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From: ray@rochester.ARPA (Ray Frank)
Newsgroups: talk.politics.misc,net.med
Subject: Re: Drug Abuse - True Problem or Media Hype?
Message-ID: <20922@rochester.ARPA>
Date: Fri, 19-Sep-86 08:56:31 EDT
Article-I.D.: rocheste.20922
Posted: Fri Sep 19 08:56:31 1986
Date-Received: Tue, 23-Sep-86 00:44:07 EDT
References: <720@scc.UUCP> <20756@rochester.ARPA> <463@epimass.UUCP> <470@epimass.UUCP>
Organization: U of Rochester, CS Dept., Rochester, NY
Lines: 46
Xref: linus talk.politics.misc:251 net.med:4639

In article <470@epimass.UUCP>, jbuck@epimass.UUCP (Joe Buck) writes:
> 
> That's because tobacco and alcohol are legal.  Pharmaceutical (sp?)
> cocaine is around a dollar a gram.  The high price is entirely due to
> the illegality.  

Again, there are over 35 million tobacco addicts and 20 million alcohol
addicts.  This is because of the easy availability of said drugs.  With
cocaine and many other drugs being so addictive, there most likely would
be more addicts than alcohol and tobacco addicts combined if drugs 
were legalized.
> 
> Also, how many deaths are due to impurities or because the user is
> getting a much stronger concentration than s/he is used to?  Answer:
> almost all of them, in the case of heroin.  I have no idea for
> cocaine.

This just furthers my point concerning the problems associated with 
legalizing drugs.  Drugs are so addicting, that even at great personal
risk, people still use them.  If they are made legal, then how many more
people would become addicted?

> Another point: when I was 14, no liquor store would sell me beer.
> Yet anyone would sell me marijuana.  To get drugs away from children,
> legalize and regulate them.  Making the penalties for selling
> cigarettes to minors as severe as those for selling alcohol to minors
> would help also (i.e. store loses license to sell tobacco).
> 

Good point, but not one in your favor.  It just emphasizes the growing 
drug problem:  pushers getting kids hooked on drugs.  
When I was 14, it was very easy to get alcohol.  We just paid a little more
for a quart of beer.  Some older person would get it for us.  This is 
exactly what will happen if drugs are legalized.  Kids will still have very
easy access to them.  They will be very cheap, so kids will be able to buy
drugs in very large quantities.  Just as there is an underground market for
alcohol for under age kids, there will exist an underground market for
drugs.  Remember, the highest cause of death of kids between the ages of
14 and 20 is alcohol related car accidents.  It can thus be seen that 
legalizing a dangerous substances does not minimize its' danger.


Wake up, reality is all around you ready to replace your fantasy land.


ray