RE: "It's the Law:" The Mantra of the Brainwashed
For sure there is a highly dangerous and criminal element to drug use and distribution. But this wasn't always the case. What largely makes the industry so dangerous and prone to usurption by unsavor individuals, to put it lightly, is the fact that it is an illegal market and thus unregulated. This poses a twofold threat: 1) there is no oversight as to the quality and composition of the products being sold. People can be told they're getting one thing while buying something completely different and sometimes harmful or even deadly. 2) lack of any formal legal structure around manufacture and distribution means the only realistic fallback is violence. A further point worth mentioning is that the state, to a large degree, provides this service in other legal industries (police, military and the penal system) but it is so widely accepted and well funded that it goes almost unnoticed and seldom questioned.
I agree with you that there is most definitely a need for laws and the enforcement thereof. But, on the other side of the argument, there is also the fact that there is simply too much money and human desire for drug use to ever go away no matter how much state backing there is behind the effort. Maybe somehow the governments of the world will learn to strike a balance and begin to promote trends in legislation and education to let society approach the issue a little more realistically.
My two cents. Best of luck. :-)
Great points definitely and it is as you said, we need a larger more organised view around this. I'm guessing @artisticscreech is very happy at this point in time because I'm going to ask the big 'why' in a way. Why are drugs illegal - I know, way too large a topic to tackle because not all 'drugs' kill you. @artisticscreech had a great point earlier when he/she (I just realised I had no idea whether you are a man/woman - ironically, I'm wondering if that should even matter) mentioned that certain companies are only 'keeping' canabis illegal because they can make more money, as is evident especially in the fuel and cancer 'treatment' industries. Then again, some drugs can lead to the death of people however, as you @technoguy said, this is largely due to the fact that most 'street' drugs are impure and of poor quality. There's a brand of ecstasy in South Africa which is said to have no negative effects - apparently this batch is of the purest possible quality however, here's the draw back according to a rehab center (I know I know, rehabs make money off of 'addicts') this batch still causes similar negative effects during the come down phase supposedly due to the prior effect on serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine levels. That being said, and as @artisticscreech said, everyone should have a right to choose for themselves. Now I am highlighting what you (@technoguy) and I both have said, education in this regard is key. The topic on 'drugs' will seemingly remain a catch 22 situation until the mindset of people have changed - the fact however remains, and that is that some 'drugs' have benefits and some don't - at least in their purest forms supposedly. So, what can actually be done to change this mind set?
Good points all. Unfortunately, as for changing the mindset toward drugs, I think the change would probably a pretty laborious and slow; at least in the case of those substances that currently carry massive legal penalties. The big brother policies and insane amounts of capital that have gone into the drug war all the way from the Federal government on down to local law enforcement and Hollywood along the way have really done a number on people's perceptions. And that's not even touching on the vast and powerful vested interests who don't want to see anything change.
I think the states that have legalized recreational cannabis are setting an important precedent and generating valuable data to counterbalance the general baseless hysteria that opponents of legalization embrace.
I think the real change will come from the bottom up and not from the top down. Historically, that's generally how change has happened in the US and the rest of the world in in regard to all kinds of issues. What makes the US different is the transparency and structured openness to change. But it takes a critical mass of informed people taking action in a coordinated way to make things happen.
Despite many believing that we are increasingly more disempowered I actually think the opposite may be true. In today's world of online connectivity it has never been easier to coordinate minds and motivation across geographic space. I also like to believe that emerging blockchain platforms will help augment this even further.