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  •  But! (4.00 / 2)

    Who is harmed by smoking a spliff for enjoyment? Or indeed the use of any drug for pleasure. Here's the rub, why are alcohol and nicotine freely available when other drugs aren't? Either we're all adults and should be free to polute our bodies in any way we deem fit (given an informed choice), or the Government is our protector from ourselves and has the right to dictate to us what we can and can't inhale/consume. Either way we now have a hypocritical situation where drugs like nicotine and alcohol, which are much more addictive than cannabis are legal, whereas much less dangerous drugs are criminal.

    by parsons on Mon Nov 29, 2004 at 10:08:44 PM PDT

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    •  Public Health (none / 0)

      If you extend your argument, it would point to the legaiization of all drugs, including cocaine and heroine.

      Who is harmed: the other people in society, who have to bear the cost of caring for and curing an addicted person.

      by Chrisfs on Sat Dec 04, 2004 at 01:21:40 AM PDT

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      •  Missed my point completely (none / 1)

        As it happens I don't think it's a bad idea to completely decriminalise all recreational drugs.
        Who is harmed: the other people in society, who have to bear the cost of caring for and curing an addicted person.

        So the same people who are harmed by addiction to nicotine and alcohol then.

        My point was not that all drugs should be decriminalised, but that the current law alows some drugs to be legally abused (nicotine and alcohol) but not others. The hypocracy is that it can't be claimed that these drugs are socially or physically less dangerous.

        My point was that the law should be logical and rational. Therefore either criminalise all drugs including alcohol or nicotine (the nanny state route) OR decriminalise all drugs (you're all adults so what you do is your business route).
        You may have discerned my personal position about this but it was not my actual argument to decriminalise all drugs, just to argue the hypocracy of differentiating between drugs for no apparent reason. The social and health costs of alcohol abuse are thousands of times greater than the costs of abuse of all illegal drugs combined.

        by parsons on Sat Dec 04, 2004 at 10:04:33 AM PDT

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