Should illegal drugs be legalised.

I would say NO too except for those that are being used for pain control for various illnesses/conditions - medicinal use should definitely be more possible than it is today. 

Drugs are legal - loads of them.

More people die from alcohol.  A drug in liquid form.

Why should someone going clubbing be given the option of alcohol legally, or a pill that they've no idea if its poison or not.

The war on drugs has caused endless problems for numerous nations.  And delivered zero results.

Prisons are full of drug addicts.  Courts and Police spend half their time on drug-related issues.

Its madness - but people refuse to have the debate.

And nope, I don't take illegal drugs - I like alcohol, which is very fortunate for me. Unlike many others.

Legal Highs have just been made illegal. There were a number of deaths linked to their use and a common theme seemed to be that as they were legal they were safe. Prisons have struggled to cope with violence from people using them. Mental Health services have struggled with Drug Induced Psychosis.

Legalize drugs and things will get much worse.

Ironically, "legal highs" were much more damaging than illegal drugs.

Which just goes to show that prohibition causes more problems than it solves.

The Prohibition example is a red herring. Does anyone really think that if tobacco and alcohol were newly created drugs, rather than historical items, that they would be made legally available ?

The Prohibition example is a red herring. Does anyone really think that if tobacco and alcohol were newly created drugs, rather than historical items, that they would be made legally available ?

Absolutely correct - We have legal drugs purely because of the historical & cultural basis.

But it makes a mockery of the prohibition against other drugs.

I am not sure what drugs we are talking about here, as I have not been able to find the report. Is it just the lower classes B/C or are we talking class A. On balance I think I am against it. At the end of the day these drugs are often highly addictive, even more so than tobacco and alcohol.  Tobacco and alcohol are highly taxed, is it proposed that this will be the case for currently illegal drugs. If this is the case and market forces are also allowed to operate, what guarantee is there they would be any less expensive than currently. If that were the case, appart from the illegal aspects, they could still result in the same problems as currently, with people committing crimes to feed their habit.

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'More addictive' is an urban myth. All scientific tests confirm that marijuana, for example, is less addictive than nicotine or alcohol. There are a spectrum of drugs, some being more addictive and others being less addictive than alcohol/ nicotine. It's also a myth that soft drugs lead to hard drugs. What is clear is that people with addictive personalities tend towards excess, whether that be gambling, alcohol (think of AA), cigarettes or illegal substances. There is a very strong case for selective legalisation, after all Queen Victoria was happy to consume opiates.