
Originally Posted by
marioc
There is no way a heroin user could possibly hold down any kind of job.
Thats crazy talk,I have worked with these people.
You guys need to do a little more research on heroin addiction.
In saying that it would be very hard even for a heavy meth user.
Perhaps at first for a few months but eventually you just ending up needing more and more till something gives.
Both these drugs are too damaging to totally legalise imo.
Its the less dangerous,such as E and maybe even Coke that should be decriminalised to some extent.
In regards to researching addiction, I have worked in a rehab facility for numerous years. Many heroin addicts held down high paying, responsible jobs. They had so much money that they didn't spend their lives breaking into people houses to get money to support their habits. The legal issues associated with acquiring the drug was often the problem, not the drug use itself. Methadone maintenance programs have been around for years. Heroin was given to addicts in the UK for years as well.
I worked with a lady who was literally worth billions of dollars. She had pure heroin made for her and flown to her in private jets from Italy. She used clean needles, pure smack and never had any health issues. She was an addict for over 15 years. She was a top fashion designer and a name known very well throughout the fashion industry. She chose to get clean because she wanted to have a child. She suffered no ill health effects at all, other than constipation, and the physical dependence to the heroin, which took a few weeks to overcome. Keith Richards is famously quoted as saying he's never had a problem with drugs, just the police.
Taking away the financial issues and the legal issues of prohibition makes addiction, which is a disease, like alcohol addiction (alcoholism) treatable as a health issue, not a criminal issue. Even in the LAPD's DARE Program (Drug Abuse Resistance Education), they teach kids that using cannabis can get you arrested. Not that you will die, or use harder drugs, but that you can get arrested. They talk about making smart choices and have given up on trying to scare kids with nonsense about drug use.
Take the morality out of it; drugs are bad, the people that use them are bad etc., and what you are left with is a huge amount of money spent on a failed system. How will we know the drug war is won? When people stop using them? It will never happen. There must be a better way to deal realistically with drug use. The article I had posted earlier in the thread says what is becoming a much more widely accepted, though politically untenable solution. No politician wants to be seen as soft on crime, which is generally fueled by the need to get money for drugs.
Keeping people scared keeps people in line. Look at the US for a great example of that.
Facts: LSD was legal in the US until 1968. Cannabis use was legal until 1937. Richard Nixon made the plant itself illegal in 1971. MDMA or "E" was legal and used for couples therapy until 1985. The DEA's own experts recommended that it should be legal for medicinal use and objected to its reclassification. Drugs that have been classified as illegal are done so due to their potential for abuse, not that they are bad for you physically.
Again, the criminal justice system should be there to protect us from others, not ourselves.
Ride, eat, sleep, repeat!
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