I am a believer that all recreational drugs should be legalized and regulated by the government.🍻 I don’t think drug prohibition makes much sense and is an incredible waste of both public and private resources.
Most people who die from overdoses do so from unknown quantities of the poison they are ingesting. 🍸Many studies have found most drug users are recreational, addicts are the exception rare than the norm. Moreover with many recreational drugs being prohibited, it encourages abuse rather than safe use.👩 Legal drug use means likely fewer addicts.
Nobody argues that many recreational drugs are detrimental to human health when abused and used for a long period of time. But so are tobacco and alcohol. To say nothing of junk food! 🍬But used recreationally they can be a lot of fun, especially in a social situation. They should be taxed to mitigate many of the potential health downsides and to discourage over consumption.
People say things like heroin and opiods are dangerous and must be banned due to their addictive nature. But I don’t know. Addiction is not only chemical, its as much personality and mental well-being.💊 I think incarceration and aggressive policing of minority communities does far more harm than people who choose to harm themselves.
I certainly support marijuana legalization but I realize there are concerns about the stinky herb when it’s burned.🚬 Intoxicated driving is another concern but I think most people would use it in moderation when they are not going to be motoring and the impact of stoned drivers is much lower than drunk drivers.
Rather than spending billions prosecuting drug users,👮 I would rather see money spent on our communities to make them nicer places to live. More street fairs and movie nights. More recreational opportunities and better parks.🚏 Nicer bus stops and streets with better lighting. Not to mention more low cost and free drug treatment programs for those who are legitimately addicted and just not recreational users.👸👨👴👵
"As pharma companies underwrite three-fourths of the FDA’s budget for scientific reviews, the agency is increasingly fast-tracking expensive drugs with significant side effects and unproven health benefits."
"Canada has become the first wealthy nation in the world to fully legalize marijuana. The Senate approved Bill C-45, also known as the Cannabis Act, on Tuesday. The measure was already approved by the House of Commons, so the Senate’s approval means it’s now set to become law. Canadian and provincial governments are expected to roll out different provisions of the law in the coming weeks and months."
The measure legalizes marijuana possession and sales for adults. Home growing up to four marijuana plants is allowed. The federal government will oversee remaining criminal sanctions (for, say, selling to minors) and the licensing of producers, while provincial governments will manage sales, distribution, and related regulations — as such, provinces will be able to impose tougher rules, such as raising the minimum age. The statute largely follows recommendations made by a federal task force on marijuana legalization. Provinces are expected to need two to three months before retail sales can begin."
Are people surprised that personal suicide rates are increasing when we as a society are rapidly engaging in increasingly reckless, suicidal behavior?
The late Jane Jacobs in her final book in 2004, warned to society that a "Dark Age is Ahead". Over a decade ago, she warned of many alarming trends.
1) People are increasingly choosing consumerism over family welfare, that is: consumption over fertility; debt over family budget discipline; fiscal advantage to oneself at the expense of community welfare.
2) Universities are more interested in credentials than providing high quality education.
3) Elevation of economics as the main "science" to consider in making major political decisions.
4) Governments are more interested in deep-pocket interest groups than the welfare of the population.
5) A culture that prevents people from understanding the deterioration of fundamental physical resources on which the entire community depends.
I highly recommend reading Jane Jacob's Dark Age Ahead. It's been almost a decade since I've read it, but in the era of Trump, I'm thinking of getting it out again for a second look. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Age_Ahead
"More than scientific research goes down in Antarctica. With Pride Month officially starting Friday, celebrations are popping off at all ends of the world—including near the South Pole. Who said a continent devoted to ice, climate and Earth science can’t also be a place for the queerios of the wo..."