Legalization of drugs, pros and cons!

[Toughy]

For the sake of disclosure.........

I have done damn near every street drug in every way you can think of and probably some you can't......laughin.... starting back in 1970 when I was 18 yrs old. So I have a bit of experience around this. I gave all that shit up 20-25 years ago. I'm just a pot smoker now and I have a medical marijuana card (I have RA). You could not pay me enough money to do white powder every again. Mother Nature's hallucinogens (mushrooms, peyote).....well I might do them again....although I am taking way to many pharmaceuticals and I worry about interactions.

I say legalize every drug on the street........all of them and make needles available for free at every drugstore (this would help out diabetics cuz they use the same needles junkies use). Legalize, tax, control the manufacture and distribution of said drugs. Treat them like alcohol and tobacco with age restrictions. It's really a no-brainer in my mind. Europe has models that work well for this.

Legalize prostitution also, but that is another thread.

There are other abstinence based recovery programs. AA is not the only game in town. LifeRing is one of them and it doesn't require powerlessness or giving up control to some higher power/god. It is against the law for a court to mandate AA as the treatment program. Courts can mandate treatment, but they can't say it has to be AA/12 Step based.

No one knows why one becomes an addict. It is not a character defect. People who have perfectly normal self esteem can be addicted to any substance. It does not run in families despite what folks say....there is no data to back that up. I personally don't subscribe to the 'disease' model. That was thought up so the health insurance companies and treatment programs could make big time bucks treating the disease. Addiction is a change in brain chemistry.....particularly in the dopamine (the pleasure chemical) pathways.

Oxycontin is a brand name for oxycodone....so is Percocet, Percodan, etc. Oxycontin is a time released version and was approved in the mid 90's. Percocet/Percodan have been around since the mid 70's. It is similar to morphine and is used for chronic pain. The FDA controls drugs and to my knowledge no state has said these drugs cannot be sold in their state..........I'm not sure they can and it would be incredibly stupid if they did.

ok done I think...........but back to the original question and as I have said many times over many years........legalize them all......you can't control what is illegal.