XPost: talk.politics.libertarian, alt.drugs, alt.politics.libertarian   
   From: pxhxz@cadence.com   
      
   In article  "Jerry Okamura"   
    writes:   
      
   >Is that so?  Well, let me see.  If you legalize the use of drugs, then more   
   >people will use drugs.  We already know what happens with alcohol and   
   >tobacco, so why do you think it would not happen with drugs?   
      
   1) It is not true that more people will use "drugs" if we legalize "drugs".   
      Most studies show that currently illegal drug use tends to go down after   
      legalization/decriminalization.   
      
   2) a) Alcohol and tobacco are drugs.   
      b) During aclohol prohibition in the US the rate initially DID go down, but   
         during alcohol prohibition it crept up until it was actually higher   
         than pre-prohbition rates.   
      c) Tobacco use rates are going down despite the fact that it is still   
         legal.   
      
   Also, you forget that in a prohibition climate the drugs used that are illegal   
   are more dangerous than the same drugs when legal.  During alcohol prohibition   
   many people were severely sickened and some suffered permanent injuries or   
   died because of alcohol tained with methanol, lead, antifreeze, etc.   
      
   In a legal climate drug production can be regulated.  In a prohibition climate   
   it cannot.  So by making them illegal we are actually making them more   
   dangerous.   
      
   -Pete Zakel   
    (phz@seeheader.nospam)   
      
      
   "Clothes make the man.  Naked people have little or no influence on society."   
      
   					-Mark Twain   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)