US drug control agency will move to reclassify marijuana

I'm sorry but after seeing how american gradually get into worse and worse drugs, and seeing channel 5's video on people using tranq... yeah I think complete ban on drugs for non medical reasons is the best choice.

Yes, because Prohibition was such a ringing success. Just because someone says you can't do something does not prevent someone from doing that thing. If people want something badly enough, they will find a way. When that want has progressed to being a literal need from addiction, the ways found will become more and more bold/risky.

Hell, even if you added the drug that blocks the opiate receptors into the water supply like fluoride so everyone is getting dosed, addicts will just switch to bottle water. Legislation does not prevent anything. It only increases those deemed as a criminal.

Which means ban tobacco and alcohol as well?

I downvoted you because while it may not have been successful at getting Americans to stop drinking, it was effective at reducing violent crimes caused by drinking, as well as the negative health effects such as liver cirrhosis. The anti drug control crowd has done a great job commandeering popular opinion on this topic. I found this (non-academic) article informative to this end.

https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/2019/6/5/18518005/prohibit...

Edit: to the downvoters, I look forward to future academics and politicians being absolutely shocked when it turns out the absence of evidence is in fact not evidence of absence and there are a myriad of negative health and societal consequences from legalizing marijuana use

People wanna get high. There's a plausible hypothesis that we invented farming to have a more reliable way to make beer. We have 2 main options:

1. Attempt to ban it.

2. Accept that people are going to get high, and try to limit the harm.

The first has been a complete and utter disaster. The second -- e.g. applying the same rules about who can use it and where they can use it as alcohol -- is the only sane option.

Prohibition is about as effective as abstinence-only education and for many of the same reasons. We can either work with how we wish people would behave or how they're actually going to behave.

Don't forget coffee...

Well, minus the whole organized crime thing, which is a pretty gigantic elephant in the room.

Yeah, it seems pretty disingenuous to call Prohibition a success because one stat went down.

I've watched the same videos, and the impression I got was that the main gateway drug for tranq was prescription painkillers prescribed legally by a doctor.

Maybe we should consider banning drugs for medical reasons too...

Ring ring, 1920s are calling, they want their prohibition back.

tranq is an adulterant added to fentanyl. I don't think that is apples to apples here. The entire opiate ecosystem is honestly insane at the moment. The only street drug available is fentanyl and it's often mixed with the vet drug tranq which is horrible for humans. It prevents wound healing. I would say there needs to be some kind of harm reduction done in this space too because apparently fentanyl cannot be stopped.

3. Make our society so pleasant to live in that people want to experience their day-to-day lives with their minds free from drugs.

In what sense is your mind free in a world where psyotropics are prohibited? LSD and psilocybin aren't addictive or habbit-building, think about that. Don't knock it 'till you try it.

Why? Drugs are fun. I drank a hot cup of coffee this morning and enjoyed the warmth, taste, and way it made me feel. Those were all pleasant sensations that would be hard to get another way. Why shouldn't I be allowed to experience them?

Roller coaster rides are fun and cause a release of adrenalin in me, which leads to feeling hyperalert, excited, and energized. That's fun! I don't want to live in a society that wouldn't let me enjoy adrenalin releases.

This morning my wife told me she loved me, and I enjoyed a nice wash of endorphins from it. What's wrong with enjoying that?

The common thread here is that there's not a clean dividing line between "bad" drugs and "good" drugs. All animals enjoy certain chemicals. We're evolved to. That's what makes us (in nature) dig into food that's healthy for us, and drives us to reproduce. A mind free from drugs is going to die of misery in relatively short order.

This is the "limiting harm" part of 2.

Outpatient opiods being prescribed to the degree they were 20 years ago was clearly wrong in hindsight.

In addition to prohibition being impossible (and a policy failure in every case where it has been tried, without a single historical exception - one of the most consistent policy outcomes in all of political science), it also isn't cognizable to define the word "drug" for the purposes of your calculus here.

Would you ban coffee? How about sugar?

Drugs aren't just an escape from suffering. I have a very good life. I also like having a beer with friends or, yes, smoking weed with friends. That amplifies an already positive experience.

If you magically eliminated all suffering in my life, I'd still enjoy a beer at dinner.

Make money for yourself and live your best life.

There’s no point in caring too much about anything or anyone else. Free will and all that.

Not my problem. I have insurances and pay for services.

I’ve pretty much accepted that most people are just there to destroy society. So I stopped caring about anyone but myself.

The only people I will get up and help are my direct blood relatives.

Ah, that American rugged individualism. That's why y'all can be homeless in a blink or medically bankrupt.

What’s the alternative?

It’s not like any other country in the world is any better. All countries have problems. My friend is one of those rich liberals who left the country for EU bouncing between Spain Germany and Netherlands before settling in Germany. Now he complains about life there and thinking about Singapore..

I’m from a 3rd world country. Corruption and people treating others like ants is common. It’s why I grew up without running water or power there because of some asshole.

The best outcome is you try to win, because I didn’t choose to spawn into this hybrid RTS game with basically a free for all rules GTA online server.

You need money, planning, and resources to ensure your safety and prosperity.