Shytheed Dumas said:
So we agree - alcohol can be used without abuse, and I've already said that. I also said that marijuana can be used without abuse to a point, and I think legalization of it can be fairly debated.
That's amazingly level headed. +1.
Shytheed Dumas said:
There is absolutely no way you can say that heroin, crack, cocaine, meth, etc can be used without abuse - they all result in rapid and complete intoxication with a freakishly strong possibility of a liife destroying addiction. If you believe they can be used responsibly or without abuse then please give your supporting arguments of how that is, because that would be the meat behind your position of across the board drug legalization. But, I don't believe the beef is there to begin with.
You can easily use cocaine without the problems mentioned.
There are quite a few examples of people throughout history that have used heroin and survived it just fine. English writer John Keats comes to mind. Elizabeth Barrett Browning is another.
Even in the American old west, you'll find examples. Wild Bill Hickock and Kit Carson were both well know heroin addicts, and spent more time in opium dens than saloons...
There are also stories of people destroying themselves that we know all too well, Janis Joplin, John Belushi, Kurt Cobain, etc...
However, this is all besides the point. Would I ever use herion? No, certainly not, I know enough about myself to know better. But it's my belief that it is not
your right nor is it
mine to tell people what they can and cannot do to themselves.
This is the basic separation between our two philosophies. I believe that your life is yours to do with what you please, up to and including killing yourself. How can you be free when your own life isn't yours to control?
If you take drugs, and then perform illegal acts under the influence of those drugs, I believe you should be tried and convicted of those crimes. But it's still your decision to use or not use those drugs.
Again, lowest common denominator. It's a bad place to legislate from.