Hmm, a guaranteed pure version of a drug that people will take anyway, in precisely known quantities, whilst raising revenue for the government (and forcing most drug dealers to change jobs)?
What a great idea. Watch it take off almost nowhere.
This is known for a long time, but the mindset ofntoo many is these people do not deserve to live, if they do or are something deviating from norms. It is about rare illnesses, neurodivergence and lifestyle choices and unfortunately everywhere.
A lot of people who are against drug use want them to be illegal and dangerous to use. Someone overdosing from buying drugs illegally is a preferable outcome for them because they think it will discourage people from buying illegal drugs.
They want the drugs to be both illegal and dangerous.
In reality making them legal and regulated decreases use and is safer for those that do, which doesn’t work for people who think suffering is the goal.
It also makes it easier for people to seek help, since they’re not worrying about jail time for even asking.
Remember when pot was decriminalized and everything fell into bedlam and chaos just like we were warned about for 50 years.
It’s horrible circular logic.
Q: why is the drug illegal?
A: because it’s dangerous.
Q: why is it dangerous?
A: because it’s illegal.
Q: why is it dangerous?
A: because it’s illegal.
Plenty of street drugs are addictive and dangerous even in their pure form. See for example the opiate crisis where many people started their addiction with pharmacologically pure prescription opiates.
While true, a large majority of the overdoses in the last decade are due to street drugs not being pure. The clean drugs will kill you eventually, the street drugs will kill you today.
This is really hard for me to get behind. On the one hand I can get behind the compassion and safety aspect. Addicts have a sickness and shouldn’t be treated as criminals who have no value and are disposable. On the other hand, I have personal experience with just how much damage an addict does to those around them. Enabling them to do that damage and victimize the very people who love and once trusted them with everything feels wrong.
I’m not convinced that safe and legal drug taking will enable addicts any more than they’re already so.
Also there are many recreational drug takers who don’t harm society.
Sure, I don’t think this will enable them more than any other source. I guess in my case with the difficulties I’ve experienced, the pain my kids and I are still experiencing, any source of the substance at the root of it is hard to accept.
It’s not the substance though, it’s the structures around them. I suppose when you have personal experice with the harms of drugs, as directly as you are describing, it would become difficult to care about that distinction though.
Would you rather that source be providing clean drugs and the money going towards drug education and addiction prevention programs, or filled with God knows what and the money going towards guns for a gang or cartel.
The demand is and will always be there. Better the supply come from an organ we can regulate then a crime syndicate.
Part of the reason drug abuse is so all consuming is because 80% of an addict’s time is spent finding it while avoiding the law. I know this from experience as a recovering opiate/heroin addict. If you had let me go down to the corner store to buy clean dope legally, not only would I have about $20,000 more to my name (from scams/thieves/short bags), I legitimately believe I would have gotten clean much sooner.
If you’re just sitting in a room with your thoughts as opposed to constantly occupied with the chase, you’re more likely to have moments of lucidity to confront how stupid and useless your life has become. I never had those thoughts when I was distracted chasing it around 24/7, only once I figured out the DNM’s
I think a lot of focus goes to the addict’s experience and how that experience impacts their life. If you limit the impact scope to the user and the consequences they face, it seems reasonable to suggest that easier access to safer substances can improve their circumstances.
What I experienced was a prolonged period of time where my wife lied, cheated, stole and shirked all responsibility for herself and our live’s together. Most critically, her substance abuse led to her neglecting and putting our young children at risk.
For my part, I did everything I could to help her recover. I encouraged her to get help without judgement. I found ways to balance taking care of the kids, taking care of her and myself, maintaining our home all while struggling to meet work expectations and fulfill my sole provider role.
Ultimately meth use led to paranoid delusions, intense fear and anger outbursts, belief in fantastical persecution conspiracy and finally distrust in me and her family. Still, I was trying to balance it all and encourage her to seek help. Instead of doing so she became violent threatened to put a knife in my throat and kill me while our children played in the other room.
We can argue about the war on drugs, the systemic failures to address mental illness and the lack of easily accessible care for people suffering addiction. But a person is still accountable for their behavior and when a substance causes them to completely lose themselves to the degree my wife did, I can’t help but feel frustration of anything that enables access to it.
If you had let me go down to the corner store to buy clean dope legally, … I legitimately believe I would have gotten clean much sooner.
I don’t use hard drugs, but I am addicted to weed.
During the times when it is easy to access, I simply do it more.
I am addicted to weed.
Does it negatively impact your life? Your job? Your relationships? Or is it simply something you do frequently?
