[Evangelica]

I wouldn't say outright that people should or should not take drugs, it's a personal choice. However, I would say that taken responsibly, many illegal drugs are certainly no more harmful to you than alcohol, even less so. Steve Jobs actually said that taking LSD was one of the three most important things he did in his life. One of the founders of the Whole Foods chain attributed most of his success to LSD use. The Beatles wrote a lot of their Sgt. Pepper's album high and Lewis Caroll was high off his nut on shrooms when coming up with Alice in Wonderland. Bill Gates was also an LSD user ... I could go on. I believe Angelina Jolie has also taken LSD as well as cocaine and heroin but I'm not 100% on my source for that one.

Anyway, I don't mean to ramble, simply to highlight that taking illegal substances is not a black and white 'You'll end up a homeless addict' scenario. There are of course some drugs more dangerous than others. Heroin and cocaine I would not support the legalisation of - almost everything below alcohol on this list however I would say should be legalised as it just seems like absolute hypocrisy to render them illegal.

[Khalak]

(Original post by DudeRugs)
More resources are being wasted in keeping drugs illegal though.

Make them legal then, I don't care if people want to die by taking them, let them die and offer no treatment, afterall it was their choice.

You cannot say though that make drugs legal, but if druggies **** up then taxpayers must pay to treat them for their fuk up.

[ufo2012]

There is a really simple answer to the OP question, as explained here:

[DudeRugs]

(Original post by Khalak)
Make them legal then, I don't care if people want to die by taking them, let them die and offer no treatment, afterall it was their choice.

You cannot say though that make drugs legal, but if druggies **** up then taxpayers must pay to treat them for their fuk up.

I can't argue with that lol

[LuckyA]

The Government REALLY should legalise drugs...by legalising the system can control drug administration then we wouldn't have this drugs black market that leads to so much conflict. In life experimentation is probably about as far as it should go; I think the age old "Don't do drugs, kids" message still stands.

[Rarrgh]

Why: They can be fun and help socializing. For people who don't like drinking then it would be an alternative to having a few drinks at the end of the night.
Why not: They can be harmful.

[TwirlerGirl]

An example of why they shouldn't is my friend Becky She used to be a happy, popular girl until one night she snorted marijuana at a party. She died instantly. Please, don’t do marijuana. It’s the most dangerous drug out there. Please don’t wind up like Becky.

[Suetonius]

(Original post by Evangelica)
Heroin and cocaine I would not support the legalisation of.

These are the two drugs that need to be legalized and regulated. At present, their supply is monopolized almost entirely by international organized crime. Irrational fear over the potential "dangers" of Afghanistan's opium has restricted us from making full use of it, and has instead led to the heroin trade, i.e. international criminals and gangsters, funding the Taliban - also criminals and gangsters - who can of course use those profits to purchase weapons (once again on the black market) to kill British troops with. Similarly, in South America, the West's prohibition of cocaine has forced the trafficking and supply of it into the hands of cartels, which has caused a bloodbath.

Drugs won't just go away if you criminalize them. The futility of trying to save the lives of squalid hard drug users (or potential crack/dope/methheads) - who make a conscious choice to endanger themselves - in Britain leaves a blood-stained footprint across the globe. The parochialism of some pro-legalization advocates truly pisses me off. People who say, for example, "only legalize marijuana because it's safe" or "legalize speed because it's less damaging than alcohol" do nothing but focus on the effects of the substance vis-a-vis the user. They ignore the far more severe consequences of cocaine and heroin prohibition on innocent victims beyond their country's borders.

[DaveSmith99]

Drugs can be a hell of a lot of fun, and depending on the drugs in question can be very safe. The only real problem is the illegality, thankfully I have never been caught, but getting caught with class A's doesn't sound like much fun.

[DudeRugs]

(Original post by TwirlerGirl)
An example of why they shouldn't is my friend Becky She used to be a happy, popular girl until one night she snorted marijuana at a party. She died instantly. Please, don’t do marijuana. It’s the most dangerous drug out there. Please don’t wind up like Becky.

Marijuana actually takes over the host body and eats it from the inside out if you ingest it, that's why we burn it first, to kill it before we snort it. Drugs are evil and want to kill us.

Vote for me, ill protect you from this evil!

[metro2610]

(Original post by geetar)
Tea (caffeine) is the only drug I need. One day, I'm going to write a Trainspotting/Fear and Loathing style book, with tea as the drug of choice for the characters.

I would genuinely read that!

"Ah start tae cook up another shot. As ah shakily hauld the kettle over the mug, waitin for the water tae hit the tea bag, ah think; more short-term sea, more long-term poison."

[TwirlerGirl]

(Original post by DudeRugs)
Marijuana actually takes over the host body and eats it from the inside out if you ingest it, that's why we burn it first, to kill it before we snort it. Drugs are evil and want to kill us.

Vote for me, ill protect you from this evil!

Thank

[maskofsanity]

(Original post by Chillywilly93)
my definition of a moron is somebody who lives life hiding from the potential experiences that await them

That is a moronic definition.

Spoiler:

Show

seewhatididthere?

[miser]

Well, what drugs are you talking about? The line that society draws between which drugs are acceptable and which aren't is almost completely ill-defined - we just more-or-less have a list of which ones are allowed and which aren't, rather than a reason why for classifying drugs uniformly and without prejudice based on tradition.

My own opinion is that I think we should help people who are addicted to drugs rather than throwing them in prisons and ruining their lives. If they want to take dangerous substances regardless of what we advise them, then what business is it of ours to tell a person what risks it's acceptable for them to take? If the problem is who is going to foot the bill, then why aren't we expecting the same approach to other issues? Why don't people who drive cars or otherwise increase their risk of injury pay higher taxes? We don't because I think most of us should think a person free to drive a car, even if doing so puts greater strain on the NHS.

[DaveSmith99]

(Original post by miser)
Well, what drugs are you talking about? The line that society draws between which drugs are acceptable and which aren't is almost completely ill-defined - we just more-or-less have a list of which ones are allowed and which aren't, rather than a reason why for classifying drugs uniformly and without prejudice based on tradition.

My own opinion is that I think we should help people who are addicted to drugs rather than throwing them in prisons and ruining their lives. If they want to take dangerous substances regardless of what we advise them, then what business is it of ours to tell a person what risks it's acceptable for them to take? If the problem is who is going to foot the bill, then why aren't we expecting the same approach to other issues? Why don't people who drive cars or otherwise increase their risk of injury pay higher taxes? We don't because I think most of us should think a person free to drive a car, even if doing so puts greater strain on the NHS.

I take it you don't drive? All drivers do is pay tax, tax and then more tax.

[Negaduck]

It depends what drugs you are taking really.

It's pretty common knowledge that Alcohol is far more dangerous than the likes of Cannibas and LSD.

Hoewver, if you start legalising all drugs then you are also marketing the darker drugs such as Heroin

People need to be educated better when it comes to drugs, some people still think that if you smoke weed you're going to get brain damage and some really stupid **** like that.

Personally I believe all drugs should be legalised, regulated and people should be throughly educated on the truth about drugs.

[joeclarke3]

The thing I find hardest to come to terms with is the hypocricies of the system deciding drug legalities and dangers. I know it's the age-old argument that alchohol is more dangerous than the majority of drugs below Class A (and some of them in said class), but it evidences such a clear fault in our system of regulisation and legalisation that it's tough not to bring it up.

If somebody came up to you and said "Hey man, do you want to try this drug? It's pretty expensive and you need a lot to get high. I mean, you'll get pretty bouncy and uninhibited for a few hours but then you'll get really tired and the next day you'll feel nauseous and have a bad headache", would you take it? **** that! But because it's deemed legal and 'fit for consumption' by the government, people are totally willing to take it, whilst drugs like LSD and marijuana are proven to have very little physical and mental damage on users (within reason, if they're toking every day for years on end they'll get messed up).

It's just a very frustrating system that continues to blind people with misinformation and fear-mongering. If everybody held a relaxed and inquisitive view on drugs, rather than uptight and stubborn, there would be a lot more experimentation and realisations that, really, very few drugs are damaging when used in moderation and with the right measures in place.

[jam277]

(Original post by Brianop)
I heard there are potential long term side effects of having weed i.e schizophrenia, hallucinations etc. all sorts of mental problems.

I'd like to know why people still support something like weed in the light of their knowledge of potential long term side effects.

Would you like to research the long term effects of alcohol too, heart problems, alcohol addiction, abusive behaviour, heart problems, liver damage. It's not really too much of a difference between that and weed. Just that one is illegal and one is legal.

But like with alcohol, when taken in moderation you will not suffer from these effects.

[Redheaded_Dancer]

I just think drugs are silly, I don't understand why a person would take them when they know the risks (I've had so many lessons in secondary school, at least two a year, about it).
I understand that people would take them because of the obvious benefits of being relaxing, but what most people don't think about is afterwards you get the most horrible withdrawal and you're cranky for so long afterwards until you get your next fix. My boyfriend used to do cocaine and he's described to me many times how it feels awesome when you're high, but as soon as you're back to normal you're craving more

[DaveSmith99]

(Original post by jam277)
Would you like to research the long term effects of alcohol too, heart problems, alcohol addiction, abusive behaviour, heart problems, liver damage. It's not really too much of a difference between that and weed. Just that one is illegal and one is legal.

But like with alcohol, when taken in moderation you will not suffer from these effects.

Most of the studies that show links between mental health disorders and cannabis are carried out by groups with a vested intrest in finding a link anyway. Cannabis use has exploded over the past half decade, and mental illness has not. That's about all the proof I need.