Why are drugs illegal?

randomuser

This isn't meant to be provocative, I'm just writing this paper and I'm trying to figure out if I'm missing anything:

(I don't necessarily agree with these statements, but they are out there for arguments sake)

-Drugs are bad for your health
-Drugs are addictive, as a result drugs drain your bank account
-Drugs are addictive, as a result your behaviour is disrupted, and it may affect those around you
-Drugs are bad for society as a whole, as enumerated above

Statements like drugs cause violence are not what I am looking for, as these are for the most part a matter of opinion

DaNoobie

drugs make you happy and the government dont want you to be happy

randomuser

Compelling argument, but I think if I use that one I might face some criticism...

hikin

some drugs can cause you to be a danger to yourself or others. you could develop schitzophrenic halucination which could cause you to attack people or harm yourself (seen a cracked out girl scratching her arms on the bus till they bled cause she thought they were covered in spiders).

thats the only thing i can come up with as to why drugs are illegal.

randomuser

But then alcohol can do some of the same things, which puts me back at square one.

hikin

i've never heard of alcohol causing schitzophrenic hallucinations. although it does have the potential to make people violent.

randomuser

Alcohol has the same potency for people to act against their will, or in ways they normally wouldn't. People have gotten off murder for alcohol induced blackouts.

Then we would also have to ask why are schizophrenics are not illegal and always locked up.

So I think I have my answer, from the moment I posted this thread, that there is no good reason for drugs being illegal, but there are some reasons, but for some illegal drugs, and some legal drugs, the justification is subjective morals.

I'm just trying to figure out of theres any logic I'm missing as laid out above.

DevelopmentArrested

It's probably because of the stigma attached to some of these drugs. Millions of people are killed by alcohol and tobacco (both directly and indirectly) so it can't really be said that drugs are illegal because they are bad for your health. It's likely because it would be costly to regulate them (but I'm not so sure it would) or it's because of the stigma attached to hard drugs. I'd lean towards the latter.

Agentbob

randomuser;52667 said:

But then alcohol can do some of the same things, which puts me back at square one.

Alcohol has such a huge market. If they illegalize alcohol, it will definitely go underground. The politicians knows this. Besides, the amount of tax they get from alcohol keeps it legalized. Another thing is enforcement and regulation costs and resources. It's wasteful and leads to nothing but more crime/negative consequences.

lazyGUY

drugs are usually more addictive than alcohol, and making that illegal would pretty much make it impossible to deter stupid kids from taking drugs
..."it cant be that bad, its legal..."
alcohol isnt as dangerous, for one it takes a lot for you to do stupid things, and by the time that happens your close to passing out, the fact that its a downer and you have to consume a lot is a plus for it
one of the drugs that needs to be legalized for sure is weed though, too many reasons for this

hikin

i have seen ppl do stupid things on small amounts of alcohol. lol

DaNoobie

I remember hearing that alcohol and tobacco (cigarettes, whatever the right term is) would not pass today's drug/food requirements to become like, a legal product. Because they have grown into such huge industries, theres no way the FDA (US? FDMA? federal drug and something?) they can be removed now

Perhaps this is only tobacco, I'm not sure though. Some food for thought

DaNoobie

but really, the government just wants people to be productive and pay taxes
I mean why is prostitution illegal? really now, moral crime? Come on! They just dont want me to be happy

siuying

wait till you catch some stds.. then you'll be REALLY happy.. =P

jokes aside.. i guess it just reflects people's inability to control themselves.. as they say.. an excess of anything is never a good thing.. so i suppose the outlawing is there to prevent people from going overboard.. that said.. you never specified what kind of drugs you're arguing to be legalized so i don't know you're talking in general terms or not.. nonetheless i don't think all drugs should be legalized simply because some are more harmful than others..

DaNoobie

I'm just doing some light thinking though, and I can't really come up with why drugs should be illegal. A month or so ago in the opinions section of the peak, someone complained about the vending machine now selling healthy food. Her argument was that yes, transfats are bad, but we make a conscious decision to eat it even knowing that chips are bad for us.

That said, with some form of education, its really hard to not know that drugs are bad for you. Hell everyone knows cigarettes are bad for you now, so for you to start smoking cigarettes, you must have evaluated some kind of pros and cons (ie. peer pressure vs health implications or parental disapproval; or you did it to spite your parents but concerned about how your peers will view you as a smoker, or your prospects for scoring that hottie if you're a smoker or non-smoker, what have you)

In terms of addiction, I think heroin is the only illicit drug that is harder to quit than cigarettes (someone can feel free to correct me on this, I'm just going by what I remember from like, high school) So assuming harms are the same in that they'll pretty much kill you if you use it with any sort of consistency, really, why are drugs illegal? Marijuana being legalized in the Netherlands did not lead to a sharp rise in usage...

anyways, hockey is on, I'm gone

PS: siuying, use a rubber

randomuser

from what I've read cigarettes are more addictive than heroin, but the withdrawl effects of heroin are worse

heroin has worse short term effects, while cigarettes have worse long term effects

icerider

Well, some people when thinking of drugs, instantly think of people shoving needles up their arms. Comparing this to drinking or smoking, it's a pretty bad image.

bufli

drugs are illegal cuz the govt. don't want no more prophets/religions to startup :P
/end sarcasm

DaNoobie

pretty sure needles is mainly heroin?
cocaine can be snorted and marijuana is smoked
glue is also snorted
MDMA is a pill
uh what else? I guess crack is also injected

DaNoobie

But needles shouldn't automatically be connected with something bad imo considering diabetics inject themselves to keep their glucose level in check. I realize theres a difference between necessity and using something for enjoyment, I just wanted to point out that needles =/= bad

icerider

Yeah, but we're talking about public perception. Most people aren't jamming theirselves with needles on a daily basis. It's just this image tacked on to drugs that doesn't make it any better. It's true that needles are usually used for good, but it's not like the public cares.

DaNoobie

so you saying any of the drugs that do not involve needles should be ok then?