Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LindyBill who wrote (254838)	6/18/2008 8:33:09 AM
From: skinowski	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 793801

during the Vietnam War, thousands of soldiers became addicted, and when they returned home, 85 percent quit within one year OK, but if it would be easier to get drugs, maybe more people would continue. In order to get a hold of some heroin a person must go out and have encounters with shady characters, break the law, risk arrest etc. Most normal people don't like that. If they didn't have to go through all this nonsense, many more would remain users. With legal restrictions removed, social taboo's would weaken. Maybe most became addicts in Vietnam because drugs were available - and using them was felt to be acceptable. I've seen many people end up dead from overdosing. What's to stop "legalized" drug users from pushing their luck? How many among us didn't have a drink (or 3 or 5) too many in our lives? Alcohol continues to destroy millions of lives - after we are familiar with it for thousands of years. Another objection, in my mind an important one, is - where do we draw the line, if at all? Forget about old fashioned heroin and pot - what about new designer stuff which is - or will become - more fun, and very cheap? Do we want to see people walk around with little apparatuses implanted in the "pleasure centers" of their brains, permanently high? For, if we ARE to draw the line somewhere, why not leave it where it is now? And if ALL restrictions are off, are we ready to face a world which may prove to look quite unfamiliar to its todays inhabitants?

To: LindyBill who wrote (254838)	6/18/2008 11:00:29 AM
From: Geoff Altman	Respond to of 793801

Banning drugs certainly hasn't kept young people from getting them. We can't even keep these drugs out of prisons. How do we expect to keep them out of America? But let's assume my daughter is right, that legalization would lead to more experimentation and more addiction. I still say: Legal is better. While drugs harm many, the drug war's black market harms more. And most importantly, in a free country, adults should have the right to harm themselves. If there's anything the last few years should have taught us is that we can not stop the flow of drugs into this country, nor can we stop the out flow of money to South/Central America and all the negative influence it has. This money is used by the drug cartels to terrorise the countries in which they reside, assassinations of public figures etc..... It's still the same old broken record.... doing the same thing over and over....expecting different results. Let's get over the skip and see how the rest of the record plays.