Began here.
These men both surprised me with their brusque and totally accurate opinions about the elephant in the room; Drugs. It's the elephant in the room, because drugs have been used by people since they were the woolly mammoth in the room. Yet since at least the middle ages there have been efforts to ban some or all drugs. Which begs the question, what would the world be like if drugs were legalized?
Firstly, people would still abuse drugs. People would still rob each other for drugs or drug money, badly produced drugs would still kill people. One of the worst arguments that exists for drug legalization(usually given by cannabis-advocates) is that once you take the criminal or forbidden element out of the drug culture, all of criminality and abuse would disappear. Criminality and abuse are part of humanity with or without drugs; the difference after legalization being that only the criminals and abusers would be punished, not the casual user.
And for that casual user, there would be a period shortly after legalization in which some would expand their horizons. I use my favorite drug every day because it's the best one I've tried that I have easy access to. But on the few occasions I've been able to try a drug that is illegal for me, I think "I would use this alot more, if I could get it". That's why I think you'd see a shift in what are the most commonly and least commonly used drugs; and I think for the better.
Legalization means there could and would be locally produced drugs. With the advent of legalization, companies could market and distribute their own(as they currently do with prescription drugs, tobacco and alcohol). Regardless, once you allow every Tom, Dick and Harry to produce his own drugs, He will. Because Tom's good with horticulture, Dick's good with chemistry and Harry wants to make some money. Do-It-Yourself is already part of drug culture, and it would only bloom and blossom after legalization for obvious reason.
Writers, usually being pretty on-the-ball historically, have come out as advocates of sobriety, legal drugs, quasi-legal and illegal drugs; or at the very least expressed which of these things have worked for them. Though many other entertainers and public figures might not initially want to air out their dirty laundry in public, over time, they would. In addition, unless you think drug use is completely removed from the creative process(a pretty novel idea), It can be assumed that some no-names or no-creates will discover their muse drug(s) once they have easier access to it. I personally would welcome whatever happened in this realm, just for curiosities sake.
...to be continued.
2 comments:
Strictly speaking your statement that "Criminality and abuse are part of humanity with or without drugs; the difference after legalization being that only the criminals and abusers would be punished, not the casual user" is completely correct. But I think you underestimate the extent to which legalizing drugs will separate violent thugs from the drug-using populace. Crimes committed by desperate addicts reflect their need to acquire sufficient capital to acquire drugs on the black market. Black market prices reflect the enormous risk involved in selling products on the black market (your sales staff is regularly arrested/gunned down, and turnover is expensive in every industry) as well as the internalized cost of providing ALL of your own police protection.
Elimate those costs and the prices will drop precipitously. Other than that, it's a fine entry, and since this is my first comment I'll take the opportunity to compliment the fine work you do here.
On an unrelated note I make pizzas now. I here tell you want to open a pizza shop. We should parlay.
uh, "'here'ing tell" is just like "hearing tell," except that it implies spatiotemporality, and maybe drunkenness on the part of the author.
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