International Colombia’s president: Legalize cocaine, it’s no worse than whiskey

[Flower2dPeople]

I'm all for it. Would it cost less?

 

[Boxiana]

I'm all for it. Would it cost less?

Government would tax the shit out of it, but the price would be determined by the black market.

Good for the consumer.

 

[Long Dark Blues]

 

[EL CORINTHIAN]

It certainly keeps you sharp between the ears.

 

[ModernMatt]

I believe Vancouver, Canada legalized a bunch of drugs, there's a section of downtown that is littered with addicts that can't stand up straight.
If implemented right, it could work, like someone mentioned Portugal

 

[GreatSaintGuillotine]

Thats gonna be a no from me dawg

 

[azerty]

hm, interesting move lol. a country like portugal has all drugs legalized, and they've made it work. though that's a very small country and much easier to manage than a place like colombia.

if properly abused cocaine will kill you faster, but i've found you function much better as a person if you abuse cocaine over alcohol. you're a talkative freak, true, but at least you're not falling and running people over in cars.

correct me if i'm wrong but it's depenalized in Portugal not legalized so it's still a parallel economy, probably good to prevent filling up the court and jail with small time dealers but it's not taxed or you can't buy it "legaly" like in store or anything
Worlwide legalization would be no doubt great for Colombia tough, would be one of the richest country in the world overnight, would it be good for the rest of the world? not so sure

 

[HereticBD]

The logic is sound. Cocaine is dangerous, but it's usually cut with a lot of umm..."extras" that ups the danger. It can certainly have behavioral consequences, but so can booze. I'm not pro-legalization of all drugs, but I think cocaine could be looked at. As long as hard liquor is out there, there's always gonna be an argument for certain drugs that are comparatively similar in their potential negative consequences.

 

[HereticBD]

I believe Vancouver, Canada legalized a bunch of drugs, there's a section of downtown that is littered with addicts that can't stand up straight.
If implemented right, it could work, like someone mentioned Portugal

I don't think they legalized drugs per se, but legalized open use of drugs(which they have since doubled back on, due to it starting to look like parts of San Fran). I'm pretty sure it was still illegal to deal drugs, and possess a certain amount. It was basically "safe injection sites" on steroids.

 

[therealdope]

Alcohol is the most widely abused drug in the world.
More loss of life, property, and criminal penalties than any other. If they can keep the fentanyl concentrations to a minimum maybe we kill fewer people. But if we can’t even make weed completely legal then it’s a no from me dawg.

Alcohol is in the process of getting the cigarette treatment from developed countries.

Alcohol has absolutely no physiological function and increases virtually every hazard ratio.

 

[Scheme]

hm, interesting move lol. a country like portugal has all drugs legalized, and they've made it work. though that's a very small country and much easier to manage than a place like colombia.

if properly abused cocaine will kill you faster, but i've found you function much better as a person if you abuse cocaine over alcohol. you're a talkative freak, true, but at least you're not falling and running people over in cars.

How exactly have they made it work? Illicit drug use in Portugal is almost double these days since their legislation. There was a mirage of it working because their poverty rates decreased massively coinciding with this initiative which led to less drug use as it usually does, but to stem illicit drug use it did not. Also in 2004-2006 (a few years after legalization) drug-related deaths were up.

Also Portugal didn't legalize drugs. It made possession of small amounts a misdemeanor.

 

[BjPenn2017]

Crackhead junkies are fucking annoying no thanks

 

[VinceArch]

Cocaine is fun but after the first few lines, I can see how easy it is to keep snorting that sweet powder up. Or smoking it if that's what one prefers.

 

[IIIIIIII]

How exactly have they made it work? Illicit drug use in Portugal is almost double these days since their legislation. There was a mirage of it working because their poverty rates decreased massively coinciding with this initiative which led to less drug use as it usually does, but to stem illicit drug use it did not. Also in 2004-2006 (a few years after legalization) drug-related deaths were up.

Also Portugal didn't legalize drugs. It made possession of small amounts a misdemeanor.

there must have been a problem beforehand or they wouldn't have attempted to make changes to begin with.

what was the situation like before, and how is it today in comparison? i would hope things have at least improved.

 

[Simple Southerner]

I'm only for fully legalizing weed shrooms and x not coke meth heroin etc

 

[HereticBD]

there must have been a problem beforehand or they wouldn't have attempted to make changes to begin with.

I can only assume that the "problem" was empathy for drug users, combined with a backwards ass theory that says legalization will lead to less addicts. It usually doesn't go much deeper than that. Unfortunately, there are severe consequences for letting irresponsible people run amok. Similar to legalizing prostitution, they don't think of the ugly doors it can open.

 

[Koro_11]

hm, interesting move lol. a country like portugal has all drugs legalized, and they've made it work. though that's a very small country and much easier to manage than a place like colombia.

if properly abused cocaine will kill you faster, but i've found you function much better as a person if you abuse cocaine over alcohol. you're a talkative freak, true, but at least you're not falling and running people over in cars.

Sure, but we all know you shouldn't drink and drive.

The thing is we know people can function pretty well with alcohol, I mean all of civilization we know was built despite people constantly consuming booze, a lot of the founding fathers were drunk every day.

I don't know if we would get such an outcome if everyone was coked out, or weeded out, or whatever. I doubt it.

 

[ColemanwastheGOAT]

I'm all for it. Would it cost less?

No. It would cost more and the money for it would disappear into god knows where.

They legalized pot in Canada and it's literally like three times the price if you want decent weed and all the tax revenue it was supposed to bring in to help the country just disappeared into the pit of government waste.

 

[HereticBD]

The thing is we know people can function pretty well with alcohol

You can say the same for cocaine, really. They both have an effect of "clarity", before you get into the abuse side of things. A lot of drugs can do wonderful things for the mind in moderate consumption. It's the addiction and abuse that kills it(and you).

 

[HereticBD]

They legalized pot in Canada and it's literally like three times the price if you want decent weed

That's completely false. Before legalization the average price for a half quarter was $40, and all we really had were the eye and smell test for quality. Now, all the weed in the stores are guaranteed to be of higher quality than half the garbage that was on the streets, and you can get a half quarter of some strands for $20, and they're still better than most of the shit you would get on the street.

As a rather seasoned pot head, the prices and quality were definitely an improvement with legalization. No question about it.