Opinions on drug law - Poll

[Davnasty]

I've seen the topic of drug law discussed a number of times on this forum and I've been surprised by what seems to be a strong majority in support of legal or at least decriminalized drug use. Of course when I say it seems that way, I acknowledge that the number of comments in support of legalization may be skewed by who takes an interest in the topic and chooses to comment. Hopefully this poll will give us a better idea of how mustachians really feel.

There may be a variety of opinions on legalization vs decriminalization, medical vs recreational use, and specific opinions on drugs within the groups listed but I've chosen to keep it simple in the name of easy to read results. Here are the guidelines:

• If you are only in favor of the medical use of a drug, do not select it.
• If you are in favor of allowing one drug within a group but not others, please do select it.
• If you are in favor of allowing all drugs, please select options 1-6 rather than only 6 as this would make results more difficult to understand.

Further discussion of specific positions and current drug laws where you live is encouraged. Suggestions for clarification of the options or any questions about how to best answer the poll are welcome.

Notes:
1) I've removed the "All drugs" option as it would skew the results if voters were to select that option but not check the boxes for the individual drugs.
2) Please ignore % results as they are meaningless with polls that allow for multiple choices to be selected

[Johnez]

I'm in favor of all drug use decriminalization, even hard drugs.  I'm in favor of locking up dealers/distributors/manufacturers of hard stuff though.  I personally detest drug use, but drugs-like cigarettes/alcohol can be heavily regulated.  Having a large business presence will contribute more positively than the negative affects of drug use.  Things like quality control, standardization, accurate labeling, tax collection, and the de-stigmatization of simple personal choice will go a long way.  When drug use is out in the open, and not some dark mysterious thing I think it will be easier to get help, and harder to sink into the greater criminal world.  I think drug dealers, distributors, and manufacturers that operate outside the law should have the hammer brought down hard on them.

The opiates situation is a tough nut to crack however.  People who were on opiates, and like opiates, and then turn to heroin...I mean, I'm not sure how this situation can be addressed without making the situation worse.  Sure, restrict opiate use, but then you still have desperate people that'll go find heroin or whatever else and risk killing themselves with a fatal dose of fentanyl.  Ignore the issue and let opiates go prescribed as normal, and you have people abusing the system to get more, or turning to heroin anyway for something stronger/faster.  It feels like no matter what course of action is taken, there are going to be consequences.  Can't go back to the time before rampant opiate pushing.  Maybe marijuana legalization can help the opiate crisis as well, hmm.

[Davnasty]

Apologies to the first two voters, I've reset the results to adjust the options. Please recast your vote.

I selected the option to allow voters to change their vote, but it doesn't appear to be an option. Anyone familiar with polls know if this can be corrected after a poll is already live?

[Johnez]

Also, I think no matter how you dice up the poll it's going to be skewed.  Only 16.7% favor marijuana legalization?  Is that 2 voters going down the whole line of drugs and checking off "yes" or 12 different voters picking their one favored drug?  I know what it is, because I went down the whole line, however the poll results are ambiguous.  Maybe you should have a poll like this:

In favor of no drug legalization
In favor of the current standard of alcohol/tobacco legalization.
In favor of marijuana legalization, in addition to the above.
In favor of hard drugs legalized, in addition to the above.
In favor of drug legalization not listed (such as legal marijuana but ban alcohol)

I would say it's not perfect, but it would show the level of support and where people kind of draw the line in a more accurate way.

[edit]And I've voted three times lol, so I won't have a problem if the poll changes again.

[Davnasty]

Also, I think no matter how you dice up the poll it's going to be skewed.  Only 16.7% favor marijuana legalization?  Is that 2 voters going down the whole line of drugs and checking off "yes" or 12 different voters picking their one favored drug?  I know what it is, because I went down the whole line, however the poll results are ambiguous.

Ignore % displayed by votes. Total members voted is displayed at the bottom

[Johnez]

^Gotcha, makes sense.

[Davnasty]

To compare results of this poll to the general public (US), ~62% are in favor of legalizing marijuana.

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/10/08/americans-support-marijuana-legalization/ (from 10/8/18)

Far less are in favor of legalizing any other currently illegal drugs.

https://www.vox.com/2016/3/15/11224500/marijuana-legalization-war-on-drugs-poll (from 3/13/16)

[Mississippi Mudstache]

I voted for alcohol, marijuana, and psychedelics. As did the majority of respondents, I see.

[EvenSteven]

One interesting result so far is that one person voted for the legalization of at least one of the non-alcohol drugs, while voting for the prohibition of alcohol.

[soccerluvof4]

I marked for Alcohol and Marijuana and not for just medical reasons.

[driftwood]

I'd like to see what would happen if most of these were legal but regulated.

After seeing the damage alcohol has done to us, I find it highly hypocritical of us to act like alcohol is fine but other drugs aren't. Or other drugs are bad but alcohol isn't.

It cracks me up that America is in the war on drugs... but who is the customer of these drugs? Americans. If you want to win the war, poison all illegal drugs so that the users die. If you want to end the war, legalize them. What a dumbass position we've put ourselves into as a country.

[Johnez]

We've been in this position one way or another since our founding. I was researching corn subsidies  and came across an interesting article on the Alcohol Republic by Michael Polan which came about because of the way corn prices made corn whiskey ultra cheap.

https://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/12/magazine/the-way-we-live-now-10-12-03-the-agri-cultural-contradictions-of-obesity.html?sec=health

Everything old is new again. Different causes and effects, but somehow we Americans find a way to get loaded.

[zolotiyeruki]

After seeing the damage alcohol has done to us, I find it highly hypocritical of us to act like alcohol is fine but other drugs aren't. Or other drugs are bad but alcohol isn't.

It cracks me up that America is in the war on drugs... but who is the customer of these drugs? Americans. If you want to win the war, poison all illegal drugs so that the users die. If you want to end the war, legalize them. What a dumbass position we've put ourselves into as a country.

Our culture values human life a great deal, so our efforts have focused on reducing the availability of drugs in the hopes that their negative effects on society will be similarly reduced.

You have a fair point regarding alcohol's preferential treatment, given the amount of drunk driving deaths, drunken brawls, unintended pregnancies, domestic abuse, alcoholism, and fetal alcohol syndrome that result from it.  I imagine that Prohibition 2.0 would be far easier to enforce today than 100 years ago.  For one, not many people know how to distill it any more! :)

A friend of mine watched the results in Colorado after that state legalized marijuana.  The effect wasn't a dramatic downfall of civilization, but it did result in a significant increase in crime.

[Davnasty]

After seeing the damage alcohol has done to us, I find it highly hypocritical of us to act like alcohol is fine but other drugs aren't. Or other drugs are bad but alcohol isn't.

It cracks me up that America is in the war on drugs... but who is the customer of these drugs? Americans. If you want to win the war, poison all illegal drugs so that the users die. If you want to end the war, legalize them. What a dumbass position we've put ourselves into as a country.

Our culture values human life a great deal, so our efforts have focused on reducing the availability of drugs in the hopes that their negative effects on society will be similarly reduced.

You have a fair point regarding alcohol's preferential treatment, given the amount of drunk driving deaths, drunken brawls, unintended pregnancies, domestic abuse, alcoholism, and fetal alcohol syndrome that result from it.  I imagine that Prohibition 2.0 would be far easier to enforce today than 100 years ago.  For one, not many people know how to distill it any more! :)

I disagree that prohibition of alcohol would be easier to enforce today. Making alcohol is incredibly easy. Many people make their own beer or liquor as a hobby or to save money. Even if someone doesn't know how to do it, directions and videos are a quick google search away. I was distilling alcohol at the age of 16 and the directions I could find online at the time weren't nearly as thorough as what I can find today. In fact you can buy kits that contain everything you need for diy boozing.

[Davnasty]

A friend of mine watched the results in Colorado after that state legalized marijuana.  The effect wasn't a dramatic downfall of civilization, but it did result in a significant increase in crime.

Here's a response to that article which puts things into context a little better:

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/marijuana-responsible-colorado-crime-increase/

Another article which responds to Morrisey's letter as well as some other anti-legalization politicians:

https://www.denverpost.com/2016/10/31/anti-pot-commercials-paint-dark-picture-other-states/

Still, the Denver Police Department’s own analysis on the city’s rising crime rates could not pin blame on marijuana. While some major crimes such as homicides, aggravated assaults and auto thefts have risen since pot was legalized, population growth is more likely the cause, the report said.