LSD should be legal under license

Rebuttles: “With the level of danger you are claiming we would be hearing about LSD dangers every single day on the news.” Not every murder is put on the news. Approximately 45 murders occur in the United States every day. You might hear about one or two on an average day on national news if that. Drug-related crime is fairly common with people who are under the influence of a drug; especially a powerful, mind-altering hallucinogen like LSD that can cause a psychotic episode. LSD has a reputation of causing people to become violent and unpredictable. Reputations like that do not happen without a reason. Source: http://tizona.wordpress.com... Suggested Reading: - http://www.pantagraph.com... - http://www.sfgate.com... “These side effects are noted by the user and are easily overcome with the right mindset.” I believe you are assuming far too much from potential users. You are assuming that all of the people who use or will use LSD are going to be responsible about it. That is like selling guns to everyone assuming anybody who would buy a gun is going to be responsible and in the right mindset. That is a dangerous assumption and if you read the suggested reading above you know that not everyone is responsible. “Schedule I drugs can be studied in a lab but only after a very lengthy process and permission to do so from the government.” Your source does not support this statement. “I also ask that as I state above that LSD is in the same class as heroin and classed as even more dangerous than cocaine and methamphetamine. Do you actually agree that is causes more harm than these chemicals.” I researched and compared all three and come to the conclusion that I believe it is categorized appropriately. You have to remember that the drugs are classified not necessarily due to its health hazards but also for social reasons. The DEA is more concerned about its likelihood of abuse rather than its actual health effects on the abusers. The possible widespread use of hazardous chemicals is of more concern than the actual effects on the body to the government. The government’s purpose is to maintain our society and legalizing potentially hazardous chemicals for public use is not productive toward that goal. If it were only about its health hazards I would agree that cocaine should be higher than LSD, but that is not the purpose of the classification. “Denver recently legalised marijuana for recreational purposes and actually showed a drop in crime. The streets didnt explode with marijuana addicts and crime.” I never actually said that and marijuana is not a very dangerous drug. If I actually stated that you should have quoted me although I am certain I didn’t say that. I am aware that drug crime went down after legalization in Colorado; I watch the news. I was criticizing your methodology of legalizing LSD that would very possibly lead to that outcome because you were unintentionally encouraging illegal sales of LSD. “Despite what you may have heard without first hand experience you would not know that when under the influence of LSD you dont lose all control of your being and still are able to make rational choices unless you have a source proving otherwise. It impairs you to a lesser degree to alcohol which kills thousands of people every year.” Again, you are assuming that everyone will be responsible. That is and will not necessarily be the case. There are irresponsible users of drugs such as alcohol, meth, and LSD. People who are responsible I am sure do well to avoid overdosing and losing control, but many do not. You cannot guarantee the safety of those around them when this happens. The effects of LSD overdose are very hazardous potentially leading to psychotic episodes or simply violent behavior that is unpredictable. I have found a source that does oppose your statement written by a professor of psychology: “2. Myth -- A Friend or Guide Can Prevent You From Having a Bad Trip Well-meaning proponents of LSD have promoted the idea that having a friend or "guide" with you while you are on LSD will prevent you from experiencing a bad trip. Supposedly, a grounded, intuitive, and open-minded person can say just the right thing or support you in just the way you need, to ensure you have a marvelous time on LSD. “Truth -- While having a supportive friend can often help with a bad trip, even people who have experience with LSD and training in psychotherapy are sometimes unable to prevent others from having a negative reaction to the drug. Friends can easily be perceived as enemies by someone experiencing paranoia while they are tripping. And there are plenty of examples of people having bad trips while in the company of those who care about them.” Sources: - http://www.projectknow.com... - http://addictions.about.com... In Reply to the Quotes: According to Elizabeth Hartney, PhD in psychology: “5. Myth -- Acid is the Key to Unlocking the Unconscious Mind Many people who take LSD believe that acid unlocks your awareness of your unconscious, can give you access to repressed material from your past, and can reveal hidden truths about yourself and about humanity. Truth -- Taking LSD might get you thinking about things in a way you haven't thought of before, but it does not give you a key to the inner workings of your mind. Acid is just as likely to get you thinking about things that have no basis in reality as uncovering hidden truths. And just because you have taken LSD and thought about your past doesn't mean you know or understand everything that has happened to you -- sometimes genuinely repressed traumatic events emerge during psychotherapy, long after the individual has discontinued the drug. Some people don't remember traumatic events that happened to them at all, and in some cases, this might be for the best.” All those people, as respectable as they may beg, are kidding themselves. LSD is a manmade hallucinogen, not some magical substance made by pixy fairies. It disrupts your neurotransmitters acting like serotonin, basically manipulating your brain in ways it is not supposed to. It also affects the way your retinas process visual information playing tricks on the eyes. What you perceive while under the influence of LSD is all fake and unnatural and, therefore, has no basis in reality. Source: http://science.howstuffworks.com... Conclusion: I have stated that LSD is a drug that is not only harmful to the user, but is ultimately harmful to society. I think the majority of us agree that what individual people do to themselves do not entirely matter to us. What does matter is what it does to society as a whole. People on LSD cannot be expected to act responsibly and the methods brought forth by pro fails to convince me that it can be managed. Pro also fails to answer all of my questions about how LSD legalization would be managed. We all know that LSD is a more potent drug than marijuana. People on LSD have violent and unpredictable tendencies that are far more serious. We need to consider what is actually best for our communities and if legalizing LSD is actually productive to that end. I do not see how legalizing this Schedule 1 drug for recreational can be productive.