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It is legal to use, but only in tightly controlled medical use cases, because it is obviously very addictive. Columbia has built an economy around one export and are undermining the tight control of what the medical community knows is needed for such an addictive substance. Decriminalize the abuse of the drug and treat it as a medical condition.

Getting it into the hands of whoever wants it is just another way of being a pharmaceutical company but with extra Columbian steps.

Banning alcohol worked so well for the Americans in the early 20th century. Gangsters and dangerous black market businesses sold it with no legal oversight. It could be laced with anything.

Banning narcotics worked so well for the Americans in the mid 20th century to today. Druglords and dangerous black market clubs sell it with no legal oversight. It could be laced with anything.

Now the US has the largest prison population in the world. Those imprisoned on drug consumption or possession charges have to spend their whole lives with that over their heads. Job opportunities passed up, apartment applications, etc. Maybe it's time to reconsider the approach?

PS: Another drug, cannabis, was criminalized because it was used by black people and hippies, groups inclined against voting for Nixon.

Yeah. I think DUI and other laws are generally good ideas. I don't care that much if someone wants to do coke, but I really don't want drunk drivers or people nodding off on heroin operating heavy machinery.

There also should be a lot more social programs to help people quit when they want to. And probably more honest education about how yes, even you can get addicted.

I think people should have the liberty to buy and injest whatever they want.

However, you should not be allowed to sell whatever you want to other people. The power dynamics between companies and consumers is not balanced, and capitalism will always find ways to abuse its costumers for profit. That's why some countries are trying to regulate ultra processes foods and sugary foods.

So yeah, you should be free to carry fentanyl and use it. But not to give it or sell it to anyone without restrictions. Same with all other drugs.

This is a black and white over-simplified overview of my stance, because you also need nuance. Does it benefit society to require that certain jobs be done by people who are absolutely sober and thus go through regular drug tests? Does it benefit society that some people be sentenced to mandatory rehab? Or does it benefit society more to have freedom to trade and consume drugs? Your freedom to use drugs might interfere with my fredom to leave the house safely.

An important caveat though:

"The authors explain that one of the limitations of this study is that drug harms are functions of their availability and legal status in the UK, and so other cultures' control systems could yield different rankings."

Cocaine is still illegal, and by extension less available. I'm no expert, but I have to imagine that is affecting the rankings here significantly.

Ketamine is less addictive than coffee, TIL

Just to add a note that this graph comes from a study made on rats. I love the study and i use this graph frequently when discussing drugs, but i think it's important to know.

Being done on rats also raises the point that it's done excluding a mental component of using the drug, like for instance how some people use cigarettes in depression for its antidepressant effect or use alcohol to cope with mental health issues.

It also doesn't explore the mental health effects of repeated exposure to large doses of hallucinogens on people, which we still don't have research on because of how demonized hallucinogens are in most countries doing research on drugs.

LSD stays winning

While I can admit drugs aren't "good" per se but I do think most* should be legalized. We should have harm reduction classes that can teach people how to use responsibly. And have clinics where addicts can go to try and get clean and can provide whatever drug they're addicted to in a safe environment. Also tax revenue.

But that would require empathy and an honest look at how other countries handle drugs much better than the U.S.

I suspect a large part has to do with a selection bias. The people most likely to turn into a bad cokehead are also the people with the most access to it. Most people will never come into contact with cocaine, but they will come into contact with alcohol and likely consume it. The average person is more likely to become an alcoholic, while only certain segments are likely to even have the potential to become a coke addict and I'd bet on those segments being more likely to be harmful.

Cocaine either makes me crazy. Aka I think it was cut with something. Or does absolutely nothing to me. Aka this is the pure stuff. The better the cocaine, according to my friends reviews versus mine, the less I feel any "effects". So that was the start of internal alarm bells about ADHD 😂(very much so diagnosed and medicated now lol). Just better focus but a bit moreso than my current meds, as a rough guess it's been over 10 years.

But I never saw them become the worst versions of themeslves.

Unless. They drank at the same time as consuming.