Colombia’s president: Legalize cocaine, it’s no worse than whiskey

[timewarp@lemmy.world]

Much less lives than alcohol though.

[gold_e_lox@lemmy.world]

ok but having a [INSERT THING HERE] dramatically increases your risk for [FUTURE HEALTH ISSUE].

fuck punishing someone for ingesting a substance, im an adult and in control of my own body, silly shit.

actually youre right, i am not in control of my body. Institutions of control will always be forcing their will upon me.

[dasus@lemmy.world]

And so doesn't having prescription medication and booze, yet those are completely commonplace with people. We trust them to use them responsibly. Some do abuse them yes, but if they're caught, we try to fix the issue. Not throw them in jail.

Well more the risk with pills and booze is actually the autonomic nervous system getting sedated and you just not breathing after falling asleep. But the amounts for ods are actually kinda high tbh. Not that anyone should do that, we exaggerate risks a tiny bit for a proper purpose; you shouldn't go seeking for your personal limits on something like that.

But like having a half of a mild sedative before a few classes of wine really isn't drug abuse in anything but the technical sense. If you do that every night you've prolly got a problem though.

Anyway the point is most people can be responsible and the government should stop treating us as children just because a minority can't handle their shit.

[ms_lane@lemmy.world]

Trump Monkey Paw USA: Bans Whiskey again

[deconceptualist@lemm.ee]

Oh, I 100% believe that drugs should be decriminalized and treated as a health issue instead. Meaning both individual health and public health. Like how Portugal does it, IIRC.

Booze and cocaine are both party drugs and people already use them together, but I think there's a larger public health concern if they were both readily available. People should have a little more knowledge of the risks. Plenty of folks out there think uppers + downers just cancel out

[deconceptualist@lemm.ee]

Prescription meds generally aren't party drugs. At least not the ones I know about. So that's not quite the same.

[donjamos@lemmy.world]

If both were legal you could educate people about them way better. Give your fellow men some more credit.

If someone who has been informed about the dangers of a drug decides to take it its neither your business nor mine. If someone wants to go free climbing or drove a motorcycle we don't say anything against that either.

[squizzy@lemmy.world]

This book is brilliant, but the last 10% accounted for 90% of my time with the book.

The whole thing is so engaging and interesting and the last bit is a slog

[saleh@feddit.org]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4L20t8Dvlg

"Prison Song"

They're tryna' build a prison
They're tryna' build a prison
Oh

Following the rights movements, you clamped down with your iron fists
Drugs became conveniently available for all the kids
Following the rights movements, you clamped down with your iron fists
Drugs became conveniently available for all the kids

I buy my crack, I smack my bitch
Right here in Hollywood
Nearly two million Americans are incarcerated
In the prison system, prison system of the U.S.

They're tryna' build a prison
They're tryna' build a prison
They're tryna' build a prison
They're tryna' build a prison
For you and me to live in
Another prison system
Another prison system
Another prison system
For you and me

Minor drug offenders fill your prisons, you don't even flinch
All our taxes paying for your wars against the new non-rich
Minor drug offenders fill your prisons, you don't even flinch
All our taxes paying for your wars against the new non-rich

[Chorus]

Oh, oh
All research and successful drug policy
Shows that treatment should be increased
Oh
And law enforcement decreased
While abolishing mandatory minimum sentences
Oh
All research and successful drug policy
Shows that treatment should be increased
Oh
And law enforcement decreased
While abolishing mandatory minimum sentences
Utilizing drugs to pay for secret wars around the world
Drugs are now your global policy, now you police the globe

...

[saleh@feddit.org]

I am against drugs. I think no one should be using drugs. I think drugs like Alcohol, Meth and Cocaine are a making of the devil. Ideally drugs would only be used as medicine.

None of the problems related to drug use are solved by criminalization. None of the societal and personal problems leading to drug use are solved by criminalization. Instead they are made worse. The most reliable way to reduce drug use in society is by removing economic hardship and lack of opportunities from people and providing better support to people in difficult emotional situations. The most reliable way to help existing drug users to stop using, is by reducing harms associated with drug use, while working on improving their life situation.

[nythos@sh.itjust.works]

How much of that is just due to how massively available alcohol is though?

[lumiluz@slrpnk.net]

Just wanted to point out, of the three you mentioned, cocaine is still used in medicine, especially in dentistry. You may in fact even have used an analog yourself that's pretty common: Lidocaine

[lumiluz@slrpnk.net]

And the risk of alcohol and cars dramatically increases your risk of death and yet...

[saleh@feddit.org]

Using Cocaine as a local anesthetic is very different from use aimed at psychoactive stimulation. E.g. having a small dosage injected in your gums vs. snorthing/smoking/IV use. I wonder though, how often it has to be used instead of lidocaine in practice.

We have the same issue with opiates, where the medical use is crucial, but the problems of abuse are also very strong. However while the physical addiction is extremely strong with opiates, it seems that many of the associated problems are particularly strong due to criminalization. E.g. people with chronic pains who receive opiates permanently can life a somewhat normal life, despite a physical dependence having developed. Programs that provide clean heroin to addicts have been very successful in mitigating a lot of the harm.

People who are high on Cocaine, Meth or Alcohol constantly will cause problems to themselves and others. The Ego-boost and inhibition reduction destroy peoples character. You also have regular reports from heroine users, that their local drug scene got much more problematic, when there was a wave of crack coming in.

[lumiluz@slrpnk.net]

Possibly true, but also a lot of the reports for issues caused by cocaine use lump cocaine with all of its derivatives, including things like crack cocaine. Rarely is pure cocaine affordably sold in the black market.

It would be as fair as combining statistics for oxycodone and tramadol.

I don't think cocaine is as dangerous as it's usually thought of from what I've read. Still dangerous enough to be age restricted and regulated for sure, but also in the right doses about as harmful as cigarettes (except cigarettes also harm those nearby)

[saleh@feddit.org]

Crack isn't a derivative of Cocaine. powdered Cocaine is typically the HCl salt. Crack is the free base, which makes it soluble for IV injection or smokeable. Because of the "direct" connection to the bloodstream it works much quicker and harder with a shorter duration. But it is the same active chemical compound.

As for recreational Cocaine use, i have witnessed many people falling into addiction w.o. realizing it. Typically it would go like this: Only at Festivals -> only in the club -> yeah birthday home party -> We are all very drunk at the bar, what if we call a dealer to extend the evening? -> i brought some to the bar already, so we don't have to find a dealer this time -> i'm bored at home...

Cocaine is especially dangerous in this regards because it is "smoother", the effects don't last as long as for other stimulants and in lower dosages it can go below the radar of people unfamiliar with drug use, whereas people on amphetamine are more easy to spot already from their physical appearance under the influence.