CaptainWhip

It drives me crazy how something like marijuana is illegal but alcohol is not. Even tobacco causes more deaths than alcohol.

I believe in a level playing field. If marijuana is illegal then alcohol should be as well. Marijuana is infinitely less dangerous than alcohol.

Tobacco is much more dangerous than marijuana. Why isn't it illegal?

I don't smoke weed or cigarettes.

I'm just a drinker having a rant.

Dee74

Captain, I'm sure you'll get a lot of response to this topic....
Welcome to SR

D

lillyknitting

They tried that in the states with prohibition, it just went underground. Anything that's a fantastic money-making concern is legalized by the government so they have ultimate control, ultimate power over the financial gain, same as cars, fuel, etc. Get a thing, substance, object of desire, whatever that the public just can't live without and bingo you have the ultimate power over the consumer. What better substance than legalizing alcohol,the ultimate mind altering drug, then tell everyone they have the the problem if they can't handle it, advertise it as glamorous, life enhancing, that life is ultimately boring and glum without it, then you can sell it to us suckers wholesale. The whole country is obsessed with it and massive denial of it. Alcohol destroys lives like all drugs.

nomis

This debate has come up a few times and usually ends up giving the moderators fits. Well Dee is as cool as a cucumber, so I'm sure he doesn't have fits...but you get the idea.

I'm an alcoholic and a former pot head. One is legal and the other isn't. Makes no difference to me, I know can't use either of them, ever.

tomsteve

yup, prohibition already took place in the US once. although consumption dropped, it wasnt eradicated and crime skyocketed. there were many people during that time making bathtub gin. it caused many different physical problems and even death, not only for the drinker.
there are countries today that alcohol is illegal. still people making it and consuming it.
not sur eif ya noticed, but marijuana is being legalized in quite a few places. been to amsterdam lately?

so, do you think making alcohol illegal would stop ya from drinkin?

CaptainWhip

I'm British. Tobacco advertising is illegal over here. But alcohol is a whole different story. It seems like the powers that be are shoving the idea of consuming alcohol down our throats.

Every other advert seems to show young 20-some-things having the time of their life drinking beer/vodka/whiskey/wine.

On the other hand there are dire adverts against smoking cigarettes. Smoking kills/smoking harms your baby/visual effects showing cigarettes turning into horrible cancerous things.

The hypocrisy drives me crazy. I just wish the government spent as much time demonising alcohol as it does tobacco.

The point is education. Educate people on the dangers of alcohol. Do not glamorise it. If rational, educated people decide what they want to do with their lives so be it. But with the government/media in this country the agenda seems to be clouded.

Db1105

Making a substance illegal does not stop people from using that substance. It only makes them criminal. I believe we should make all drugs legal and spend the 10's of billions of dollars we spend enforcing these stupid drug laws in fighting addiction.

The USA, home of the free, has more people incarcerated because of our drug laws, than any other nation in the world. The drug laws are not intended to stop people from using drugs, it to make those in the criminal justice system and politicians rich. All you have to do to see that is the little money they give to treat addiction.

DarkDays

Even tobacco causes more deaths than alcohol.

But I think the Damage and pain alcohell inflicts on society is far worse than nicotine in fact far worse than any other drug, but thats just my view.

Justfor1

Alcohol is legal because 90% of people who drink do so in a responsible manner & enjoy it.

DarkDays

I really do NOT think 90% who drink do it in a responsible way, most people I know in the uk who drink regular drink way more than the recommended limits, think I refer to it as mass denial.

robgt350

making something illegal cause it causes death does not stop people from abusing or using it.
if you want to reduce a leading cause of death, some people wanted to stop the saleand owning of automobiles, trucks, and buses because every year about 40,000 people die every year in united states from automobile related deaths, and i am sure there are automobile deaths in England too.

Maylie

People are going to get their substance of choice no matter what.

That being said, I think everything should be legal for a couple reasons. One, it is REALLY expensive to have a bunch of people in jail for non-violent drug charges then once you get out of jail you can't get a job and then you can't pay for treatment. Another REALLY big one is that people who use street drugs don't always know what they are getting in pills, coke, heroin, etc. and therefore these people who would use whether it was legal or illegal could at least be "safer" and i'm using that for lack of a better term since they would know exactly what they are getting and exactly what they are putting in their bodies.

Making things illegal only makes more criminals. The money we spend on keeping people in jail and enforcing drug laws could be used for a lot better things.

lillyknitting

I don't think so

Justfor1

I believe it is. I think many folks here at SR think many people over indulge with alcohol. I have seen the stats & remember that 90% drink responsibly. I know I will never drink like that again. I become anti-social & a criminal when I pick up a drink. I have close to a year sober & I believe I work an awesome program.

Che

I believe you are responsible for yourself.

Opening Up to Happiness | Psychology Today

I read this just now, and I think it's something a lot of alcoholics are guilty of. It is narcissism to be angry at the world for offering you alcohol, for making alcohol available to you.

Some drugs are made illegal because there is an overwhelming opinion that they could destroy society. Some drugs are illegal just because of some vague politics. But every alcoholic beverage and ad prompts you to 'drink responsibly.' On some level society recognises the potential for abuse.

To me, you are saying 'if alcohol were illegal, I'd have never drank.' 'Why has society done this to me?' No one did anything to you. We're very well informed of the effects of alcohol. It is controlled so that only adults may purchase it (even if kids can illegally obtain it). Taking responsibility for yourself is an important part of getting out of the stage of learned helplessness which traps so many people in abusive behaviours.

One could argue about reinstating prohibition (I think it'd be pretty difficult to enforce considering most of the adult population drinks), but one would have to argue about that from a detached standpoint. You can't argue that your whole country should change to help you with your problem.

ru12

Legal or illegal I won't drink it. And now that I've been sober a spell, I notice most people only drink a few and a good number don't drink at all. For a long time I thought most people drank like my friends and I drank. And that was not the case.

Seiceps

My alcohol councillor told me all alcohol is a grade one carcinogen ( excuse spelling ! ) and that is basically a global conspiracy that its not labeled as such , as other carcinogens are. Would that make a difference to picking up a bottle of wine if it had those heinous photos of the effects like cigerette packets do ? ( not sure about u. S but our fag packets have rotting teeth, tounge cancer, gangrene feet, etc emblazoned on all sides of them )
Who knows but at least it would be more honest.
Don't think it would work on us lot round here though. Hell , at times I would have happily paid for booze even if it had a real gangrenous toe attached to it !!!
The truth is alcohol is just easier to get hold of than illegal drugs. Which makes it harder to say no.

Threshold

In the US we do have alcohol warning labels, but adverts are still allowed. I wish they would ban that the way they did with tobacco adverts. Maybe it's the puritan in me, because that goes smack against capitilistic freedom I suppose, but I have seen the number of smokers fall dramatically over the course of my lifetime.

Booze, I believe, makes more money than ciggs did/do, even though they raked in their billions. And is IS such a pervasive part of society, traditions etc in a manner than smoking never was as in a wedding or birth or death was not toasted with a cigarette, etc.

Ultimately society can't protect me from myself, though I do think we should do what we can to educate people on the dangers of things. Information on these things has made a huge difference in my life and my choices.

People who don't want to face life are going to find ways of not dealing with life. If I truly believed my issue was caused by some bad force out there lying to me and forcing substances into me, I might take a different stand on this.

I DO think there are people who essentially feel or had the experience of getting hooked on something against their will. Families that brought kids up drinking or drugging, Docs who write Rx above and beyond what is needed.

I was not one of those, so I can't point fingers.

Leadfoot

We just had a story come out in the paper. It said that Heroine is the second leading killer in the area. Second only to prescription drugs. So prescription drugs are legal and heroine is not.
First off I believe there is tax incentive and soft money to keep one legal while outlawing the other. Same with Alcohol.

Secondly I believe that I am ultimately responsible for my decisions.

It's a matter of principle and rules. The rules say that I can't dump my trash along side of the road. As a matter of principle, I wouldn't do it even if it was legal.