MarkA

Vera, i don't question the addictiveness of opium, my comment about cold turkey should indicate this.

But opium is not as damaging to the body as is believed, FI, Tobacco is a carcinogen, opium is not.

Of course the associated behavior with opium or heroin addicts is another issue.

regards

Mark

vera

Well, I don't think that a drug that makes you feel like this when you're not on it is... harmless, let we say? Or "not damaging to the body". The body has a very good reason for feeling as it does - and the cause for it is DAMAGE to the body.

Yes, perhaps you may live without lung cancer. Is that "living"? And with very little time, the periods of "clam" grow shorter and the withdrawal signs grow sharper. And people become totally depended and incapacitated. Sorry, I don't think it qualifies for "living" , with or without cancer.

Perhaps you don't realize - drug addiction is a grave ILLNESS. No less than cancer, even more, because it is not physically curable.

sturm

I think drugs, should remain banned, and they should be kept away from our kids, nobody either a mother or a father would like his son or daughter to be a junkie.

Sharks and love

Answer me this, sturm.

Which of these recipes would you say makes children more susceptable to exposing kids to drugs:

An environment where drugs are sold behind the counter with age restrictions by clerks with easy to lose licenses that are regularly inspected by authorities, with little demand for black market criminals and where police can concentrate their efforts on protecting children

or

An environment where drugs are sold by black market criminals unregulated by the government

sturm

In my country Sharks, there is restriction for selling alcohol and ciggarates to kids, but still i've been drinking since i was 14-15 years old. I aways managed to buy alcohol even when i didn't had the age for that.
If drugs become legal here, many would start buying them, because people will start thinking that drugs aren't dangerous.

Sharks and love

You're from bulgaria right? I have friends from Bulgaria and they have told me that they are rarely ever asked for ID.

Perhaps that is the problem?

Or maybe it is the relaxed attitude Europeans have towards alcohol. (Note that I'm not making a judgement on whether this is good or bad, but just that it may contribute to the easy access)

That's why we should be spending much more money educating children from day one, and being honest with them about which drugs are really dangerous, and letting them know which drugs aren't, like Cannabis.

If one thing is clear to me - it is that people, in general, are going to use some kind of drug. Whether it's a recreational drug, alcohol or aspirins to fall asleep and dull pain, they are going to use drugs.

In fact, many people are not aware of the dangerous side effects of aspirin, because they are uneducated about drugs.

sturm

Yes and those friends of yours spoke the truth, but when i was 14-15 years old, i lived in a communist Bulgaria, and back then to be below 18 and to buy alcohol, was like buying illegally weapons today. Not impossible, but hard, still there was ways of doing it, like the most common one, is to ask somebody who is older to buy it for you.


You've made a good point however, but i wanna ask you, why do you feel that drugs should be legal? I mean today you can buy them freely from most of the places, which are known by anybody.

vera

Sharks, are you saying American kids don't get their hands on alcohol?

Sharks and love

Yes of course. You're absolutely right, it isn't impossible to get alcohol.

But in the US, did you know that most kids find it easier to find cannabis (marijuana) (especially) and some other drugs than it is to get alcohol?

I can prove this to you by showing you surveys. Hell, I can get the stuff delivered to my house. I can't even do this with alcohol.

The point is, yes, drugs can be accessed whether they are completely legal and age restricted or illegal. My point is that with many drugs, being illegal makes it easier for kids to have access.

I'd make the case that with age restrictions, for the overwhelming majority of children, there is an age barrier that prevents them from getting drugs most of the time. For example, 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14 year olds would have a much harder time getting alcohol than 17-20 year olds do.

When the drug is illegal, there is are no licensed dealers, and drug dealers are constantly looking for more revenue, more customers, constantly trying to push their customer base to more and more people, and often that means younger and younger customers.

I wouldn't like most drugs to be regulated like alcohol is, sold at the local convenience stores down the street.

They should be available only so much that they make black markets unprofitable.

Sharks and love

No. But if you ask a 15 year old in America which drug is easier to get a hold of, cannabis or alcohol, the overwhelming majority of them will tell you cannabis.


40 percent of teens reported they could get marijuana within a day;
another quarter said they could get it within an hour.
In another portion of the survey, teens between the ages of 12 and 17 say it's easier to get marijuana than buy cigarettes, beer or prescription drugs.
Seven times as many teens (35%) listed the prohibited marijuana as easiest to obtain as listed beer (5%), which of course is legal and regulated.
http://www.kpvi.com/Global/story.asp?S=11003084