The Drug War

[Demetrius]

People do drugs because something sucks and it lets them get away. In todays society the idea of getting out/away is completely understandable. Hell, that is why I drink heavily when the need arises. I'm under massive amounts of stress from work, coupled with school, personal and social pressures I'm surprised I haven't had a massive heart attack.

I have experimented slightly with some stuff and found that it is not for me. I also know other people that are completely hooked on "non-addictive" drugs.

I think that the more pressing matter isn't drugs, but people.

((I am also very tired and will probably edit/delete this as this is Discussion.))

[Fifthfiend]

Originally Posted by Demetrius

((I am also very tired and will probably edit/delete this as this is Discussion.))

I found it to be a timely and poignant contribution to the topic and see no reason for either.

EDIT: Extremely sarcastic-faced avatar to the contrary, the preceding comment was entirely sincere! I felt I should note this cause it occured to me someone could easily assume the opposite.

[Demetrius]

That's good to know. That it was pertinent, as I had forgotten that I had made the post. :P

[Wyndon]

Hm.. I'm quite nervous to post in this thread, noticing that there have been plenty of...how shall we say...over the top posts. But, I'll give this a shot anyway, because I feel I need to express my opinion...

I'm going to start with that story regarding Mike. Just gonna do a quick quote to refresh anyone's memory, so you don't have to backpedal to find it...

Several weeks ago, Mike called up and asked if he and a friend named Derrick could stay at our house for a night or two. We said sure. He and his friend show up and we're having a good time seeing Mike after missing him for a while. We found out that Mike and his friend were on their way to Mexico, as Mike had a warrant out for his arrest. On their way they had been stealing from stores all the way down, and selling the stuff at pawn shops, trying to get enough money for the trip. Although we should have, we didn't say anything and agreed to let him stay one more night. During the day, Shawn's longboard went missing. Shawn is another roommate. Most of us didn't notice, and the person who did notice, a roommate named Logan, thought it might have been missing already. Later that night, Logan get's a call from one of Shawn's friends who had been over earlier, asking Logan to move his laptop to Shawn's room from the band room. Logan goes to do so and finds, surprise, no laptop. He calls Shawn's friend to make sure that was where it was, asks everyone who lives at the house if they've seen it, and decides it was Mike. Adrian takes Mike's license plate number, and we confront Derrick as Mike was asleep on the couch. After a long talk, and several threats to call the police, we finally got him to admit the stuff was in the car, and we went and got it out. They had also stolen a bag of Logan's tools, which he managed to get back at the same time. We kicked them out, and called the cops on them the next morning after much internal deliberation. Needless to say Mike is no longer our friend and Mike now has no friends. Derrick beat the crap out of Mike in California and left him stranded at a homeless shelter.

Given that drugs may have driven Mike to commit such heinous acts towards his friends, it is clear that there are many similar situations that are not drug related. Theft crimes are fairly common, especially at the college where I live at. One of my friends had her bras stolen by her roommate, who claimed that she did not take them (Gross, right? Anyway...). Turns out, she did, and was hiding them at the top of her closet. Now, to my knowledge, she neither does drugs nor even drinks for that matter...So, in my opinion, drugs may be incidentally involved, and maybe a -slight- motivation, but they're not really the cause of such crimes. Using crime as a basis for the drug war is not very legitimate in my eyes because of this...There are too many people who commit crimes that are "Clean" of drugs. I also know many people who would never commit a crime that do drugs themselves.

Just to be clear, my stance is against the drug war. I believe that people should have their own say and own choices. Drugs are not something that can easily be controlled or stopped because it is an illegal process. Legal processes are far easier to regulate than illegal processes. What I'm getting at here is, drugs are not the worst thing in the world for you. They act as a means of escape from the real world, and literally provide pure happiness (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannabis_(drug)#_note-0). They literally release endorphins...Given they will have negative effects, but I would like to point to something that has no positive effects...whatsoever.

Fast food. Some may roll their eyes at me, since I'm an extremely health-conscious person, but I do believe fast food is the bane of America. At best it's cheap fast food...But in my opinion, will kill more people than drugs ever will. Further, it can be better regulated by government (All they have to do is raise the health standards and I'll be okay with people eating fast food...). Heart attacks and obesity are definitely worse in the long run...At least, in my opinion.

Anyway, I believe in choice. I'm pro-choice in almost...anything. People have to be responsible enough not to drop acid every living waking moment of their life to escape from reality, because then they're never -in- reality.

So...pro-choice. I really must say though, I really really really hate all of these anti-drug campaigns..."The Truth" or "above the influence". A lot of what is on those websites is horribly skewed, and so far from the truth that I almost feel like it's -worse- than drugs...

(Again, hope my post is not out of line :x )

[Kim]

I am against the Drug War, as I think if there was market competition, drug dealers would not be so prevelant. I also think it is a persons choice to do drugs, to commit suicide, to eat fast food. Also, and I may be wrong, but I've been told that the main reason that the prohibition ended wasn't because it was an excercise in futility, it was because the mafia was making money off it and the government wasn't. It all came down to money.

I also agree that the thing with Mike was because of Mike, not the drugs. He chose to do the drugs, he chose to steal from us, and he chose to hit rock bottom, if he hadn't already. I do think however, that if he had chosen to stay away from drugs, he wouldn't have become the person he is now. He chose to become what he became, but drugs played a role in that decision.