Drugs're bad. Mmkay?

[Hyraxylos]

I'm sure it's pretty widely known by now that a full percent of America's male population is in prison. Would anyone like to hazard a guess as to what the majority of them are in for?

Seriously now, this is just getting ridiculous. There isn't one point out there... not ONE SINGLE POINT that argues in favor of keeping illegal substances illegal that cannot be refuted and has not been refuted several times over, and the sheer number of undefeated plusses is insurmountable. Why haven't we done this? My theory on how it all started was maybe that criminals bribed the government into giving them a market but surely that purpose has been served already... Why can't we just legalize now, stab the black market in the back, let innocent people out of jail, and free up a huge mountain of cash? Is there truly even one redeeming argument for not legalizing?
If someone wants to put something poisonous into their own body then for crying out loud let them, and don't try arguing on the grounds that "suicide is illegal." (is it punishable by the death penalty? XD ) Because on that line of thinking driving should be illegal, and driving while drunk should be even MORE illegal. Which it isn't. Don't try to assure me that it is a crime in the United States to drive while drunk, because if that were true then drunk drivers would be punished for it and they aren't. I'm rambling... *tosses my ADHD into a corner somewhere*
The really central drug is marijuana. In fact I was taught in my health class (among other falsehoods) that marijuana was the worst of them all. But why is it illegal? Contrary to the blatant lies spewed by public school textbooks in the United States, it's never directly killed one single person ever. And that "gateway" stuff? That's an old mind trick favored by the Republican Party, that if you attach a label to something it'll look less credible. The argument is that if young people find out the government lied about marijuana and discover it's harmless, then they'll figure the government lied about all the other drugs too. Too bad. That's the government's fault for lying in the first place and making it an issue. I personally don't think children would be that clueless (adults DEFINITELY would here in the US, but not kids), and that if the whole mechanics of how each drug causes harm were shown in awesome diagrams of chemicals floating around they'd probably continue to believe that cocaine is addictive just as tobacco is. How ironic that tobacco is actually legal for some reason. -_-

So let's hear it. Actually I've got some pretty strong doubts that anyone on this forum feels that strongly against legalization, but I'm writing a paper on this shortly and trying to get feedback on opinions about the matter.
_________________
The statement below this one is false.
The statement above this one is true.
This statement is false.

[SkieFireYokana]

I'd argue devil's advocate, but like you said there's no way. *shrugs* Give me a little time and I'll put together an argument, but it's really not worth it because I don't want to convey the image that I'm against legalization. The only reason I'm not on psilocybe mushrooms is because they're illegal. :P In fact their only health risk is psychological, which would be in the case of a bad trip. :P They cannot kill you, in other words. So why are they illegal and listed under Schedule 1 as "drugs with a high potential for abuse that have no recognized medical uses" Well... of course they haven't got any medical uses. The only ones with medical uses are the ones that can kill you. :P Why not make it legal? Oh, yeah. Because it's FUN, and we can't have that, can we? Noo... :P And by the way, Schedule 1 is the STRICTEST drug class. Why is a HARMLESS drug listed in the STRICTEST class? :P
_________________
Happy Fourth of July everybody! The funniest thing about this signature is that I wrote it on the fourth of July, 2010, and it's probably going to be here for several months.

[dragonclaw]

Well I think they should legalize some drugs, my mom works in teaching people about drugs and we have many talks about drugs. When i say some i mean like cannabis, Heroin. Methamphetamine though I think they should keep illegal because that can really damage people. Now one of the things that I can't get my head around is why harmless drugs are in the strictest class like people have already pointed out, when alcohol and smoking that are legal are killing people every day, i just don't get it. I also so support legalizing drugs on medical grounds as will, this is because my uncle was diagnosed with Parkinson’s around 4 years back and he has just told the family a year back. Now cannabis has been proven to help the systems and slow it down but if he was found with it he would be arrested for possession of an illegal substance, even though the drugs he got off the doctor have worse side effects than Parkinson’s it's self. Just to finish off if I had the chose to smoke a joint or to drink alcohol I would go with the joint any day.

[Hyraxylos]

[Namhias]

What if someone get violent when he used a certain drug? Is it still responsible to allow him to use drugs?

[Ragnarok]

No less then what we have now, where alcoholics can still acquire alcohol.
_________________
To win against an opponent stronger than yourself, you must not be weaker than that opponent. - Takamachi Nanoha

[Hyraxylos]