Does the fact that it's against the law to possess drugs keep people (or you) from getting them?

[NightWatcher]

During a conversation I had yesterday in which advocated for the legalization of drugs. Someone mentioned that since I was for legalization, I was in favor of people getting anything they wanted, any time they wanted. I responded by saying that anyone CAN get anything they want if they know how.

Has legality prevented you from obtaining anything that you really wanted (in your young and crazy days of course, because you are a reponsible member of society ho would never do that now <wink>)?

[Warpy]

1. Street drugs are a chance I was willing to take when I

was young and stupid and didn't care if I lived or died.

No thanks on most of them now. You don't know what they've been cut with or what potency they are, but you do have a pretty good idea of what kind of weasel is getting your money up the line.

I probably wouldn't do many legalized ones, either. I just want to know that I can if I want to.

Fuck the nanny state.

[Irreverend IX]

24. If they were legal and regulated...

You'd know exactly what they were cut with, so there goes that problem. I'm completely in favor of people being able to self-Darwinate if they want to.

[dsc]

2. I get your point

but it is misleading. Surely drug use would go up with legalization and more addicts would stay addicts not getting help. That doesn't mean drugs shouldn't be legalized but we should admit use would go up (like it did with alcohol).

[bemildred]

3. Alcohol is legal, for example, but you can't get anything you want anytime you want.

So your interlocutor is full of muddle to start with.

FWIW, generally, I am in favor of people getting anything they want any time they want. Or you could say I have a strong bias in that direction. Are we a free people or not?

[NightWatcher]

12. "interlocutor is full of muddle"??? Ok, I'll give you that there are blue laws

but within reason and hopefully not on a Sunday (around here) you can walk into any packy or grocery store, or 7/11 and come away with gallons of the stuff. (as long as you are of age, or have a fake id)

[bemildred]

23. I think my point was clear.

He proposes a false dichotomy, one can legalize and still regulate.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

4. I have teenagers tell me, on more than one occasion, that it's easier to get any drug than alcohol

According to them, getting booze is a logistical hassle involving fake IDs and/or older siblings. Getting drugs is a breeze. Just go to your local dealer, who is often a fellow student. They don't card you and they are always willing to introduce you to other types of drugs. This is why the "gateway" argument about pot is such b.s. The only reason pot IS a gateway is because it's illegal. When I buy a bottle of wine at Safeway the cashier doesn't try to push heroin on me.

[Bob Dobbs]

5. But how will the CIA fund their black ops?

The Drug War is another power elite con to fleece the rubes out of their money.

[sendero]

19. exactly...

.. and precisely

[uppityperson]

6. Partially.I don't procure for a couple reasons, legality being 1

I have no desire to lose my professional license over a drug rap. AND I have hard enough time with reality these days, have no need to use them.

If they were legal, I don't know if I would use them. In the past, maybe, maybe not. Now? No.

[emilyg]

10. That's how I feel.

Too old to fuzzy my brain more.

[noamnety]

7. I'd like to see the first option broken into two options.

Legality affected my decision-making process.
Legality did not affect my ability to get drugs, if I had wanted to.

[cobalt1999]

27. Well put.

Legality means I choose not to use them, but I can still get them if I wanted to.

[RandomKoolzip]

8. Nobody does drugs anymore; they just drink. Okay, maybe they do a little coke.

The young, the taste makers, the counterculture, the hip, all they seem to do now is drink gallons of alcohol. I honestly am saddened by this. In my day (i.e the early-mid 90's), you smoked pot, you did all manner of psychedelics, and you only drank when you wanted to get FUCKED UP (i.e. oblivion as a means of escaping or forgetting some unfortunate temporary circumstance). All the aformentioned drugs, however, weren't just used recreationally, but as a means to accessing imagination and or/or different aspects of consciousness. Also, they made you laugh your ass off.

Some graduated from those drugs into harder, weirder shit like heroin and pills, but those areas were small compared to the vast majority of my peers who were potsmokers and occasional beer drinkers.

Now, it's ALL drinking. Acid has disappeared from the scene, mushrooms are a distant memory. Pot seems to be dismissed as hippie nonsense, plus it's way expensive these days. Coke has made a huge comeback - you can tell because the counterculture types act like cocky assholes with headcolds all the time. The drinking scene has progressed, or should I say, "gotten horribly bad" - now it seems as though everyone I know doesn't just drink a beer or two, they drink whiskey and Jagermeister and strong, thick ales and they never seem to stop drinking. They drink until they can't speak. They do incredibly stupid things and say incredibly stupid things while drunk, then seem terribly proud of themselves afterward. There seesm to be very little introspection going on. The drinking and drugging that goes on gives off a wildly sinister glow, an inexorable negativity, a revelling in the darker aspects of addiction.

I realize some of this may be just a reaction to tough times, but I can't help but notice that it seems like a repeat of the 1980's in the worst possible way. I can only hope that a similar cyclical change is around the corner, and we'll see a rebirth of the consciousness-expanding fun and positivity of the early 90's soon.

ON EDIT: yes, i realize I'm generalizing. Your mileage may vary....

[NightWatcher]

9. the binge drinking epidemic that is on college campuses is alarming

but I'm with you. Not that I'd partake, but I miss seeing the smoke filled intelligent conversations about god's fingernails encompassing the entire universe. Now it's just ping pong balls flying everywhere.

I dont think acid exists anymore, and mushrooms are all organic shitake and cost almost as much as the good stuff did. I'm afraid we've lost our creativity and bought in to the idea that "beer gets girls" and whatever else McCain-weiser is selling us.

[RandomKoolzip]

13. Well, since the Dead are dead and Phish don't tour anymore, the acid distribution

system that used to bring so many young people so much happiness and light has disappeared. It's impossible to find acid anywhere these days - even on the Jam Band scene, it's rare. Mushrooms are the same.

It's sad.

I'm straight-edge now, so I don't do any of this shit any longer, but I'd still be more comfortable knowing the future leaders of tomorrow were doing psychedelics rather than drinking vodka and Bud Light until they puke. Many is the time I've heard younger guys and gals rationalize their alcoholic excesses by admitting, "well, i'm just an alcoholic" with a smug smirk, as if being brave enough to admit it absolves them of anywrongdoing. Also, who the fuck would be PROUD of being an alcohlic? Such behavior does not bode well for the future. If these jackasses are inheriting our earth, it's gonna be a shitty millenium.

[Tunkamerica]

16. I've been wondering about the effects of GD and phish

since I'm not at that stage of life any more I haven't tried to get any of the things you mentioned above since ... well since the last Phish show probably. I didn't realize that they had so much to do with dist. Cause it was always easy 8-10 years ago to get that stuff.

[RandomKoolzip]

21. Well, I hate to say it, but without those two bands, there would BE no distribution network

Especially in the case of the Dead, the band's last few years were pretty much an excuse to keep their "organization" afloat. For the band, that meant staff, crew, office, management, hangers-on ("family" in hippie parlance), but to the layers of the onion on the outside, that meant dealers and buyers of acid, mushrooms, mescaline, etc.

There IS a market for it, but the supply has dried up since those two bands stopped touring, and there's no "organization" in the wings to take its place.

[Nikia]

22. Everyone smokes pot around here

Well, not everyone, but a very significant number. One thing that pot has going against it compared to some other drugs though is that it stays in one's body longer than other drugs if one is subjected to drug testing for work.

[Edweird]

11. Laws only stop those willing to follow them.

Because of my job I can't party like that.

Bans in general are pretty pointless.

[azmouse]

14. I've never used illegal drugs.... ever.

I wouldn't know how to go about obtaining them even if I wanted them, which I don't. I have no objection to pot if people want it. I never understood the desire to get high but just because I'm not interested doesn't mean I want to stop others.

[Tunkamerica]

17. So, your reply is....

...this topic has no bearing on me?

[azmouse]

20. Drugs effect us all in some way.

Whether it's people who commit crimes to get the money for drugs or commit crimes because they're already high, or even the money spent incarcerating people who use or sell drugs, it all effects us.

I kinda find it amusing, the assumption that everyone has tried drugs or even would try them if they were legal. I don't think the level of usage would change much at all if they were made legal. It might even save money not having a so-called 'war on drugs'.

[Tunkamerica]

15. Younger days easy. Everything was within walking distance.

Now much less likely because of the hassle. Mainly the driving thing.

[Bluebear]

18. Other: they just don't interest me, legal or illegal

[Trillo]

25. Yep, because it's illegal I have been unable/unwilling to get them

If marijuana was legal, I'd probably buy some and use it. Since it's illegal, I would endanger not only myself, but others in my household, were I to look for 'a dealer' and use it anyway.

[Occam Bandage]

26. Their illegality, coupled with the lack of regulation that brings, strongly discourages me.