Maybe Legalizing Drugs Is Not Such A Good Idea?

[Girzo]

1 hour ago, Israfil said:

With the NBOME problem, it goes further. NBOH is also an analogous substance that has at least 7 variants.

They are not bad psychedelics when consumed consciously and accurately dosed.

[Israfil]

48 minutes ago, Girzo said:

They are not bad psychedelics when consumed consciously and accurately dosed.

The trip was very noisy for me. Every time I took it I threw up.

[Leo Gura]

8 hours ago, Oppositionless said:

I don't remember what episode it was, but Vice had an interview with someone who created a legal drug that mimicked meth but was less addictive/dangerous, and suddenly a bunch of addicts were switching to the legal drug and it saved a bunch of lives.  and then they made the new drug illegal too.

They will always make a new drug illegal if it becomes popular enough.

[Danioover9000]

@r0ckyreed

On 2023-08-20 at 5:16 PM, r0ckyreed said:

I recently went to Oregon in the past month. I wanted to say that Portland was bittersweet with the extreme wealth and extreme homelessness. I have never before seen such a place with no middle class before. I have learned that you can have the right intentions and goals, but if your strategy and execution aren't good in achieving that goal, then the right intention becomes the wrong intention. I will summarize the articles on Oregon's decriminalization issue both pros and cons of decriminalization, and then I will offer my own analysis.

Summary of Articles On The Issue:

https://www.cato.org/blog/oregons-drug-decriminalization-needs-go-further#:~:text=5%2C400 fewer people were arrested,disparities in arrests and convictions.

So, in this article, the author advocates that decriminalization is not the final step. Just because all drugs are decriminalized does not mean they are safe to utilize. They advocate for legalization and sale of drugs so that way they can be purchased in a safe environment, whereas purchasing drugs through the Black Market comes at a risk of it being laced with fentanyl and other potent drugs. They state that fentanyl is very potent drug that is spreading rapidly and causing most deaths in the US. Oregon could counter this by legalizing drugs and having more regulation with store distribution.

https://www.npr.org/2021/06/18/1007022652/oregons-pioneering-drug-decriminalization-experiment-is-now-facing-the-hard-test

In the NPR article, they talk about how the idea of decriminalization is nice but the implementation of measure 110 has not been effective. Measure 110 allows all drugs to be decriminalized, which means that if caught using drugs, the person will receive just a $100 citation that they can get revoked if they call a rehabilitation program. The issue that they discuss here is that law enforcement is facing more challenges with enforcement. They will give a $100 fine, but it makes it harder to catch Black Market dealers to lower unregulated drug distribution. The article also mentions that the majority of people who get caught with highly potent drugs pay the fine and continue to use. The measure 110 is not effective in actually decreasing substance use disorder issues. The article states that most people who call never follow through with rehab, and the punishment of $100 citation is not an incentive to reduce the distribution and consumption of drugs.

Analysis:

Based off of my experience being in Oregon, seeing the measure 110 in real life, as well as reading the articles. I am hesitant to think that Oregon's move to decriminalize drugs is a good thing. We are seeing a rise in fentanyl distribution and overdoses. The Measure 110 sounds like a great idea to help decrease racial/ethnic incarceration, etc. The issue is that the Measure does nothing and provides no incentive for people to change.

Even Marijuana used in adolescence and early adulthood has been found to reduce gray matter in the brain, with some parts never growing it back. The idea of legalizing drugs seems the same as normalizing drugs. But the first article did mention that prohibition does nothing to improve the situation, it just makes it worse because more people will rebel and use drugs unsupervised and unregulated, where if it was legalized, then drugs could be supervised and regulated to not be laced with fentanyl or other drugs.

The issue I have is that fentanyl is on the rise and overdoses on it are rising to the most leading cause of death in adolescents and young adults in the US. It sounds nice to have drugs legalized to have them regulated and supervised, but the issue that I have is like marijuana, it makes it harder to crack down on the Black Market. In addition, more people I feel like are using marijuana now because it is legalized and many are using it without a medical card. With the prohibition of alcohol to now the legalization of it, alcohol still remains the highest drug related to crime (i.e., drunk driving, intoxication, homicide, assault/battery, etc.). And decriminalizing alcohol and marijuana and other drugs does not eliminate the issues associated with them. If we no longer call intoxication and drunk driving a crime, it will still be a problem. If we no longer call using fentanyl a crime, it will continue to be a problem.

The distribution of fentanyl and normalization of marijuana I think is a huge issue that will impact many generations going forward. Gen Z is already unmotivated, depressed, isolated, full of incels, conspiracy theories, etc. Add legalizing drugs on top of that and you get a majority of the population someday where all drugs are normalized and people are not using them in mature ways. Most people will use drugs not for enlightenment but for escapism.

The majority of the population is not mature enough for psychedelics because developmentally, they are not existentially interested nor are their psychological and physical needs met. Anyways, these are my thoughts on this for now. I honestly go back and forth, but with the rise of fentanyl in my state, I believe there needs to be more of a crack down. People are behavioral beings. We operate off of rewards and punishments. It would be interesting to see the legalization of all drugs, but like witnessed with Oregon's Measure 110, ideas may sound good, but when executed, they fail.

What are your thoughts?  

   My thoughts are to legalize and heavily regulate LSD, include that into the 12 step program, and make it mandatory of drug addicts to take that program.

[Danioover9000]

@Hello from Russia

On 2023-08-22 at 5:13 PM, Hello from Russia said:

Living in Russia I one time meditated really good to a point of experiencing samadhi, basically some mild mystical state. I then decided to take a walk near forest near my house basking in that state, really enjoying it and taking in fully

Then what happenned is a stumbled upon a police patrol and they assumed I am a drug addict cause I was looking too content and as they said my pupils very dilluted, hense I am under some substance. They decided to take me to the police and treated me very harshly as though I am the lowest scum on the earth. They were 100% sure I am an addict and I took something and they were 100% sure I'm gonna get jailed. They were really happy about it and were slurting insults on me.

When we arrived at a police station they lead me to an interrogation room with a really agressive looking police boss guy. They locked me with him to have "a discussion". I was super confused and fearful during it all. They said you're fearful = You're 100% doing something illegal and tried to press me hard to reveal it in all details. Completely ignoring the fact that they basically kidnapped me, treated me liek shit and assumed charges. Why should I be not fucking fearful dealing with one of the most corrupt polices in the world?

Especially since we have a rich trackrecord of cops throwing up substances to people and I was very afraid they did it as well (They surrounded me from all sides when they were arresting me). When I rightfully asked (you can ask this by law) - what are my rights? The main replied - "Well, you have no rights".

Long story short, they allowed me to call my father (and almost snatched my phone out of my hands after the call was done) and he came to be some unbiased witness of their shit. Later I decided to give them my phone and they looked through all my social media apps and chats as well as gallery and stuff. They commented - wtf, you don't even have a porn on your phone, so suspicious (Why would I even have a fucking porn on my phone in the first place, what the fuck?)

After also making me go completely naked and searching all my clothing (hopefully with some random witnesses) and founding nothing they let me go and didn't even apoligize for all their shit

I don't know, man, this all is so wrong and bad. I have a PTSD of police patrols to this day from this situation. Probably will have to confront this with some psychotherapist at this point as everytime I see policemen it gives me chills

 

   That's a screwed up situation, police arresting you because you're too happy, ego projection 101. How about they first handle their state wide generational addiction to Vodka first before making false arrests on the few who are actually content huh?

    Hope you're alright. Did some martial arts or MMA after?

   

[Oppositionless]

if we make drugs legal, we can then put resources into making safer alternatives to the most dangerous ones. see my post from earlier in the thread.

[Hardkill]

It looks like Marijuana is on its way to being moved from schedule I to schedule III.