Drugs should be legalize depending on their effect when used, mostly how dangerous they can be to the user and/or people around the user.
However, reactions to minor drugs/substances such as pot, tobacco, alcohol can be different for people, depending on the tolerance. 
The ideal world would be personalize, doctor checked, substance restrictions (which substances, and how much). However that been way to hard to do, and would be a major inconvenience to doctors, lawmakers, and consumers.
Of course there are serious drugs that are a definite no-no, that harm all people negatively (e.g. Heroine).
In all case however, I believe that people should avoid any harmful substance no matter what it is when possible, as they can all negatively impact you.
Perhaps my ideal drug personalization plan isn't possible right now, but with the right technology, it could be in the future.

Part of the reason they are illegal is because we cannot tax it like cigarettes and booze. I personally think the war on drugs was an abysmal failure. If you ban something,people are going to want it more. Like prohibition before it,that was a failure on a massive scale. Now,I personally think that they should be banned. Maybe remove some of the narrow minded thinking in research,though. Everything can and will be abused,be it drugs,electronics,food,etc. The best way to stop drugs if for people to stop using it as a f--king crutch.

Drugs that are decriminalized in most states, like marijuana, should be legal. However, I'm glad that cocaine, heroin, and crack are illegal, since they cause more harm than weed. I don't think it should be allowed for anybody to make any non-prescription drug (except for marijuana) legal. No matter if it's state or federal law.

I believe that drugs used for a good purpose should be legal and drugs used for a bad purpose should be illegal. Honestly I don't think that someone who needs medical drugs would go around selling it unless they're given more than needed for whatever reason. I also feel that this should be a strict decision that should be monitored precisely.

I don't think drugs should be illegal, and I'm not saying this simply as a recovering addict. We need to change how we handle these crimes as well. Most of our prison populations (in the US) are non-violent drug offenders, and they almost always come out worse than they went in. The system is set up to make people like judges, prisons, and other affiliated persons lots of money at the expense of the people.

I am actually from a country where some drugs are actually legal and common to come by in amsterdam. I for one can't imagine going in to certain parts of Amsterdam and not smell the 420.

Let me put it like this, if alcohol is legal then why not marijuana? I think that the Netherlands has a good drug policy (to an extent) and even though I find the smell of it disgusting that's a minor thing that everyone here has had to deal with.


btw.
I won't ever use it or anything.

I think marijuana should be the only one that's legal, but only because in my mind it's about as bad as alcohol is and yet alcohol is allowed. I think it's pretty hypocritical to say "yes alcohol should be allowed" and then go on and say "eww no marijuana is horrible and should stay illegal". Personally though I dislike both and if it were up to me I'd say both would be illegal(except medical marijuana since that does help people) but hey if alcohol is gonna stay anyway might as well let marijuana come in as well. Besides at the very least the country can put a tax on it and there would be less people being charged, so it has some uses to it.

In terms of the harder stuff? Yeah no. That really messes people up. Like really really messes people up. Just look at intense ones like flakka. Yeah, you really don't want that on the streets.

From what I've learned in Principles of Law, more positives come out of legalizing drugs than negatives. I'm not saying, "yeah, go and legalize every single drug." But, it's a good thing to consider legalizing at least marijuana. I mean, if you want to destroy your own body, go ahead, you make your own decisions. I'm not going to, though.

I'm a believer of Anarcho-Capitalism. Anything that is not a violent offense, property rights infringement or dangerously reckless should not be prohibited by any man made law. That's not to say that I approve of or that anything outside of such is acceptable, I don't and some things aren't. But my view is that man made law stunt the development of personal moral and ethical compasses and cultural standards. Making something illegal is a joke. Reinforcing the belief that something is wrong yields MUCH more power and is in no way oppressive.

Weed? It's whatever.

Any other kind of illicit drugs? Out the window. Don't need that stuff, kills people. Makes people kill people before it kills people, too.

Too much killing.

also 420blazeit

Not sure if I have posted in this thread. But I think there is a good and bad thing about drugs some a good for health and all while some are bad in a way. When you misuse them. You will end up in jail, but if its something that's good of use health wise then its good to have. I always thought in a way of it being yin and yang. Because of how people all over the world use them for either good or bad.

I support legalising, taking, and regulating all drugs.
Drugs sold on the market under the counter are very harmful and the Government could make them much safer, and set up real rehabilitation for those who are addicted. We have plenty of addictive drugs easily available already, the other drugs are only viewed as worse because they've been linked to Criminal activity due to them being illegal.

I think drugs suck, but I don't think that they should be illegal because drug related stuff will happen regardless. I am a believer that it's their choice to take it or not, but also that what should be illegal is what could happen as a result of taking them. If you make them illegal, people will still find ways of getting them, and would probably go to new lengths to get them which could even cause so many problems, and if they can't get them, then people will find other ways to be dumb, so I feel that it should be legal, but that people shouldn't be dumb about them and know what to do with them.

zanderlex : I'm pretty sure actually that there was a time in the 20th century that all drugs were legal, after the war on drugs started drug use rose a lot.

Plus alcohol is practically a drug too.

I have never touched a drug other then alcohol, since some claim that is a drug, but I think stuff like marijuana should be legal, hell it's legal here in Washington State. I don't have a desire to smoke it, but it should be treated like alcohol. Anything else, like cocaine, meth, etc. No, it should be banned. I just don't see a logical reason for those to be legal, they mess you up. Sure marijuana could be a "gateway drug" but I know plenty of people that smoke it, and have no desire to try something else.

What do I think about drugs?

I love them lol. I don't care for any stimulants really, but I love the depressants. Weed is my love, and pain pills are the succubus that nearly destroyed me. This probably isn't the place for me to ramble on about how much I love them though...

I already said how I feel about legalizing them, and most of the people here who have really looked into it understand why there would be more benefits to legalization than there are downsides. We should be more focused on people who actually commit crimes, not people who are only damaging themselves or their own body.

If a person works hard to make a pay check, and then spends most of that pay check on drugs, should they be prosecuted for that? They didn't do anything wrong, so I don't see why they should. If a person steals to get a fix, then they should be punished for stealing. If a dealer has a substance on them, should they be prosecuted for having the drug? No. If 2 dealers / junkies try to kill each other, then punish them for attempted murder. It's as simple as that. Focus on the actual crimes, not the drugs themselves. I imagine that would be a more productive way to weed out the individuals causing the problems.

I completely disagree. While keeping drugs illegal really does not keep anyone from getting to stuff like marijuana (I.e. pot or cocaine, in case there's anybody who did not know that. xD), it at least chokes out a large portion of drugs that are considered 'hard,' such as cocaine, gravel, meth, et cetera. At least I'm pretty sure that those are hard, if there is harder stuff, then I wouldn't know, because I happen to not do drugs. Heck guys, I don't even drink!

Personally, and this is just my opinion, it really isn't much of anything from a debating stand point, I just really don't see the appeal in getting 'wasted,' or 'drunk,' or 'high,' or anything of the sort. I have drank alcohol before, I'm 16, and I was under adult super vision (yeah, I get it, not cool, bla bla bla), but I really didn't feel anything except some loss of total control of my body due to fatigue, and I did not like that at all.

As for your point about poisonous substances being readily available to us, that is very true, but no body who wants to love is going to drink bleach, obviously, where as some one can oh-so-easily over dose on drugs because of lack of regulation due to their being illegal. Were they legal, people would probably still over dose just because we are human, and in fact probably more would over dose, but that's beside the point. Drugs aren't good, they can cause irreparable damage to any one of the various organ systems within a person's body. The addiction, if allowed to get out of control, can completely drain any ounce of money that some one had in their savings, and honestly, they ruin so many lives and kill so many people every year, no, every day, that I just don't understand the appeal of using any of them.

Then, of course, you could potentially make the argument that it is that person's decision to use such substances, and that they know the consequences of doing so. More often than not, yes, they probably do know the consequences of using those drugs, but that doesn't mean anything in the end. Because why is someone using them? If it's just for pleasure and has no other motive beyond that, then fine, let it happen. I hope the person can control their habit, and that it doesn't ruin their lives, or damage the lives of those around them, like it has for so many others. 

But there are far too many instances where that just simply is not the case. A friend of mine had a daughter who was very successful, had a good job, and was a very good mother. But then, a few months ago, she was assaulted, for lack of a better term, and just because this is a family friendly site I don't want to disclose what actually happened, although I'm sure that most, if not all, of you know what I mean. After that, my friend's daughter turned to drugs, and various forms of them. Does that sound like someone who was just getting into the drugs for pleasure? No, that's someone who needs an escape from the world in general, because something traumatic happened to them and they need help that they can't find. And the drug dealers make a killing off of people like this, selling everything in their stocks to these confused people who just need to get their life back on track. But once they get a taste of that freedom and escape from everything, they're hooked.

So what happened to this mother, you may be asking? She's lost her children, her mother, my friend, is now taking care of them in her house and is in jail for the fifth time since the incident. She never had so much as a blotch on her domestic record before this incident.  She lives with an abusive boy friend, she has since lost her job, and she doesn't have a penny to her name, all because she lost her way, found a temporary escape, and now she's hooked. Her relationship with her family has deteriorated and she's lost almost all of her friends because of the drugs.

Or, further, in a town not to far from mine, an elderly couple was taking care of their son's children. Their son had become a meth addict in a case some what similar to the one above. But people got suspicious of them really quick based on what the kids looked like when they showed up at school. Eight small meth labs were found in the house ten feet away from the children's room. Do you think that's safe, or even the choice of the kids? Hell to the no,

So if anything, the drugs need to cracked down on infinitely harder than they are being attacked now.

I see so many people saying "Keep drugs illegal" or "Crack down on them more," but it just doesn't make sense to me in the grand scheme of things.

The problem with making drugs illegal is the fact that being illegal makes no difference in the amount of people who try to obtain them, or if any thing, actually increases the amount of young adults and teenagers who do it, because they think it's "cool" to be rebellious. If you take away the aspect of it being some thing you can do to rebel against authority, it won't appeal nearly as much to young people.

If some one is going to start using drugs, full well realizing it could land them in prison, how does keeping it illegal, or making the sentences for having it worse, make any thing better? Some one who becomes addicted will go to pretty much any length to get and use what they are addicted to, regardless of the consequences. I know this first-hand. I've lived it. 

If the government sets up clinics like other countries have, where some one addicted to some thing such as heroin can go to use in a safe environment, it clears up all sorts of problems. Less spread of disease through the sharing of needles, less crime from people stealing or whatever to get their fix, less money going in to the hands of dangerous cartels who thrive off selling these drugs on the street ( as well as the cartels profits disappearing almost entirely when people can get it for free, or even having to pay a small fee for a membership or some thing like that, from the government ). Unless I'm remembering the information incorrectly, solutions such as this have been a big help to the issue of drugs plaguing society more so than doing harm. Also, if the government were to regulate the drugs being given to the populace, things like over doses wouldn't happen any where near as frequently, considering the fact most people over dose because of the extremely varying quality of drugs on the street. One batch of dope could be 20% pure, and the next one you get be 60% pure, or even contain another drug entirely to make it stronger ( such as cutting heroin with fentanyl ). If the strength of the drug is consistent, almost no one would over dose because they would know exactly how much to use each time, on top of the fact if they were using at a regulated facility, they would have staff on hand who could handle the situation as efficiently as possible.

This stat may not be 100% accurate, but some thing like 2 / 3 of the US's prison population is non-violent drug offenses. That costs us a crap ton of tax money to shelter and feed them all, on top of the fact they are being put in with people who did commit violent, or worse, crimes. Part of the problem is how we go about punishing them, and part of the problem is the "rehabilitation" ( if you can even call it that. I wouldn't ) that our prisons offer. Instead of throwing an addict in prison, they need to be in some form of addiction treatment. An addict's chance of recovery increases with each attempt at becoming sober, no matter how dedicated to staying clean they are in each attempt. If they committed an actual crime such as robbery or attempted murder, then sure, put them in prison because they actually deserve it. If the goal of prison is to return the citizen to society at some point as a functioning individual, why is it they are basically treated like a caged animal being locked in a room with nothing to do but stare at a wall most hours of the day over them doing some thing productive with their time.

Another problem here is the fact the system is set up to make the legal system as much money as possible. I got caught with a pipe for marijuana, and literally 1 and 1/2 Xanax pills, and the court system has charged me just over $3000 for such a petty crime. That doesn't even include the pipe, as that charge was dropped in the plea deal. Can you imagine how much money they must bring in if every single low level drug offender has to put in that much money for each time they are caught with the substance, let alone those caught with more "serious" drugs. The people who run the prisons inevitably have their hand in the pot when it comes to passing legislation, as the more prisoners they have, the more tax revenue they can collect ( and the fact our prisons can be border line inhumane, be it to cut costs or simply lack of compassion, doesn't help with the rehabilitation process ).

All I'm saying is making / keeping them illegal doesn't really do any thing to solve the problem. We've kept them illegal for how ever many years now, and it seems the problem is only getting worse. If you remove an addict from their substance, putting them some where like jail or prison, then sure, they are going to be clean while they are forcibly removed from it. But with out any form of treatment while removed from the substance, their chances of relapse are significantly higher when they return to society than if they had been placed in a treatment program instead of just locking them up with those who committed "actual" crimes. A combination of less strict laws against the substances, as well as government based programs / clinics to actually help the addicts in overcoming their addiction would be much more beneficial to the issue ( but it wouldn't make the government nearly as much money, ergo their reluctance to do so ). 

Mynamescox44 : Hm. You know, in a way, after reading this, I think it sounds very, very similar to my views on abortion, in which while illegalization will prevent some cases, it will only become more dangerous while banned, and while legalization may open up even more pathways for abuse, it will also allow for these things to be cared for as well as making the process or, in this case, using, significantly safer.

The added benefit of cutting down on drug cartels, and hence crime in general after the money is cut off from the top down, also sounds like a very good idea, and if the control and distribution of drugs as a general thing is regulated, then most of the points in my post quickly become irrelevant, and looking back I guess that the harder they crack down, the farther the dealers are willing to go.

So I have to agree with you here, especially after hearing all of the stuff about the courts. A pill and a half bringing them in three thousand dollars is just absolutely ridiculous. The entire system is corrupt if what you put down there is true, which I tend to believe that it is.