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Arguments for the prohibition of drugs
#1
Arguments for the prohibition of drugs
Can anyone provide me with good arguments supporting the prohibition of drugs? Here are my arguments against the prohibition:

1. Prohibiting drugs increases violence. Murder rates dropped significantly when the USA ended it's prohibition of alcohol in the 1930's.

2. The prohibition of drugs is counter productive, it results in the funding of organized crime, terrorists and corrupt politicians.

3. The prohibition of drugs is hypocrisy, alcohol and tobacco are more dangerous than most drugs yet they are legal. The danger posed by drugs has been grossly exaggerated.

4. Many drug users are otherwise law abiding people, criminalizing them is unfair and a waste of police resources.

5. The war on drugs shows no sign of ending and appears to be unwinnable.
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#2
RE: Arguments for the prohibition of drugs
Good luck finding a debate partner... I believe most people on this site are pro-legalization, or at the very least for decriminalizing.
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#3
RE: Arguments for the prohibition of drugs
I have been an advocate for legalization for a long time. Tax the shit out of them and maybe you could lower income taxes. Plus, the purity of the drug can be controlled leading to fewer drug related deaths.
"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe." -Einstein
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#4
RE: Arguments for the prohibition of drugs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5G4HxrVx20A
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#5
RE: Arguments for the prohibition of drugs
A Theist may be a good debate partner on this issue. As far as I'm aware he opposes drug legalisation.
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#6
RE: Arguments for the prohibition of drugs
1. Prohibiting drugs increases violence. Murder rates dropped significantly when the USA ended it's prohibition of alcohol in the 1930's.

Correlation does not prove causation. Further, jerrying with ones laws to -in effect- cater to the criminal element is hardly (imho) good policy. The increase and drop in murder rates in the 30's is not a subject of disagreement between us, but I would wager that you have ignored the effects of another important event of the 30's. The great depression. In addition, it would be more accurate to say - assuming the absolute truth of that statement, that prohibiting alcohol in that time and that place increased violence centered around the manufacture, distribution, and consumption of alcohol - in that time and place. Gangs had something to fight over.

2. The prohibition of drugs is counter productive, it results in the funding of organized crime, terrorists and corrupt politicians.

-An appeal to consequence, but lay that aside. The prohibition of drugs and it's attendant law enforcement agencies would result in the de-funding and dissolution of said entities were it to be pursued to a successful end by competent men with adequate means.
(consider the eradication of hemp/marijuana in the US which once grew on the sides of the road by a handful of men armed with little more than cans of gasoline and torches - in the same breath other drug issues persist and the mind swims as to why that is)


3. The prohibition of drugs is hypocrisy, alcohol and tobacco are more dangerous than most drugs yet they are legal. The danger posed by drugs has been grossly exaggerated.


Could this not easily be construed as an argument for why alcohol and tobacco should be illegal, as opposed to why the use of other substances should be legalized?

4. Many drug users are otherwise law abiding people, criminalizing them is unfair and a waste of police resources.

-Many convicted felons are also otherwise law abiding people (laying aside the singular conviction).

5. The war on drugs shows no sign of ending and appears to be unwinnable.

-This is your POV, I have a different POV which I have expounded upon breifly in other threads. To me, the "war on drugs" was never meant to end....and has been going fantastically well - but what either of our opinions on this may be doesn't have much to say on the matter of whether or not there -should be- a war against drugs.

Is there some reason that we should not fight a war simply because it's end does not present itself to our sight or we have suspsicions that we may not be able to win it?
I am the Infantry. I am my country’s strength in war, her deterrent in peace. I am the heart of the fight… wherever, whenever. I carry America’s faith and honor against her enemies. I am the Queen of Battle. I am what my country expects me to be, the best trained Soldier in the world. In the race for victory, I am swift, determined, and courageous, armed with a fierce will to win. Never will I fail my country’s trust. Always I fight on…through the foe, to the objective, to triumph overall. If necessary, I will fight to my death. By my steadfast courage, I have won more than 200 years of freedom. I yield not to weakness, to hunger, to cowardice, to fatigue, to superior odds, For I am mentally tough, physically strong, and morally straight. I forsake not, my country, my mission, my comrades, my sacred duty. I am relentless. I am always there, now and forever. I AM THE INFANTRY! FOLLOW ME!
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#7
RE: Arguments for the prohibition of drugs
6. XTC is fantastic.
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#8
RE: Arguments for the prohibition of drugs
7. lol, agreed.
I am the Infantry. I am my country’s strength in war, her deterrent in peace. I am the heart of the fight… wherever, whenever. I carry America’s faith and honor against her enemies. I am the Queen of Battle. I am what my country expects me to be, the best trained Soldier in the world. In the race for victory, I am swift, determined, and courageous, armed with a fierce will to win. Never will I fail my country’s trust. Always I fight on…through the foe, to the objective, to triumph overall. If necessary, I will fight to my death. By my steadfast courage, I have won more than 200 years of freedom. I yield not to weakness, to hunger, to cowardice, to fatigue, to superior odds, For I am mentally tough, physically strong, and morally straight. I forsake not, my country, my mission, my comrades, my sacred duty. I am relentless. I am always there, now and forever. I AM THE INFANTRY! FOLLOW ME!
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#9
RE: Arguments for the prohibition of drugs



I'm not in favor of legalization where many are, but to be blunt, I really can't be arsed to muster an argument at the moment.


A common element in the arguments you have presented is that many of them are arguments from consequences, and therefore may readily miss the mark of those who consider the argument from consequences in such matters to be improper or unpersuasive.

I would, if I were so arsed, likely approach it from the fundamental premises of utilitarianism, which seems foundational in many arguments in favor of legalization. One of the core premises of utilitarianism is that individuals are rational agents (or, in other formulations, if not actual rational agents, should be treated as such), from whence follows the conclusion that the greatest good for the greatest number results from the free exercise of that ability, so long as it harm none. The nature of addiction itself puts in question the rather simplistic notion that a person may use or not use at their discretion, entirely in keeping with the principle of not interfering with agents engaged in pursuing their rational self-interest. (The human cost of addiction itself is another concern. This is likely an improper appeal to emotion, but the documentary Methadonia which I recently watched is an eloquent portrait of the nature of addiction, recovery, and the disease of chemical dependency itself. [Lilly, honey, cover your ears, dear; you didn't hear that. Disease? Must have been the wind.])

More than that, I think it's somewhat distorting to view the question solely in terms of legalization. There are few significant drugs in our society that are not the subject of legal regulation. The institution of medicine is a large part devoted to the regulation of the use of pharmaceutical drugs. Alcohol and tobacco are also regulated, though perhaps not as well as they should be. (And here the argument from consequences raises its head again, as we compare the cost of criminalizing the use of alcohol or tobacco relative to the ongoing costs of alcohol related traffic fatalities, health and social costs of nicotine dependence, as well as the human costs of chronic alcoholism.) I would suggest that regulation is a more appropriate frame in which to put the question, rather than the rather extreme poles of no regulation of use or strict criminalization of use. Again though, because of the effects of some of these chemicals on the brains of their users, regulation for many substance may not even be an option. (In this regard, one of the interesting questions in chemical dependency is the long term consequences of chronic use. It's speculated that continued use of some addictive substances critically alters the brain such that the person may not be able to ever return to "normal," even if they choose to discontinue the use of the drug. The cost of letting a person fall into a trap where their brain becomes locked in a state in which it can no longer experience reality as simple, open, and possessed of the normal range of lability of emotion and affect is not a cost that can be measured in terms of dead bodies, but is a real cost all the same.)


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#10
RE: Arguments for the prohibition of drugs
Heroin and Crystal Meth.




These two are probably the 2 best arguments against the legalisation of drugs.
But only for these two drugs.
Heroin means addiction, even if you inject it only once - therefor it`s legalisation would be completly unreasonable and counterproductive.

I dont think I have to explain why meth shouldnt be legal.
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