Legal cocaine

 https://nypost.com/2023/12/20/news/swiss-city-bern-considering-legalizing-cocaine-for-recreational-use-in-pilot-program/amp/

Criminal activity rates come on down. Obesity rates come on down. War on drugs come on down.

One of the quietest richest cities in the world, I think this was a long overdue necessary move to decriminalize what most politician & elitist sons and daughters have already been doing for decades underground while the law looked the other way with overt corruption & bribes.

At the end of the day, I say legalize it all and let the chips fall where they may...if governments have maintained the sales of alcohol and cigarettes over the past century, what difference do other drugs make nowadays in the debauchery of society.

@packersbackers

 the conversation started years ago in switzerland while heroine overdoses and crime related activities were trending in the wrong direction and the country had no choice but to declare the war on drugs a failure. they discovered that the war on drugs actually caused more harm than it did any good. then the country opened up facilities that offered heroine assisted treatment. this was when the drug abuse rates trended lower. i think switzerland sees the type of impact what legalizing the drug will do for its people, so their plan to legalizing cocaine will probably show the same results. 

Prohibition doesn’t work. It’s a joke. It doesn’t reduce supply or demand, and it doesn’t reduce use. Meanwhile it creates a black market, and thus we have what we have now: unregulated drugs everywhere, criminal organizations and individuals selling anything they want, to anyone interested.

Safe injection sites save lives but we have too many religious conservative right wing zealots that bring pointless arguments like “we can’t condone drug use”. So what happens? People shoot up anywhere they can. No nurses, no doctors, no Narcan. 

I still can’t grasp the concept of people wanting a bunch of suits telling them what they can do with their bodies. Telling them what they can and cannot consume. And ruining their lives if they don’t obey. 

I just don’t get it.

Spoken like someone who has never lived in a city with a rampant drug problem. Safe injection sites, clean needle giveaways, decriminalization, does not save lives. After witnessing the results of such initiatives, i've come to see them for what they are. Assisted suicide programs. They are what a city does when they feel as if they have lost the fight. They throw their hands up and say, "Welp, you might as well let them be and do what you can to facilitate their self medication." This inevitably leads to more drug use, more overdoses, more crime. It penalizes law abiding citizens and turns cities into Mad Max. Prohibition creates a black market? You can't be serious. This isn't weed and alcohol we are talking about. These drugs, by their very essence, will always exist in a black market. Just where the heck do you think opium comes from?

This is a tough problem, any way you cut it, with no easy answers but from what I have seen with my own eyes, clean needle programs, safe injection sites, etc don't work. And the numbers support my observations.

And don't get me wrong. I love cocaine. I would love decriminalization of cocaine. Cocaine isn't what's plaguing these streets though. Cocaine, by it's cost, kind of regulated itself. Decriminalization would help do away with cocaine cut fentanyl, and that would save lives. We got off of that subject though.

@StumpTownStu

 With all due respect, you’re just wrong on so many levels. Portugal decriminalized all drugs in 2001 and they have seen amazing results. Overdose deaths are nearly unheard of now, averaging 6 per 100,000 people. The US crushes that number. 

Their crime rates have not increased, and their AIDS rates have dropped to almost nothing because people aren’t sharing needles.

Prohibition creates black markets. To argue that point is just ridiculous. And I’m not trolling. I won’t disrespect you but it is rather ridiculous. 

There are safe injection sites in Canada that have literally administered millions of injections without a single overdose death. 

There is also no peer reviewed research that supports the claim that heroin use causes crime. Alcohol is a factor in 40% of all violent crimes, but even that said, alcohol use doesn’t CAUSE crime. Millions of people consume it daily and never harm anyone. A causal relationship is extremely difficult to establish, and it’s because it usually can’t be established.

Legal heroin would make the drug safer. Nobody buys beer and dies from a fentanyl overdose. We need to regulate and control the manufacturing of drugs. Right now it’s the Wild West. Nothing is regulated and nothing is controlled.

All that aside, I still can’t get behind laws that tell me what I can do with my body. Why isn’t mountain climbing illegal? They claim that “drugs are bad” and they need to protect us. It’s laughable.

Drugs are illegal because they can seize billions in property and cash every year, and they can continue to get their pockets lined by the lobbyists for private prisons. The drug laws have NOTHING to do with public health and safety.

We can agree to disagree. Peace my fellow Covers friend, and happy new year.

@StumpTownStu

 Just curious… do you live somewhere with safe injection facilities? If so, where? I know they exist in the US but they are underground. So to speak.

https://youtube.com/shorts/OZMmlWXRs4A?si=awpxBfz-ykmFHvmU

I stick by my original assertion. You sound very pie in the sky, as if you have never lived in a place with a serious drug problem. You've never seen how bad it gets. Comparing what has seemingly worked in Portugal to the US is completely asinine.

@SteelCash

 And there are several articles floating around now, one even in Washington Post, about how signs are starting to point to Portugal's drug policy failing. It didn't take nearly as long out here in Oregon for voters to start realizing that maybe decriminalization was a mistake.

For context, I was born and raised in Oakland. Spent most of my life living in the Bay Area, including San Francisco. Live in the Portland area now but I am still always in San Francisco/the Bay for work. I have been on the front lines of this stuff. I come home from SF sometimes and I want to break down and wrap, the conditions have gotten so bad. Suffering on a level you wouldn't believe. Laissez faire tactics don't work. I'm not saying I have the answers to what will work but the policies we have seen in cities like SF and Portland have failed. Decriminalization doesn't work. Safe injection sites, though clandestine, free needle programs, arena out staving off the issues. They are literally about letting people kill themselves with a modicum of dignity. Politicians will never admit it but it's the absolute truth. You know nothing about what's going on in these streets. Do you know how many dead bodies I have stepped over getting off of Bart heading into work only to put my stuff down, grab a cup of coffee, come out to see the caution tape out and then loading it up? If I were to tell you how many bodies in the street I have witnessed emergency crews responding to you would think I was exaggerating. I'm not.

@SteelCash

 Where do you live? Western Pennsylvania? How often do you make it into Philadelphia? Not often I'm guessing. There's some areas in Philly that would make you change your tune. And it's not enough to just drive through a couple times s year. You have to be in the thick of it. Walking around. I'd bet money you wouldn't walk around some of the places I'm referring to but here you are all, "We need to be like Portugal!"

With all due respect, as I said before, very pie in the sky. You're heart is in the right place but sadly, good intentions aren't enough to fix these problems.

you can't save those lives that have already rotted to the gut. if you're hopeful, there could be a chance for the next generation of addicts. as a country of leaders in the free world, we lead in all categories including these drug casulties. and you can't compare the usa to other countries, so its fair to say that whats working for other countries will not impact in the same way over here in the usa. if someone tell switzerland that duplicating these drug policies doesn't work. they'll say that it works for them and back it up with data. this boils down to the community and the individual. if there are measures to keep the rates at controlled levels then its a victory. its better to have these programs in place for people who actually need them and are helping them, then to not have them at all. 

@StumpTownStu

 Everything you’re seeing and living in IS A DIRECT RESULT of our horrible approach to drug policy. Why is that so difficult for you to understand?

You are biased because you live in one of the worse areas and therefore your vision is clouded. Your perception of reality is skewed. The single most important problem is addiction, and our solution is to arrest people. It doesn’t work.

The problem won’t be fixed until more research on addiction treatment is completed, and more money is spent on it.

Sure there are detox centers like the one I worked at in Akron, but they are few and far between, and the funding is limited. 

You walk around and see all the bodies and think, “Look at what drugs do and these idiots want decriminalization”.

The illegal status of the drugs makes everything worse. People use the drugs regardless of what the laws are, and hence, prohibition doesn’t lower use rates. 

Yet people are brainwashed by the media and they thus they believe that prohibition is necessary. They are incapable of critical thinking and doing actual research.

Our species is just inept at addressing homelessness and addiction. That’s the problem. And nothing will improve until we get better at it.

 coke is overrated...  seen it tarnish a few friendships in past years

smart people

the government doesent want this legal because you figure out alot about life and how fuuking stupid some things are as a society. makes you think outside the box and clearer. at least from my use from it

-Europro

Weed triggers the munchies effect. Cocaine triggers the Dopamine flood effect. When dopamine flow, we want it to continue and will do near anything to keep it flowing. More cocaine, hookers, and gambling. 

Fast-forward to 5:00 a.m. : "You think your guy is awake? Should we make the call? Let's just do it. Can you drive?"