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RE: Should we allow drugs and prostitution?
My son is an addict and I firmly believe marijuana is both harmful in its own right and a gateway drug.
Having said that - I strongly believe drugs should be legalized because once somebody is addicted - they are in many ways powerless to the addiction and no good comes from forcing them to break the law to support their habit.
I think we would be in a much better place to help them become contributing members of society if drugs were legalized.
Thanks for sharing the personal experience, I'm sorry to hear that your son got addicted.
Although there are some harmful effects of marijuana (as they are in alcohol too), there are many benefits of its legalization, including addict social marginalization prevention, as you pointed out.
What concerns me about legalization at the moment, is it is being promoted as cool rather then a way to help addicts.
I think legalization should be accompanied by the anti-smoking campaigns that targeted the tobacco industry. It is amazing the reduction in the number of people who smoke tobacco as a result of those campaigns and it did not require creiminalization.
I totally agree with your concerns - the reason why I used somewhat grim images in this article instead of happy ones, is because I didn't want to make an impression that I'm supporting drugs and prostitution just because that's now cool and mainstream.
Of course, I think that some of the income from new taxes should be used to promote limited and responsible drugs (including tobacco and alcohol) and prostitution usage.
Addiction is so sad. Hopefully your son conquers his addiction. I have family that also struggle with addiction. Stay strong.
It is rare for me to meet somebody who does not have a relative or a friend that has not felt the impact of addiction. I wish you family members well.
Same to your family.
I'm curious about your opinion, what did you witness with your sons experience with Marijuana over the time of him using it?
When I was at university over 30 years ago, my housemates were heavy marijuana users - very heavy. If you asked me if I noticed any effect in them, I would have said they seemed pretty chilled and were not as motivated as other friends. In short, not a big deal.
And to be honest, it is those memories I believe many people of my generation share that color our opinion of marijuana usage today.
But the sad fact is the weed our kids smoke today is much more potent then the weed our generation smoked 30 plus years ago.
So what did I witness with my son's experience with marijuana? It is not scientific, but behavioral changes far different then I observed in my housemates 30 years ago. So much so, I can tell if he has smoked in the past few days because his behavior becomes more aggravated (that might not be the right word - but it is the best I can describe it). On occasion it can make him paranoid.
What makes it even more complicated as any parent of an addict will tell you - addicts rarely have one drug of choice. Sometimes by necessity, sometimes just because they are looking for a different buzz - they do use/try different drugs.
Who knows what cocktail they have in their system on any particular day and how those drugs might interact with each other.
It is a very difficult problem that should not be criminalized and definitely has no simple solutions.
I do not know if that answers your question, but it is my opinion.
"But the sad fact is the weed our kids smoke today is much more potent then the weed our generation smoked 30 plus years ago." - Thanks for mentioning this, I didn't know that.
Thanks for the reply. I appreciate it.