"This is known as the perfect solution fallacy, and it's trivial to point out an exactly-analogous example that is equally wrong:"

The fallacy lies in the idea that opening up something damaging to more people is ok if it reduces crime. Legalisation simply suggests that one can't or does not want to deal with the original problem.

"And thus, the slippery slope begins. What drugs are, therefore, allowed? What's the difference between morphine for therapeutical use, and morphine to get high? What about marijuana for the same reasons? What about antidepressants? Why are some drugs better than others? Is the line so easily drawn?"

It is clearly drawn when these drugs in its own definition is defined as either medicinal or social. Cannabis can actually be medically prescribed in the UK, and is seen culturally and politically in this country as distinct from social use of the drug. Medicinal can be prescribed in doses by a doctor, if it was over the counter in your newsagent then that rationing won't be able to apply.

middle skool? lol, okay im just not some dumbass nerd like you.

"I've not heard of this, and in fact I remember hearing instances of a WHO report on cocaine use being suppressed due to pressure from the US, and a report by the UK's Ministry of Health being suppressed because it disagreed with their propaganda."

In Scotland they even considered the idea of full decriminalisation even for highly fatal drugs, if decentralisation was much further and the Scottish Parliament had more power over its own say, then they would most likely follow their research analysis and go ahead with decriminalisation.

As the UK as a whole, there have been reports made suggesting decriminalisation, and the fact that the Governing party didn't accept it and put it in place does not necessarily mean they didn't agree with it.

I agree with EmpirezTeam regarding the whole sex thing, but that is a similar but different subject and has more to do with the sexualisation of the media.

You can see condom adverts on tv as early as 7pm now in the UK, possibly even earlier, but there is much worse stuff going on in public billboards, newspapers, daytime television.

"The only reason that organized crime isn't as strong now is because alcohol is not nearly as consumed as other recreational drugs, but historical example suggests their legalization and regulation will greatly impede them."

Yet you've already admitted that crime in the US is quite high, and I'm sure you know that some (not saying all or even most) of that crime is drink related. It seems like legalisation is an admittance of defeat on the grounds that if people suffer less quickly in a less obvious way then thats easier than dealing with the original problem.

Interesting. Best we leave it at that then tonight.

:p

y not just kill people. i like killing people its fun watching the torment in their eyes before they die. :)

Portugal decriminalized 10 years ago and it seemed to work beautifully there. Illegal usage rates dropped (especially with minors)and the government offered them a service which was far less expensive than incarceration, treatment. So now the drug usage rates in Portugal have dropped while drug users who have sought treatment have doubled.

America has shown that criminalization doesn't work. It is still possible to obtain drugs in prisons (through corruption or through other means) and (in our system at least) you can go in for a couple of months to a year on possession charges and come out ready to commit even worse crimes. Effectively our prisons have become training camps for criminals. If you take a man from society for a year and his only comrades are other criminals you might as well never allow him back into that society again.

lol liberal.

Let's take a look at The Netherlands. In Amseterdam it's legal for anyone over the age of 18 to go into a shop and purchase no more than 5 grams of marijuana. They can even smoke in that shop. Now, what does this mean? It eliminates the gateway factor of marijuana. People no longer have to expose themselves to harder substances such as amphetamines in order to get their hands on some pot, so they're far less likely to get involved in harder substances.

There are also the possible tax benefits from legalizing marijuana. Look at how much money the government makes off tobacco and alchohol. It's estimated that the marijuana industry makes around 12 billion dollars a year in the US. Now if that were taxed, you're looking at 1 or 2 billion dollars in tax revenue. That's a lot of coin to be throwing around.

The information above is from a program I watched last night called Marijuana: A Chronic History. I'm pro-legalization of marijuana, not anything else.