20 replies on “Should Cocaine Be Legalized?”

  1. Cocaine’s shitty, but doesn’t seem as slippery of a slope to me. It’s probably better to legalize and regulate it and offer people alternatives.

    Things like Meth though. Seems like there’s no real way to legalize that without a huge associated public health crisis. But who knows…

  5. Coke, heroin, and meth should be legalized and prescribed to addicts.
    Pot, as we all know, should not only be legalized, but be made mandatory.

  7. @5 i don’t really get it. i’ve never tried heroin, therefore i’m not an addict. so i can’t get a prescription. so it’s illegal for me? HOWEVER if i find some illegal heroin on the street and try it, get addicted, now i can have it by prescription?

    so do i have the right to do heroin if i want, or not?

  8. What gives you the right to dictate what I can or can’t do with my body as long as I don’t harm others? This is such a basic part of human autonomy and self determination that I am astonished that there is even a debate at all. And it has NOTHING to do with meth vs coke vs pot etc… Looking at the practical side of things cheapens the debate from one of an inalienable right (self determination of my body) to one of the financial costs to society…

  9. Unlike marijuana, cocaine is physically highly addictive so the legalize and regulate model, one that presumably comes with a profit motive, is an egregiously bad idea. Decriminalization with maintenance dose prescriptions available to addicts (perhaps in the context of a methadone clinic or drop in center) is a much better way to end the violence and incarceration related to this drug.

  13. I would vote to legalize all drugs, [and most other stuff] but with our corrupt health care system I’m afraid society would just get raped in the process.

  14. @8 – This wad of cash, this big pistol, and that metal cage says that “I” (not really me) can and will determine how you exercise your autonomy. Pretty straight forward. Now don’t get me wrong, I fully agree with you. “An’ it harm none, do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law.”

    But until humans are willing to agree that ‘consensual’ and ‘victimless crimes’ should not be illegal in a democracy, then those three things are the current delimiters on your personal freedom.

  15. Ideally, we would not have any laws banning any behavior of any kind at all, since ideally human beings should be able to make their own choices.

    But in reality, if we did that, we’d have Lord of the Flies in about ten minutes. Look at Somalia, a country where there’s been no government for over 20 years. The place is in chaos. You wanna go live in a place like that? I don’t.

    We should not base our laws on ideology. Ideology always leads to horrible disasters. We should base our laws on observable effects.

    Cocaine was once legal in America, in the late 1800’s. Bayer Corporation put it in cough drops (http://wings.buffalo.edu/aru/preprohibit…) and sold it over the counter at every drug store in the country. There were dosages suggested on the package for children as young as 3 to 5 years of age.

    That’s what I’m really afraid of. If there’s a profit in it, corporate America will sell it to you, and they do not care how many people they kill. Just like tobacco.

    If you legalize cocaine, you will see a return to the days when little children imbibed coke as an ingredient in soft drinks. You will see toothache drops being sold at Rite Aid that contain cocaine. This isn’t some paranoid fantasy of a time that never existed, folks. This already happened, in the United States. And I hope it never happens here again.

  16. Where’s the fourth option–Keep it illegal, but make simple possession punishable only by mandatory rehab, not jail time? That’s what ought to be done with Heroin and Meth as well. Weed should be as legal as alcohol. As for hallucinogens, I think the best model there is to have legal establishments where you can go to take them in a safe environment, but to keep them mildly illegal for home use.

  17. Gangs didn’t cook meth and people didn’t wreck their lives with it nearly as much when it was a prescription drug available from your local Dr Feelgood.

  18. @17 – so ending the drug prohibition means we’ll completely forget about the idea of age restrictions like we have on alcohol and cigarettes?

  19. “What gives you the right to dictate what I can or can’t do with my body as long as I don’t harm others?”

    The prison-industrial system that gets paid 50k/yr for your incarceration, citizen.

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