If Cigarettes were invented today, do you think they would be legal?

[insomnia]

insomnia, please educate yourself on the Mafia. I am not going by Fake Pradas in NYC. Educate yourself as well on economics in the sense of if people spend 10k a year on drugs out of 20k a year of total income.....If they can get the stuff they are addicted to for 2.5-5 k a year regardless, they would. Also, when you are at the stage where it becomes a money issue your brain is already mush rendering you utterly idiotic.

Hey, if you want to edcuate me about the mafia, please feel free. I love learning new things. Here's what I know about the mafia:
Italian crime syndicates, usually family based, who conduct crimes from arms dealing, money laundering, fraud, drug dealing, etc. in cities in America. Known for being cut throats with brash, physical aggressive tactics when it comes to business. Today, the mafia has much more trouble conducting business the way the used to, because there are much more sophisticated agencies with funding who watch them.

The mafia isn't the problem here. It is moreso drug cartels based in Central and South America bringing drugs into north american cities. They kill, smuggle, bribe, and use deadly force to keep their profits alive in the quest to sell drugs in america.

Please don't challenge me on economics, its a bit obvious you still need to learn a little more about how pricing, demand and supply work.

If you legalize cocaine, these cartels no longer have industries to work in. They do not get high blackmarket profits they used to. So they are forced to either leave the industry, or co-operate with it to keep making money. That means no more need to bribe or kill. That means no more big profits for the bad guys. It means legitimizing everything, paying taxes, regulating the product because it makes sense to.

I understand your emotion with drugs. I agree, some drugs such as cocaine, heroine and crystal meth are incredibly dangerous and can harm the health of people. But sometimes, you create more harm than necessary when you don't consider the affect of legalizing them.

 

[dcristo]

If they can get the stuff they are addicted to for 2.5-5 k a year regardless, they would.

And if it were legalized they would be getting it for alot less! Resulting in less crime as a result of users trying to fund there habits. It would also mean less deaths due to less inpurities in drugs such as coke, E, and speed. Your argument that the dealers can just undercut just doesnt make sense.

And no I'm past my teens and just happen to be a little more educated on the topic and talk from experience.

 

[Salient]

The recent string of deaths in the Chicago area of heroin addicts was due to the fact the heroin was laced with Fentanyl, a very powerful pain killer. The intent of the dealers was to achieve the same, if not more profound, effect while generating higher profits with a cheaper "legal" drug mixed into the expensive "illegal" drug. End result, a bunch of people died. Would these people have died anyway without help? Possibly. Do I condone their behaviour? Absolutely not.

But here is the truth...

This problem simply would not exist if the government controlled the industry. As it stands now, they have absolutely no control of the drug industry. Cripes, they dont even have control of the "legal" pharmacuetical industry. FDA = Pfizer puppet. It is impossible to police every user of any so-called "illegal" drug. So, stop trying to control them. The War on Drugs is failing our society.

 

[octobus]

The problems associated with illegal drug use stem from the very fact that they are illegal.

Overdoses
Slashed,if users would know how much they'd get.

Deaths related to impurities
Slashed, if users would get government regulated substances that would not contain harmful additives.

Property Crime
Slashed, if users would not need to resort to crime to finance their addiction.
Imagine the day when cigs would become illegal, you'd see people wondering the streets with horrible withdrawal symptoms and prepared to do anything to get hold of something containing nicotine.

Public Spending
Slashed
Isn't half of US prison population locked up for illegal drug related offences? I'm not sure about the exact figures but it's a huge proportion nevertheless. Small pennies are not being spent on housing inmates! How much does law enforcement use on hunting down pot heads and dealers alike? Not small pennies again.

Organized crime and Black Economy
Slashed

We would take a huge industry from the hands of criminals to where it could be taxed and regulated. Illegal drugs is one of the top 3 largest products in international trade. Now we are shoveling all this money to organized crime . Very clever, indeed.