Do you really think that any 15 year old in any city in the US of, say, 100,000 people, or close to one, wouldn't know where to get every kind of drug imaginable? That's not to say he would want it or could afford it, but that he could make a connection within 24 hours. I asked a friend's son, a senior in high school in California, near Los Angeles, who does not take drugs, of he would know where to get cocaine and heroine and he said he knows exactly where to get it and so do most of his classmates, some of whom get it.
So what? You asked a kid in LA..... what he says has to be true, then.
Growing up in Baltimore MD, I also knew where to get those drugs when I was a teen, few ever did get them.
You are kidding yourself if you think drugs are not already freely available.
As I posted before, most drugs are not as "freely available" as you think they are, thats too simplistic. There are many variables to becoming addicted.
Money to pay for them is the only barrier and it isn't a barrier to addicts who always find a way to pay for their habit.
Money isn't the only barrier.
And there isn't all that much rehab, either. Most of it has little to no effect or is way out of most people's reach. You need to live in the real world.
Lois
You won't find scientific studies claiming that rehab is lacking, or definitively ineffective by method. I'll tell you now you can't, because addiction is so difficult to treat, scientific studies on it are impossible to compile.
So let's keep it illegal and support international drug trade and allow drug crime by addicts to flourish. Meanwhile, US law has no control of the drug trade, no control of drug use and little control of the attendant crimes. Nothing like cutting off your nose to spite your face!This is a rant.
e.g., Marijuana has been so widely available, for so long, for whoever really wanted it, that I seriously doubt there would be a significant increase in addicts (whatever addiction is considered to be with pot, which is up for consideration, since it's so non-toxic).
With pot, the main negative concern should be protecting teens and young adults from constant use, as this apparently has a negative impact on IQ development. IOW, no one should use pot regularly until after age 25, unless they have a really good reason (one worth risking IQ points). I doubt that chronic use after age 25 will adversely effect IQ except, of course, while one is actually high.
Pot possession could be decriminalized without causing too much trouble, but no drugs should be legalized - the few we have legalized already are bad enough.
I would add that another problem with the idea that legalization of drugs will lead to an enormous increase in drug use is that it is probably fallacious.
Pot was legalized in Alaska back in the 70's and the usage rate went up. The DEA argues "Legalization has been tried before—and failed miserably. Alaska's experiment with legalization in the 1970s led to the state's teens using marijuana at more than twice the rate of other youths nationally. This led Alaska's residents to vote to re-criminalize marijuana in 1990.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arguments_for_and_against_drug_prohibition#Arguments_that_prohibition_discourages_drug_use
However, pot doesn't kill or destroy lives, but harder drugs do. It's an unnecessary and unacceptable risk to even try legalizing Opiates, Cocaine, and Psychedelics.
I would add that another problem with the idea that legalization of drugs will lead to an enormous increase in drug use is that it is probably fallacious.
Pot was legalized in Alaska back in the 70's and the usage rate went up. The DEA argues "Legalization has been tried before—and failed miserably. Alaska's experiment with legalization in the 1970s led to the state's teens using marijuana at more than twice the rate of other youths nationally. This led Alaska's residents to vote to re-criminalize marijuana in 1990.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arguments_for_and_against_drug_prohibition#Arguments_that_prohibition_discourages_drug_use
However, pot doesn't kill or destroy lives, but harder drugs do. It's an unnecessary and unacceptable risk to even try legalizing Opiates, Cocaine, and Psychedelics.
Sure if pot's legal, some people who have never tried it, will want to see what all the fuss is about. But I still doubt that the percentage of folks who would use it chronically would go up much, except for those who believe it is addressing some on-going medical need. The latter group may be a cause for concern, if it is not really addressing their medical issues. That is why it is so important that legitimate research on marijuana's potential medical effects (or lack thereof) be increased exponentially, i.e., marijuana must be de-listed as a Schedule 1 narcotic.
I will not attempt to argue for legalizing other drugs, but the marijuana ban is ridiculous for a number of reasons.
As much as 2/3 of Mexican Cartels profits (more than 13 billion annually) used to be from marijuana. With the little bit of legalization in the US the Cartels have already had to change their business model. (i.e., shifting focus to their other illegal substances) They continue to be enormously successful, just not so much with marijuana.
We don't know what would be the impact on Cartels if all of their illegal substances were legalized, but surely, it would be very problematic for them. (Perhaps they would find a way to get in on the legal market.)
Perhaps if we legalized the sort of untraceable, automatic weaponry that the cartels like to smuggle about then people would stop killing each other with that too. :coolhmm:
As much as 2/3 of Mexican Cartels profits (more than 13 billion annually) used to be from marijuana. With the little bit of legalization in the US the Cartels have already had to change their business model. (i.e., shifting focus to their other illegal substances) They continue to be enormously successful, just not so much with marijuana.
We don't know what would be the impact on Cartels if all of their illegal substances were legalized, but surely, it would be very problematic for them. (Perhaps they would find a way to get in on the legal market.)
Perhaps if we legalized the sort of untraceable, automatic weaponry that the cartels like to smuggle about then people would stop killing each other with that too. :coolhmm:
That is a specious analogy. Cartels want money and power. And they're going to get it however they can, including killing anyone who gets in their way, if they can get away with it, whatever the laws may be. Addicts simply want a continuing supply of whatever chemical they are addicted to. Some addicts will go to any lengths, but most won't kill to get their substance.
OTOH, we know, due to our experience with banning alcohol in the US, that people still consumed illegal alcohol, and criminals that supplied it, often were also stocked up on some state of the art weaponry. And there was a lot more direct killing involved than you see today, by suppliers of legal alcohol.
As much as 2/3 of Mexican Cartels profits (more than 13 billion annually) used to be from marijuana. With the little bit of legalization in the US the Cartels have already had to change their business model. (i.e., shifting focus to their other illegal substances) They continue to be enormously successful, just not so much with marijuana.
We don't know what would be the impact on Cartels if all of their illegal substances were legalized, but surely, it would be very problematic for them. (Perhaps they would find a way to get in on the legal market.)
Perhaps if we legalized the sort of untraceable, automatic weaponry that the cartels like to smuggle about then people would stop killing each other with that too. :coolhmm:
That is a specious analogy. Cartels want money and power. And they're going to get it however they can, including killing anyone who gets in their way, if they can get away with it, whatever the laws may be. Addicts simply want a continuing supply of whatever chemical they are addicted to. Some addicts will go to any lengths, but most won't kill to get their substance.
OTOH, we know, due to our experience with banning alcohol in the US, that people still consumed illegal alcohol, and criminals that supplied it, often were also stocked up on some state of the art weaponry. And there was a lot more direct killing involved than you see today, by suppliers of legal alcohol.
People always find a way to get what they want. Someone will provode it for money, especially if it's illegal. There has never been a time in history when that wasn't true.
Lois