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i dont know about other drugs, but i think marijuana should be legalized. it has the potential for medical breakthroughs and its really only illegal because the government cant tax it. besides, its one of the few drugs that cant kill you by overdosing. (for more information on reforming marijuana laws, see www.NORML.com )

I am probably a lot older then the majority of those of you responding to this post. I was born in 1965 so I have had a lot of life for drugs to scew up and a lot of life to watch drugs screw other peoples lives up.

Marajuana is in a different catagory in my opinion due to the fact that it can be grown next to you basil and tomatoes. There is a lot of debate that marajuana will lead to harsher drugs, here i disagree. What leads to harsher drugs is the peers and connections you associate with.

If anything tobacco is the worst. I started smoking as a teen and in my early 40's find it the only thing i am unable to quit. I quit coke, crank, hash, and everything else i every did or tried when i became pregnant and became a mother. I did this without treatment programs etc., which not many people can do. I watched as my compadres lost their children their lives, their jobs.

IF I SAY ANYTHING, JUST DON'T DO IT. DON'T EVEN START. IT HAS NEGATIVELY AFFECTED MY LIFE ENOUGH FOR GENERATIONS OF MY OWN FAMILY. TAKE HEED.

I am now sick with hep c and am on disability and probably will not work again due to side affects of interfereon the rx for hep c. Just don't risk it. The drugs today are being made in peoples bathtubs with who knows what kinds of chemicals and there are no medical studies as to the lasting affects of this on the body. I am sure you have all seen pictures of meth addicts. For yorself, your family and socity of tomorrow please don't. I am counting on you to run our country in the near future, not a bunch of meth heads.

So making drugs legal would supposedly fix all of the problems we're having now? Even if people are supposed to be responsible for themselves, they can end up affecting other people because of their problems. It can become everyone else's problem. The Government is educating people on why drugs are bad, and they make them illegal so that if they catch people with drugs they can say, "We told you they're bad, now why aren't you listening?" Really, it's for their own sake. How many people actually can learn something on their own? What will it take to get them to realize that durgs are bad? Get HIV from an used needle? More money wasted on a person who knows they're good as dead.

I prefer prevention of such things. People should actually listen to figures of authority because hey, they actually know something.

ive never personally been addicted to a drug, but i recntly did a report on drugs and drug addictions, and from what ive gathered, NatziSweetzi is right. you have almost no personal choice after a while. like i said, ive never personally been there, but thats what ive gathered from government websites, recovered addicts, and rehab centers

I want them legal not because I think they are good but to make people responsible for themselves. You've got to make a the right choices before it's "too late" and you are at a point you can't go back potentialy (or at least it would be very hard) but you can still have rehabilitation facilities around for people to use. I just want them to be privately owned rehabilitation centers though and not governement owned. Just because something is a bad choice is not reason enough to make it illegal. It has to be something that is violating another person's rights to be illegal. Laws (and governments themselves) are to protect rights. As for if people do things while on drugs that violate laws, those violations are still subject to legal consequences. Consider that if somebody had not slept in three days then drove and crashed into another car, it was a bad decision to try to drive when you are that tired, but it's crashing into another person's car that will have legal consequences, not making it illegal to go three days without sleeping in case you do bad things while tired.

*agrees* 3nodding

I will say this again: it is counter-productive to make drugs legal and encourage people not to take them. You either make them legal or you keep them illegal. Prevention and education while making them legal will have no effect on what people do.

You're saying that rave parties wouldn't be ruined if drugs were legal? So? Get over it. It's against the law to sell drugs. If the Government says it's illegal to buy or sell drugs, then it's illegal, no questions asked. (Male prohibita.)