are locked up each year? They are never the same after that. Our prisons are over full with these offenders. Prison has become big business but that's an argument for another time. The crime rate would go down exponentially if drugs were legal. It would effect gun violence as well. How many shootings occur over drug deals gone wrong? How many occur over gang wars over drug selling turf? We are a country that takes pills. We go the the doctor and he prescribes us a pill. These pills are as deadly and in some cases more deadly than illicit drugs. More people overdose on oxicotoin than heroine every year. Now lets talk about other drugs that have benefits. Cannabis has many beneficial effects. It can be used for a wide range of disease and ailments. It is an effective pain reliever. Much better than the pills you can get from the doctor. It is almost impossible to overdose on cannabis. There has never been a documented case of that. Actually there has never been a case of death from cannabis. It helps people with chemo therapy to keep their appetite. It is not physically addictive. Unlike the highly addictive pills from the doc. I have witnessed that first hand. My girlfriend was once addicted to opiates. She took them as they were prescribed and her body became addicted. I watched her go through withdraws and it was terrible. By the way she was greatly helped by cannabis at that time. Now on to psychedelics. We have used psychedelics through out our history. It has beneficial use. From therapy for soldiers with ptsd to helping terminal patients come to terms with their impending deaths. MDMA has been used in couples therapy. Under the proper setting and proper doses these drugs can be very beneficial. If we take the money we spend on the drug war and the money we spend on imprisoning non-violent drug offenders just think what we could improve. The social improvements could be huge. Spend that money on education and training. A lot of people turn to drugs to escape their reality but if we improve that reality then they would be less likely to turn to drugs. If drugs were legal we could better control the use and distribution. You have to trust the people to make the right choice with the right information.