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| Unified Drug Policy Would Better Society |
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Posted by FoM on June 14, 2001 at 21:47:17 PT By Lyle Lowery, Reveille Columnist Source: The Reveille 
We all know that drugs are illegal in America, but what if I told you that you could buy ready-made substances to abuse at practically any store? When taken, the user's inhibitions are lowered, judgment is decreased, balance, vision, and speech are altered, and mental alertness is decreased. When taken in large quantities, death can result. Continued use of the substance can result in chronic illnesses and death. Its abuse is one of the leading killers in the United States. I am talking about alcohol.
I can hear the collective groan of the readers already, but I beseech you, press on; see what I have to say. It seems to me that there is a double standard in laws governing substance abuse. If you are 21, it is perfectly legal to subject yourself and those around you to the potentially lethal abuse of alcohol. Alcohol has caused a number of deaths on this very campus. Beyond that, alcohol is a gateway drug. If a given drinker likes that feeling of stupor and being out of control, why not try other, more potent drugs? One may call into question the motives behind drug laws. Are they to protect the users, or the people surrounding them? If the goal is to protect the health of the users, then why are cigarettes legal? So what if cigarettes kill a little slower; does that make it okay? And what of second-hand smoke? Now I am not calling for a ban on smoking and drinking. I am simply questioning the reasoning behind our drug laws. Since the legalization of marijuana is a hot topic these days, I will cite some of the results of its current illegal status. Since marijuana is illegal, it cannot be regulated by the age requirement that cigarettes and alcohol are. It is therefore often easier for teens to acquire weed than cigarettes and alcohol. Store-bought marijuana would be safer than illegal marijuana. If it were available in stores, it would be free of any contaminants and would be sure to be real. Occasionally the weed available now is laced with other drugs that can be far more dangerous. There also would be no risk of buying a bag of parsley or something, which could lead to violence between the buyer and seller. Drug deals are dangerous. If marijuana were to be sold in coffee shops, it would eliminate the necessity to buy it on shady street corners. It would also go a long way to eliminate many drug dealers, since marijuana sales are many dealers' primary source of income. You might say that if marijuana were legal they would just sell something else, but I would like to suggest that since possession of marijuana carries lesser penalties than most other drugs, dealers might be more likely to deal in it. Many people don't even really consider weed a drug, or by any means a serious one, so why not sell it or smoke it? If laws governing marijuana were harsher, it would eliminate this mentality. So are marijuana laws too strict or too lax? Changing the laws either way would lessen the dangers to society of this drug. And now that all of that is out, how do alcohol and tobacco laws compare? How is it better to drink alcohol and destroy your liver than to smoke weed and destroy your lungs? Right now, the laws encourage youths to use drugs over tobacco and alcohol. Obviously our system is faulty when a kid can buy a sack but he can't buy a pack. I think the law as it is is based on what is socially acceptable. While smoking marijuana is not acceptable, smoking tobacco and drinking alcohol for the most part is. As such, the leaders of the nation are a party of Dominican smokers and Bourbon drinkers. Our views as a nation on substance abuse are far too ingrained to be easily changed. Nevertheless, they lack reason. The question I pose to you is: What is the solution? Should marijuana really be illegal when it is much easier to regulate it, and in turn keep our youths safer? It seems to work fine in parts of Europe. Should alcohol and tobacco be legal? Or should it be unregulated? Any change toward more balanced laws would be for the better. Perhaps more should be left up to the parents. There is no easy solution, but one thing is clear: there is a better one. The Reveille is published daily Tuesday through Friday during the fall and spring semesters and semi-weekly during the summer semester, except during holidays and final exams. Source: The Reveille (LA) CannabisNews Articles - Legalization Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help |
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| Comment #4 posted by Sudaca on June 15, 2001 at 08:51:02 PT |
| There's a prohibitionist argument line to the effect that if you legalized pot , the black market dealers would just do a massive shift to crack , heroin, PCP or some other 'harder' drugs so legalization wouldn't take care of the criminal element of drug dealing. However, this is absurd for: The black market will be forced to shrink and specialize in controlled substances that stand little chance of becoming any more popular than they really are. I'm all for legalizing ALL drugs, and then providing honest , bountiful, deep information on what these substances do, how they work and what their risks are. And providing a fear free environment to look for solutions to the health problems of addicts. Legalizing cannabis alone would help a lot though. [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #3 posted by dddd on June 15, 2001 at 05:13:03 PT |
| ...I think that if there was a way to take an accurate, and honest poll of Americans,as to whether Marijuana use was acceptable,,,I have no doubt that a huge majority would say yes.....I think there is a major silent/censored group of citizens in the US,that are so disgusted by the whole crooked political fiasco,,,that they say "F#*k It". I'm not sure,but I think somewhere around 50% of eligible voters bothered to vote in the last election.Alot of these people are scared to vote..they dont like the idea of giving big brother their address and SS#,,they have zero trust of the government,,and rightfully so.....these are the good mellow masses left over from the days when government was somewhat less brutal and omnipresent or omnipotent. ....Todays police state strikes fear in the heart of innocent, good people......it aint pretty ...d [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #2 posted by aocp on June 15, 2001 at 04:44:08 PT |
| There is no easy solution, but one thing is clear: there is a better one. This guy's been sneaking a peek into my brain, i tell ya! [ Post Comment ] |
| Comment #1 posted by Rambler on June 15, 2001 at 03:20:44 PT |
| The main reason that Marijuana will probably not make it to the point of "legal",in the forseeable future;(I must qualify,that the future is inreasingly difficult to forsee),anyway,I think that the fact that Marijuana can be easily produced with little more than soil and water,is the main reason it will remain illegal in the states.Nowdays,it's become shamefully obvious that the US governments policies are made 'By the Money,and for the Money'. As long as money has the upper hand in influencing politics,not much will change.And unfortunately,,it dont look as if things are too likely to change. [ Post Comment ] |
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