Drugs and alcohol

[CORed]

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You can enjoy one beer, feel positive psychological effects, and still be lucid enough to operate a motor vehicle or perform in the workplace. How many executives have one beer or one drink during a business lunch or in their office? You can't enjoy one joint, or do one line, or shoot one dose of heroin, and still be lucid enough to perform well in the workplace or contribute in any meaningful way to society.

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I won't address cocaine or heroin, because I have no experience with them, but for marijuana, this simply isn't true. Lots of people smoke small amounts of marijuana, and drive or work. I won't claim that it has no adverse effect on driving safety or work performance, but I wouldn't make the same claim for one drink, either. The impact may be small (for either drug), but it isn't zero, either. There's a reason that airline pilots are not allowed to have any alcohol at all for (IIRC) eight hours before a flight.

One joint, if you have half-way decent pot, is actually a pretty heavy dose. Most marijuana smokers will share a joint among several people, or smoke part of a joint, if they have to work, drive, or do anything requiring concentration.

[KJS]

I agree with you; I never meant to imply in my post that drugs shouldn't be legal. I was merely pointing out why some people see a difference between alcohol and other drugs. I think they should all be legal.

I stand by my point that alchol stands apart because it is ingested for other reasons besides intoxication. Imagine if someone came out with THC-free marijuana. Think anyone would buy it? I don't.

KJS

[ThinkQuick]

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I stand by my point that alchol stands apart because it is ingested for other reasons besides intoxication

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If there is a social reason for alcohol unrelated to it's disinhibition and sedative effects, and that may be demonstrable, it has certainly developed due to it's legalization and social status and not the other way around.

People do see alcohol as different than drugs because it's not the normal method, quantity (alcohol is a very weak drug), or circumstance for taking drugs, but it's no different.

[natedogg]

[ QUOTE ]
Anyways my point is that all drugs must be considered individually.
Like for Alcohol: one must consider the fact that once ingested, no food or beverage can retard or interfere with its effects, extreme intoxication and coma are possible at easily obtainable doses, life-threatening lier, heart, and stomach problems develop with chronic use, it has depressant psychological effects which are additive with other medications, and it interferes with fetal development.

Any argument based on these facts would not apply equally to all drugs.


[/ QUOTE ]

All the facts you listed are dangers of alcohol. So an argument for prohibition based on those facts is just an argument to ban a dangerous substance. Other drugs have different dangers but the same argument can apply: They are dangerous to your health, specifically X and Y, so it should be illegal.

It's the same argument. If it applys to one it applies to both regardless of the specifics.

natedogg

[ThinkQuick]

[ QUOTE ]
They are dangerous to your health, specifically X and Y, so it should be illegal.

It's the same argument. If it applys to one it applies to both regardless of the specifics.

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't mean tosay that drugs should be illegal just because they have harmful effects. The dose makes the poison, and every drug you could take can be dangerous to your health.

However, if you consider the specifics X and Y of a particular drug, then you can determine whether this specific drug poses an unacceptable threat to the user and those around him/her. Additionally, since prohibition is a political measure, the social circumstance of the drug needs also be taken in to accoount. The specifics for diferent drugs can be vastly different, and no argument can apply to them both equally.

[KJS]

Again, I never said it wasn't a drug or that it should be treated differently than other drugs. The original post asked why people conceived of alcohol as different than other drugs. Not whether or not it was different from other drugs. That is the only point I keep making--why people think it's different. And I am not even one of those people.

KJS

[Shaun]

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You can't enjoy one joint, (*SNIP*) and still be lucid enough to perform well in the workplace or contribute in any meaningful way to society. Much less operate a motor vehicle (weed I'll concede does not significantly impair your ability to drive).


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Minus the part about heroin and cocaine, this statement isn't true. In fact I'd argue that, being slightly intoxicated on alcohol or marijuana, a person on booze is less productive and muce more dangerous behind the wheel of a car.

The idea that every decision must be based on whether or not it contributes to society is dangerous and anti-individual, not to mention completely contrary to the priciples of freedom.

That said, it probably isn't a good idea to use heroin and take a drive on the interstate. Then again it isn't a good idea to do so with whiskey either, and whiskey is legal. There really is no valid argument against the legalization of drugs in a society that supposedly holds freedom up as its highest ideal. Of course we all know what the country is really all about. What we pretend to be about is a different matter.

[Shaun]

[ QUOTE ]
To come at this from the side door, why do humans seek conscience-altering substances? There have been a great variety of substances used to achieve this throughout almost all human cultures and human history. This may help sort out some the norms, taboos, and reasons for or against acceptance, and the social history of drugs and their use by man.

There is also a close relationship, in some cultures, between religious or spiritual matters and the use of ‘drugs’. The most familiar to many people in America is the peyote ritual that was and still is part of the culture of some Southwestern American Indian tribes along with many in Mexico, the Huichol and Tarahumara being the best known examples.

Info on Peyote

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Read "Rational Mysticism" by John Horgan. It's a cool book that discusses this stuff in depth.

[coughman1975]

what are you asking? why drugs should be legalized? alcohol is intoxicating, but doesn't damage the body as much as cocaine or other harder drugs. why be on drugs when you can be on life!