Ireland to 'decriminalise' small amounts of drugs for personal use

Re:Ireland to 'decriminalise' small amounts of drugs for per... by cthalupa on Tuesday November 03, 2015 @08:54PM (#10504070)

>The only caveat is that methamphetamine should remain illegal to buy or use. The idea being that people will use "less harmful" drugs than methamphetamine because they are available cheap, easy and clean. The strongest possible justification for legalization of sale and use of drugs is to minimize usage and supply of the greatest of all evils - methamphetamine.

You seem to have an oddly demonized view of methamphetamine. The reaction on people is fairly similar to dextroamphetamine, which you probably know of by the name of 'Adderall', and we prescribe it frequently.

Meth is mildly neurotoxic and adderall is not, so it's definitely worse for you, but we let people do plenty of things that are bad for them.

Not that I'm suggesting anyone go out and develop a meth habit, but if you're arguing in favor or legalizing everything but meth you're already arguing in favor of quite a few things that can cause personal damage.

The violence surrounding meth is much the same as the violence surrounding most other illegal substances - driven by the actions taken to procure funding of the substance or procuring the substance itself.

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Re:Ireland to 'decriminalise' small amounts of drugs for per... by hoodoof on Tuesday November 03, 2015 @09:17PM (#10504150)

I'm not sure I understand your point. Are you saying meth is "not that bad"? If so then you and I must be reading different newspapers and watching different TV channels.

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Re:Ireland to 'decriminalise' small amounts of drugs for per... by gfsn54nsf on Tuesday November 03, 2015 @09:37PM (#10504214)

I think his point is that (a) it's hard to say meth is that much worse than other hard drugs like heroin or crack, and (b) over-the-counter meth that's of a guaranteed potency and without adulterants might not be as harmful to the user as the bluish, vinegar-smelling stuff your second cousin Skeeter cooks up.

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Re:Ireland to 'decriminalise' small amounts of drugs for per... by steve1011 on Tuesday November 03, 2015 @09:51PM (#10504252)

thats exactly what he is saying. Relative to some illegal substances, meth is not worse or somehow more heinous. Part of the problem when many talk about the legalization of drugs is the inherited biases one acquires from paying attention or taking at face value what sources like the media or government say about these substances. The problem isn't that certain substances are much worse than others, it's the fact that these substances (harmful or otherwise) are relegated to the black market.

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Re:Ireland to 'decriminalise' small amounts of drugs for per... by Nimitz14 on Wednesday November 04, 2015 @04:05AM (#10505358)

Your drug knowledge stems from newspapers and TV shows? No wonder you know nothing about them.

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Re:Ireland to 'decriminalise' small amounts of drugs for per... by Tossrock on Tuesday November 03, 2015 @09:58PM (#10504280)

In fact, methamphetamine is prescribed by doctors for serious cases of narcolepsy, under the name Desoxyn.

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