Drug Legalization

You misunderstood me. I did not suggest drugs be given to patients by doctors. I suggested that drugs be sold in stores to any adult that wants them, like cigarettes and alcohol. And legalizing drugs is not at all like legalizing theft or murder. Those are inherently immoral. Stealing something from someone or killing them hurts them. Drug use only affects the user. Drug users may later commit crimes, but they don't necessarily do so. Since you seem to have a few other misconceptions about drugs, I'll devote the rest of this post to information about some of the "harder" drugs. PCP- This drug has one of the worst reputations of all illicit drugs. It is said to produce feelings of invulnerability, superhuman strength, and cause vicious, irrational violence. But PCP's reputation for causing violence is unfounded. In a review of 350 journal articles on PCP use, psychiatrist Martin Brecher found little evidence that PCP provokes violent behavior. [1] There are only three documented acts of violence committed by people under the influence of only PCP. [1] In addition, when PCP was tested as an anesthetic, it was given to hundreds of patients, but not a single case of violence was reported. [1] [1] Martin Brecher et al., "Phencyclidine and Violence: Clinical and Legal Issues," Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology 8:6 (December 1988): 397-401 Meth- This drug is said to be so addictive that one use will get you addicted for life. But only 6% of the 10 million people who have ever used meth have used it during the last month. [2] And in a 2002 study, only 7% of high school seniors who had used it during the last year were considered heavy users. [2] But what about all the people that do have terrible problems with meth? Well, why would it ruined only a small minority of users' lives? Why, if it was such a destructive drug, would some people have problems with it and others not? The users that become addicted and ruin their lives are generally people with severe mental and emotional problems anyway. Take, for example, the case of a man who beheaded his son because he was "possessed by the devil." [3] This was used as an example of meth turning someone into a monster. But he was also under the influence of alcohol at the time, and had a long history of violence while under the influence of alcohol. Did meth play a role in the murder? Maybe. But this was certainly not a case of meth turning a peaceful, law-abiding man into a maniac. [2] John A. Newmeyer, "The Epidemiology of Amphetamine Use," in David E. Smith, ed., Amphetamine Use, Misuse, and Abuse (Boston : G.K. Hall, 1979), 55-72. SAMHSA (2002), tables H.1 and H.2. NIDA, 81-85. Monitoring the Future Study, tables 5 and 7. [3] Wren and Jim Walsh, "Beheading Linked to Drug Use," The Arizona Republic (July 26, 1995) Heroin- This drug is said to be immensely pleasurable, supposedly many times more so than an orgasm, so good that users get addicted for life after one hit. Then, once addicted, get higher and higher doses to attempt to get back to the original high, ruining their life in the process. These claims are largely false. First, heroin high is nowhere near as good as most believe. Researchers injecting heroin into test subjects found that the vast majority were indifferent to the feeling or disliked it. [4] The actual high is basically several hours of blocking out everything. Food, sex, jobs, friends, pain, frustrations, and everything else no longer matter. Generally, only a person that already had problems, that wanted to escape from reality, would have a compulsive craving for this feeling. But what about physical addiction, like how smokers have physical cravings for nicotine? Studies of users show that physical dependence does not develop easily. A user would have to inject pure, unadulterated heroin three times a day for two straight weeks to develop a level of dependence detectable by medical instruments. [5] With diluted street heroin, it is even harder to develop physical dependence. What about heroin users needing ever-higher doses? Also false. Users do build up a tolerance, but not continuously—they reach a plateau after a while. [6] Another false claim is that once addicted, heroin users are addicts for life, because it is so hard to get off heroin. Most users have few problems with withdrawal; which, physically, is generally no worse than a bad cold, and over in a few days. [7] Of course, those are just the physical symptoms. The problem is that many addicts use heroin to escape their problems. Since those problems come back once the heroin wears off, often worse than they were before, addicts just use more heroin, creating a vicious cycle. These are the people that have tremendous difficulty getting off heroin; and this type of addict has more to do with the person than the drug. When most people think of a heroin user, they think of a desperate addict living on the streets, stealing to pay for his habit. This image is not the typical heroin user. [8] In 1971, Washington DC police captain Gerald M. Caplan, said "more than 100 officers were taking heroin. How did we learn about them? Not because their performance was poor. . . We took urine specimens." A study of college student GPA's found no significant difference between users and non users. [9] [4] Lasagna, L., John M. von Felsinger, Henry K. Beecher. "Drug-Induced Mood Changes in Man." Journal of the American Medical Association 157 (1955): 1113-1119. [5] Kaplan, John. The Hardest Drug: Heroin and Public Policy. Studies in Crime and Justice. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1983. 27. [6] Judsen, Horace Freeland. Heroin Addiction in Britain: What Americans Can Learn from the English Experience. New York: Harcourt Brace Jonanovich, 1973. 121-122. [7] Scur, Edwin M. Narcotic Addiction in Britain and America: The Impact of Public Policy. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1962. 27. [8] Platt, Jerome J., and Christina Labate. Heroin Addiction: Theory, Research, Treatment. Wiley Series on Personality Processes. A Wiley Interscience Publication. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1976. 171. [9] Blum Richard H., et al. Students and Drugs: College and High School Observations. The Jossey-Bass Behavioral Science Series and the Jossey-Bass Series in Higher Education (published jointly). San Fransisco: Jossey-Bass, 1969. Cocaine- This drug is thought to encourage violence and be estremely addictive. While cocaine's effects, which include increased endurance, increased muscle power, and a greater willingness to take risks, may be associated with violence, violence among cocaine users and even addicts is uncommon. [10] In addition, claims of addiction, like those of heroin, are largely overblown. A study where crack was administered to 200 volunteers found that none of them later abuse it, and a study of 175 crack users in Los Angeles found that all of them used it in moderation. [11] [10] Nadelmann, Ethan A. "Drug Prohibition in the United States: Costs, Consequences, and Alternatives." Science 245 (1989): 941, 943-44. [11] Siegel, Ronald K. Intoxication: Life in Persuit of Artificial Paradise. New York: Dutton, 1989. 309-10.