Is legalizing drugs a good way to eliminate drug smuggling? If not - why not?

[msc545]

Just legalize them and the black market price will drop to the point that smuggling them is no longer profitable. Nothing else has worked, so why not this?

[Gwendoline]

It's kind of like prohibition. Criminality increased and there was more alcohol use than ever. Better to let people to be self responsible maybe.

But in saying that in Britain for a few years we had something called legal highs, still around but not how it was. Basically legal highs were drugs litteraly being sold legally in head shops very cheaply and the reason they were legal is to do with the chemical composition of them being similar to ilegal and prescription drugs but different and they were imported from China and sold as "plant food". It was an epidemic for a time and ruined quite a few lives. I don't partake of marajuanna but maybe that should be legal instead of it wasting police time

[Gwendoline]

But clearly what's been done over the last few decades is not working.

[jshm2]

No. Quite the opposite. You only need to look at the problems in countries that have legalised narcotics to see it doesn't end well.

Not only to you legitimise a lot of the black market, but you give them a bigger avenue to launder their cash and undermine legal business.

Also, you must be 12 years old if you think smugglers give a shit about something being legal or not. Alcohol smuggling, people smuggling and even animal smuggling still go on, despite the laws around them. Smugglers don't give a shit and it actually RAISES prices to make things legal, as the black market will always have cheaper alternatives.

Things have not "worked" because there are too many jackasses like you worrying about the wrong things and not able to find the right solutions as a result.

[ohsheeT]

Well not only that but look what the government's already done with marijuana they already took the patent out on it they get paid the taxes and it's like they're the dealer and they're making money so why wouldn't they do that and get rid of the drug dealer on the streets or from different countries because it's a trillion trillion dollar business but then they would have to weigh it out and see how they make more money that way or putting people in prison

[msc545]

None of that makes any sense.

[ohsheeT]

We put a patent on it we open up shops people can make money and they pay us money for taxing it that stops the Mexicans from bringing it over and making billions and billions of dollars every year and the government makes the money but see when they put a patent on it and they own all the rights to the marijuana and they're making all this money it should go into the Dow Jones and people could buy stocks but the government will not allow that to happen because they want all that money themselves so like your question stop the smugglers that the government put a patent on it and have all the rights to whatever it is that they're going to sell it keeps people safer it keeps the border safer and it makes the government make tons of money instead of handing it over to the cartel

Marijuana has been around forever it says in the Bible that marijuana will cure everything that somebody changed the wording around and it got taken out but the government found the loophole so they can have all the rights to it all the prophet if they did the same thing like your question ask it would make 10 times 100 times more money they would still keep throwing people in jail because they would abuse it but it would stop to cartel for making that money

So everybody their mother brother sister father are trying to get the government to legalize it 100%, so then it could be put in the stock exchange and everybody could make money lots of money the moment that happens if you have $5 go put it in on there because if it will be bigger than Apple Tesla Ibm

[msc545]

You cannot patent marijuana and there is no patent on it. Presently. It's a plant, not an invention.

[ohsheeT]

Tell that to the government and then what they do is they break it down to the compounds that are in the marijuana

[ohsheeT]

Patent # 6,630,507

[msc545]

I don't think you understand the purpose and function of patents.

[Gwendoline]

Is marajuanna not like tobacco. You can buy it and smoke it but you can't grow it?

[msc545]

@Gwendoline you can grow it here in California if you want to.

[ohsheeT]

Yes in Nevada you can have up to five plants that you have to be so many yards away from it
A place that sells it and so many yards away from a school I also believe it is five plants for person in house

[Anonymous]

They won't legalize drugs until Big pharmaceutical can get their hands in it, and they won't get their hands in it because it will make them look bad in the beginning. So their hands are basically tied and so drugs will never be fully accepted by the federal government... unless Trump breaks that rule too. But that will piss off most of his voting base.. not that he cares.

[Sevenpointfive]

you could try. i'm all for safer drugs. i don't think it's about the drugs but more about the addicts that use them. easier access will create more addicts and that creates more people that the government/taxpayer has to take care of. the responsible drug user is very rare

[Kelley1]

It worked with alcohol. It certainly would work with drugs provided the taxes are not more than triple the cost of manufacturing and selling.

[Apple1996]

It'd probably just increase the demand and make the issue even worse or cause other issues. I know in all the places where weed is legal there is a issue with people being slaved and trafficked to work on weed farms

[DryGermanGuy]

Germany has just legalized marijuana and apparently the related crime dropped by 75%, for what it’s worth.

[exitseven]

Capital punishment for dealing drugs will do a lot to eliminate drug smuggling. . Legalizing drugs will make the US a nation of zombies.

[msc545]

It would do nothing except satisfy your need for vengeance.

[exitseven]

@msc545 A little vengeance can be good for the soul.

[msc545]

Actually, no it is not.

[Graptemys79]

I think legalization would lead people to assume that the drugs are harmless.

[msc545]

Why? Everyone knows that is not true.

[Graptemys79]

I have heard both adolescents and adults claim that since marijuana is legal in some states it is harmless.

[goaded]

Do they think the same about tobacco?

[Graptemys79]

@goaded I don't know/

[msc545]

Marijuana is relatively harmless. Nobody has ever died from it.

[Graptemys79]

That is not true. I just read an article earlier this year from the Canada Journal of Medicine that reviewed 60,000 chronic marijuana smokers and found that there had been deaths from sudden cardiac arrests while smoking. That surprised me.

[msc545]

People die from cardiac arrest all the time, smoking and not sm, smoking.

[Graptemys79]

But the authors associated the cardiac arrests specifically with the marijuana. The also concluded that regular smokers were six times more likely to have serious cardiac disease.

[msc545]

Please provide a link to the article so I can look at it.

[slatyb]

I don't think we want to legalize drugs like fentanyl that can easily be fatal.

[goaded]

Surely regulated supply means people can control their dosage rather than take a huge risk with every new batch?

[slatyb]

@goaded That is a very good point.

[seeyounexttuesday]

Portland shows us what an abject failure it is to legalize drugs.

[msc545]

How does Portland show us that?

[seeyounexttuesday]

It's full of wasteoid druggies ruining the city for decent people.

[msc545]

Did Portland or Oregon legalize drugs and what you asserted here happened as a result? Do you have some proof of that or is that just your opinion?

[seeyounexttuesday]

Oregon decriminalized drugs (which, they rolled back hence proving that it was a disaster). You can find several citizen journalists on social media reporting on the problems in Oregon and portland in particular about what is going on.

[msc545]

Decriminalizing isn't the same as legalizing. Do you have any sources that prove that decriminalizing drugs increased drug usage or sales?

[seeyounexttuesday]

Look at Andy Ngo's reporting on twitter on how Portland turned out. Facts are facts.

[msc545]

I am not interested in some random reporting on Twitter. Cite a credible source if you can please.