Posted on 07/05/2005 9:30:27 AM PDT by Sensei Ern
For many years, I have been a strong opponent of legalizing drugs. As you read this, remember that I am still against drug legalization, but I have more sympathy for the opposing argument.
The reason I have been opposed to drug legalization is to protect children. I grew up in a home that was one step up from a crack house..at least we had heat and food. I know first hand what can happen when a child lives in those conditions.
As a counter, I have always felt that use of tobacco and alcohol should be legal for those of a responsible age.
The reason I am considering a change is because of the pain I went through this last month. Four weeks ago, I had a root canal done on a tooth...it was Friday. Once the Novocain wore off, I was in serious pain because the doctor was inexperienced and left a partial root. I experienced pain worse than listening to Rosanne Barr sing the National Anthem. He forgot to write a prescription.
I called the emergency number only to be told I could see the doctor on Monday. TWO WHOLE DAYS IN EXTREME PAIN! I had some 800mg Ibuprofen in the medicine cabinet. That only took away enough pain to convince myself to not commit suicide to stop the pain.
On Monday, I was given a prescription of Tylenol 3 with Codeine and an antibiotic. That took away the pain. Until it ran out. Again, extreme pain. Another dentist did another root canal...and again did not get the whole root. I made sure he gave me a prescription for the pain, before I left the office.
Finally, when that ran out, and another dentist completed the root canal, the pain has subsided.
To be in the kind of debilitating pain I was in, cannot be described. Bill Cosby once talked about taking your bottom lip and pulling it over your head...that comes close.
I have always been an advocate of personal responsibility. That conflicted with knowing that some of the drugs offered today are so dangerous that they needed to be regulated. Then, I thought back about how things were a hundred years ago. The doctor prescribed a treatment, and you either made it yourself, or went to the pharmacist, who mixed up the more potential drugs.
Back then, the only regulation was, could you afford the cost? Drugs were available, and the pharmacist would determine whether you were abusing. If you OD'd on a drug from abuse, you died and life went on for others. But, you could get drugs if they were needed, and you did not have to wait until Monday. You didn't need to wait for approval from anyone to use a drug.
That is enough about that for the moment.
If drugs were to be legalized, they should be regulated like alcohol and cigarettes...have a legal purchasing age. Also, if you do harm to another while under the influence of anything, you should be held personally responsible...to the fullest extent, especially capital punishment for causing a death. If you are taking drugs to get high, strap yourself into a chair and sleep it off.
If drugs were immediately legalized, we could expect some immediate effects. For one, the drug addicts would run out and by everything, and we would have a rash of overdosing for about a month. The rest of us could then go on with our lives, only mourning the loss of a relative, instead of daily living with the horror of a drug addict in our lives.
Currently, I believe law enforcement should be stronger. But, I could be moved to undecided if I heard good arguments for the opposite.
--Pray for our troops --Pray they have wisdom to do the right thing --Pray they remain courageous --Pray they know we love and support them --Pray they get the equipment they need to do the job --Pray for their safe return home to a hero’s welcome
I wonder how many people would die from over dosing. I suspect it would level off around 3% of the population of the U. S. That is about 7.5 million. That is just a WAG, so I could be wrong.
We already have what you desire. The doctor's prescription is the regulation and it also determines a legal purchasing age.
Libertarians are welcome, just don't expect a lot of support.
Ya might even get a "Troll" alert for such statements.
But... But... If we let people treat their own pain, then someone might get high. And we all know that the most important issue in America is to keep those damned druggies from getting high. It was worth selling out our Bill of Rights, doncha know. Every day I feel a creeping fear that someone, somewhere might be getting high. And we can stop that from happening with the perfect new law. I recently realized that if we put everyone in jail whether they have commited an offense or not, we could probably keep everyone from getting high.
I don't use drugs and never will so I personally could not care less one way or another. But ...
You make good points for advocating de-criminalization if drugs. To me, it seems to be, "Why not"? We are not stopping anyone from using them anyway and maybe we could take some of the tax burden off of smokers and drinkers and put it on drug users.
Question: You screen name says "Senei", what are you a Sensei of?
Exactly!
Gotta make more laws you know. After all, thats what seperates Conservatives from Liberals right? Ooops!
Oh boy, you asked for it... :-)
Exactly. Although I don't think they should be released outright because when they did it, it was illegal, but maybe lower the sentences.
I heard a story a long time ago about a guy selling a LOT of marijuana who got something like 40 years to life (or some such nonsense), yet convicted child molesters are free after a few years to molest again.
Our priorities are a bit warped.
I find it unbelievable that a 2nd dentist also screwed up.
I also think your reasoning is specious. You went from debilitating pain, to thinking back to how drugs were prescribed 100 years ago, to legalizing drugs if you're of legal purchasing age. It doesn't quite ring true.
Nice try, though.
I fall into this camp too. There clearly is something wrong with a policy whose biggest proponents are the ones violating it (and getting rich). I would be content with the more libertarian approach or a far more draconian approach that made liberal use of the death penalty. What we are doing is a stupid waste of time, money and resources and we should have figured that out after 50 years of failure.
Or as bad as the Terri threads? Those get very ugly!
Yeah, he's just a dirty drug user who doesn't have pain at all. He just made it up so he could get high. We should track his IP and send the jackboots to kick his door in.
Not necessary. Go to an urgent care facility or the ER.
got a problem, take a pill. hard to "just say no" when that's the way it is today and meth is easily made at home and readily available anywhere.
There's no way meth can be a societal problem! We passed a law that made it illegal!
So you think stuff like crystal meth should be legalized and "regulated"?
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