Absolutely. If there were any truth to the nonsense that there's a correlation between one's stance on drugs and one's parental status, then there wouldn't be any junkie parents in the world.

I work for a clinic that treats people who have become addicted to prescription drugs.

We also treat Heroin and cocaine addictions also.

I can not tell the desperation apart, when these people first come into treatment. Without reading the charts, all I see are the miserable symptoms of withdrawl.


Knowing this, would I make it legal? Hell yeah. Making it illegal really only punishes the families, and makes the cycles of addiction worse, due to the compound effect of secretive shame, the harrassment of law enforcement- and the financial drain that at this point benfits NOT A DAMN person worth having it. Use the money from taxes and what-not for education and then treatment if/when addiction happens.

I dont see a difference, outside of cultural acceptance, of a prescribed pill vs a street drug. They are all hard drugs. The road to recovery is brutal for all of them. Less likely for Heroin? Perhaps. But I do believe a large portion of that is due to the very nature of what it takes to AQUIRE those drugs, and that has to do with it being illegal, and not regulated.

So, just in case you were wondering, YES I do believe we need to change the way prescription drugs are regulated in this country. The current system has some doctors scared to medicate patients when they have pain, have other doctors just writing carte blanc scripts that get sold on the black market. Our system is NOT working. And then there are the countless who are no longer even seeking medical advice, and aquiring meds somehow on their own without medical training at all. These things scare me. Our system does not work.
I dont see this changing though. Currently the system is benifiting pharmaceutical companies, and they pay the politicians.

If you want something changed, you dont protest, you shell out cash. If this is jaded, I am willing to look at another view. For today, this is my opinion.

So, please help me here. Regulated, prescribed drugs are being abused, so we need all drugs no matter of the consequence of taking them to be legal? This will help you in your daily encounters with addicts how?

I am seriously amazed and confused by this position within our community. A community laden with addiction.

I appreciate your position. Thanks for clarifying.

Can you however say the same thing for the addicted woman who is raped, used, or too high to know better who ends up pregnant as a result of needing that fix?

How will making these drugs readily available without consequence change that? I am just really boggled.

I pm'd you the quote and post number.

You are completely missing my point. My point being that being a parent or not being a parent has NO correlation to my (or anybodies) political or moral ideas. HOW someone becomes a parent doesn't change this.

Change what? Change the fact that not having children is irrelevant to my thoughts/feelings on the subject? Again, you are missing my point and not making any sense.

Now I shall go walk to the grocery store. Toodles, bfp-people.

Addiction is a DISEASE.

Alcohol is legal. Oxycontin is legal. Where I live, medicinal marijuana is legal.

Regulate the disease, take away the criminal element of most substances and let doctors treat addiction patients in offices, in a medical setting where the disease can be addressed.

It would help me in my daily encounters with addicts because I would not worry about somebody robbing my home, stealing my car, etc. etc., in order to procure illegal substances. Instead, a medical professional can help the addict and treat the disease.

Imagine the taking back of neighborhoods? The removal of the allure of quick cash selling crack/heroin/meth on the street corner for fast big cash? We'd get our youth back, and our future may not look so bleak.j

I don't think it is completely crazy to think about.

Yes, absolutely someone can be raped without drugs being involved. It is an act of violence as well as opportunity. Unfortunately, the "opportunity" aspect increases dramatically under the influence of drugs. Yes, indeed a topic for another discussion.

Yes, agreed it should be a deterrent, just like vomiting with heroin would make normal folks go "ewwwwwwwww". However, in the throes of addiction folks will do insane things to get that "high". Why make such detrimental outcomes that much easier? Why not focus the energy into healthier options? Like equal human rights? Something that creates CORE issues within folks who turn to drugs out of debased self esteem? Like REAL healthcare.. something that sends chronic pain patients to street drugs for relief?

Go to the REAL shit instead of the bogus trappings is all i am thinking.

I agree with your points and truly do appreciate the discourse.

I do get your point and agree that "choosing" to not have children is not an immoral act. It is a choice. I chose the same. My point was for addicts, sometimes those options aren't there. They are victims to their disease. Period.

Drug addicts are humans too. Legalizing drugs just might give them a chance at equality.

BTW, its lack of heroin that makes one vomit. Same with vicodin or any other opiate based pain reliever. Chronic pain patients are treated like criminals at the local pharmacy every day...

Most people that opt for narcotics like crystal meth ,heroin,crack, and cocaine are gonna most likely continue on that road. Choosing to enslave one's self to an addiction goes much deeper than the drugs available on the street or the drugs that are legal. I don't think recreational experiences will satisfy that need. I think we would see only a small percentage of addicts be able to sustain themselves with pot or other less addictive drugs alone.
Experimental use of narcotics will probably remain the same.

Sorry to disagree with your logic, although I can see it. I don't see where making becoming addicted easier will make getting treatment any better. They don't give federal money now for addicts. Why would that change? There was a short period in the 80's where "treatment" was the trendy thing to do and insurance companies actually paid for it. Those days are way over and it is now "optional". Imagine that. It's optional to get treatment, as it is optional to become an addict. So says Blue Cross.

I try to see the point in legalizing highly addictive chemicals, but sorry, I just don't.

agreed.

making it *legal* isn't going to make me want to use meth/crack/whatever.

this also would de-criminalize the addict.

also, anything can make an addict fixate--have you seen those people that have 'loving relationships' with inanimate objects like the eiffel tower?

(i say addict/fixate and i do think that addiction and your 'drug of choice' takes the place of a REAL relationship, when an addict is in an active-addiction stage)