Penn and Teller: BS. Illegal Drugs

I've never done any drugs in my life, I just thought this was a good way of describing the war on drugs.

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• drugs
• drug
• penn
• teller
• bs
• bullshit
• showtime
• warondrugs
• liberty
• freedom

[SailorBarsoom]

How about drugs that aren't addictive? Not all are, you know.

And if addictive drugs should be illegal, then why not nicotine, which is one of the most addictive substances on the face of the planet, or how about my personal drug of choice, caffeine? I don't care for coffee (unless I modify the hell out of it), but I loves me some fresh-brewed tea.

Legalize. Regulate. Tax.

[GearsofFate101]

it has been shown, that drug laws cause more crime, a very sharp increase in crime, and that is not the whole "possession: thing, it is "Violent Crime" rates. It happened during the prohibition, and happened during Nixon's drug laws. Weather or not someone gets addicted, is their problem. And alot of violent crime would be avoided if they were regulated, meaning safer, better ingredients, and less severe side effects, and easier to get, so as to not cause unwanted deaths.

[LaCerca]

Addictiveness is not a good reason for making a drug illegal. People have already mentioned the many drugs that are currently legal which are incredibly addictive, but that still isn't the point. Addiction is a serious medical problem which we must address, but the best way to address it is absolutely NOT by simply locking up those who are afflicted. This is not how to reduce the number of addicts. Addicts who truly want to recover are put into a terrible legal position thanks to prohibition.

[lordadam47]

car guy sent me

[Gerstein1]

BADASS!

[bcreason]

Spend more money on education, research and rehab programs rather than enforcement and interdiction .

[SailorBarsoom]

The WoD is a failure.  We would be better to sue for peace and retreat with our collective tail between our collective legs as befits a defeated army.

[SailorBarsoom]

@MusicStudyMan

Look at the War on Drugs. Prohibition of cannabis, MDMA, and other banned substances is unenforceable. Swarming multitudes are imprisoned, thousands of kilos are interdicted, and still the drugs flow from those willing to provide them to those willing to consume them.

I take it that Class A and Class B are the same as Schedule One and Schedule Two.

[MusicStudyMan]

@SailorBarsoom The problem is that trying to outlaw tobacco as a class B drug is unenforceable due to sheer numbers of people affected. Any law would have to make provision to help those addicted and that would cost too much to be socially acceptable. Regardless of what we might hope for the future of smoking, we're kind of stuck with it for the time being, but that doesn't make it right (like the religious cutting of boys and girls genitals for example)

.

[MusicStudyMan]

@SailorBarsoom Not sure what you're implying. But nicotine is of course slightly different. The law is meant to help society function so in the case of class A and B drugs they've been around a fairly short time amongst wider society and a smaller % has access to them compared to cigarettes. Tobacco has been around hundreds of years and gone through many years of being actively promoted out of ignorance of the negative social effects. If tobacco was discovered now, it would be a class B drug.

[SailorBarsoom]

@MusicStudyMan

I notice you leave out nicotine.

[SailorBarsoom]

@MusicStudyMan

Thank you. Now this argument can be more than, "You're stupid!"

"No I'm not!"

"Yes you are!"

"No I'm not!"

You are correct when you say that drug assessment, the decision on whether a given drug should or should not be legal, is not based on one thing only, such as addictiveness.

But some here were suggesting that addictiveness alone is enough. I was pointing out that this standard is not applied evenly. I don't pretend that I was addressing every possible question.