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Originally Posted by
GanglyLamb
So weed out the dumb people and everything would be legal...
I find it very offensive that you and maxorator approach a whole part of society from this angle... they are dumb so that must make them irresponsible.
This is unfortunate truth. A lot of people are dumb in this way. A lot of people do it wrong or abuse it. That's life. That's society. We must learn to live with it.
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So should guns, knives, piano wire, guitar strings and the like be banned, just because a minority of the society could use it for the wrong purpose?
No matter how many things you ban, I could still have a serious impact on society with for instance only rocks (everyone has seen the images of people throwing rocks at police). Hell even my own body can be used to affect the society in a negative way, that is if I would be on a crash course and just start to strangle random people I see walking down the street...
I repeat: there is a fine line that must be drawn somewhere between what should be accepted and what should be banned. Just because it can do serious damage doesn't mean it should be banned. You must weight the pros and cons and make a decision based upon that.
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My point is that you cannot ban everything that might pose a possible risk to the entire society because a marginal part of it could use these things to do so. Along with the fact that you are alive comes a series of risks. One of those risks is that you could be hurt by one of these folks from the minority of the society.
No, you can't do that. You're right. And we shouldn't either because we are free - we have rights to do things. However, when it comes to a society with many people, laws become necessary and it becomes necessary to outlaw things.
If something obviously has a negative effect on the whole, it may have to be banned.
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And banning it itself can also expose you to risks, like said, if its banned, the price is not controlled at least not by the government but by some crooks who get very rich. The price is high, so the "dumb" people as you label them, go and find other ways to come up with the money, including car theft, mugging, burglary,etc...
Yes, banning things may also have a negative effect, but I would rather think that for the case of drugs, it reduces the negativity. Refer to maxorator's post above. I think it explains very well what outlawing something does.
And if it doesn't... then we must ask ourselves: WHY do we ban things in the first place? Isn't it to discourage its use or abuse?
That's just it - by banning it, they reduce the effects of it.
See it this way - maybe you can drive a car at 140 km/h without problems. But that doesn't mean others can. So. They have to think of everyone on the road and thus reduce the maximum speed limit on behalf of the society to reduce death tolls.
The need of many before the need of one. That's how a society works.
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Bottomline, you still affect society in a negative way... so take the middle road and decriminalise it let people use it in a safe environment, controlled substances etc...Response to abuse of the drug or excessive use can be tracked down much more quicker then.
If it's just in safe environments and not for public, then I agree. If they know what they're doing - they can use it.
But I disagree for decriminalizing it for the public.