Obama Hates Medical Marijuana And He Doesn't Care What The States Think

[FlyingNarwhal]

Yes. Aware of that. Heart disease is the culmination of plenty of lifestyle and genetic factors, not just one substance. People do take steps to help others prevent it, if i'm not mistaken people are taking steps to make school lunches healthier, kids do more gym, etc. etc. This sort of diseases is about prevention, it's not addiction. Unless you're talking about people who are addicted to food?

I would argue that food is an addiction for everyone, albeit an addiction that without we would die. But if you don't think you're addicted to food I would challenge you to try and quit, I guarantee a relapse.

None-the-less drug abuse and addiction is not a simple as "if you take the drug you're abusing it" or "if you take the drug once you're addicted." I would argue they are motivated by the same lifestyle and genetic factors attributed to heart disease.

Agreed. Should we not make recreational drugs safer? Should we stick to dangerous ones because ppl like them?

We can certainly attempt to make safer drugs, that I have absolutely no problem with. But in order to make those safer drugs, drugs have to be legalized because it is against the law to use those substances. So we cannot make safer drugs without first legalization for experimentation. In a free legalized market, companies would also be competing to make drugs that are safer because safer drugs means more customers.

Even still if someone chooses to use a dangerous drug it is their choice to partake. Again relating back to heart disease, imagine if I told you that bacon was just too harmful for you so from now on you had to eat turkey bacon because it's healthier. It shouldn't matter if one is healthier than the other, you should be able to choose based on your own concerns and evaluations. If you choose to eat healthier than by all means do so, but no one should be able to force you to eat healthier.

Decriminalization.

Truly gangster's paradise. Say for example they decriminalize ecstasy. So it is not illegal to use it, but it still remains an unregulated product. That allows the illegal manufacturer the opportunity to add unhealthy fillers to the product and sell it to customers at a decreased risk. Where as a legalized and regulated manufacturer would be required to put no unhealthy additives to the product. Essentially decriminalization gives a nice surface appearance, but leaves the underground drug world untouched.

I know there are people who can use recreational drugs and not get addicted. I also know there are people who are predisposed to addiction (it's genetic). Scientists have had a lot of trouble trying to pinpoint what exactly causes addiction and very recently there's research showing it's biological in basis and caused by the drug. Not all drugs are created equal, drugs that you take for medication now have been through trials to see their potential for misuse. Some are more likely to cause addiction than others, in other words. And addiction, when you first take a drug, before you get addicted you're in control, once you are addicted you feel horrible without the drug. It is a form of suffering. You may be convinced that people want to suffer when they choose to do this, I am more convinced that addiction is a medical condition where someone really cannot control if they want to take a drug or not, the urge is just overwhelming. If everyone used drugs in moderation and addiction is such minor and rare thing, then there's really no need to fuss over this, but people don't. And prescription drug serve a purpose, it's a benefit vs risk thing, and they are the most misused, not the illegal ones.

I am sorry to inform you but the high addiction rate thing is cooked up from the war on drugs.

http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2008...ntage_drug

Take it from someone that has taken his own fair share of drugs. That whole, "if you take it once you'll become an addict" mantra the D.A.R.E. police like to repeat doesn't hold up very well.