Dr. Vernon Coleman Archive With 165 Posts
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If cannabis, cocaine and heroin were available through legal channels there would be far few deaths, much less associated illness, considerably less crime and a good deal less misery. In addition, the cost to our society – in human as well as financial terms – would, for the following reasons, be vastly less.
None of these drugs are particularly dangerous. (For example, the benzodiazepines are much more additive). The intrinsic dangers associated with these substances have been widely exaggerated. Even if legalising these drugs results in more people using them the death rate will fall since many of the deaths are caused by criminals selling contaminated or poisoned drugs. In different towns different crooks sell the same drug in different concentrations. In southern Italy, for example, the mafia sells heroin that is one fifth as strong as the heroin sold in the north of Italy. Consumers who travel from the south to the north accidentally overdose themselves.
The illegality of their habit means that drug users who inject themselves with drugs are tempted to use and reuse old syringes and needles. It is this reuse of second hand syringes and needles which has to the spread of AIDS among drug addicts.
The very fact that a drug is illegal will often encourage those who trade in it to devise new forms of the drug from which greater profits can be made. Coca leaves are fairly harmless but scientists soon managed to turn them into cocaine. `Freebasing’ was introduced to enable cocaine users to refine their cocaine themselves. And the new and fashionable ‘crack’ was devised by drug dealers looking for a new, more powerful, more profitable, easily transportable product to sell.
Note: This abbreviated essay is taken from ‘One Thing After Another’ by Vernon Coleman. You can buy a copy of ‘One Thing After Another’ from the bookshop on https://VernonColeman.com
Copyright Vernon Coleman February 2025
Full Article: https://EarthNewspaper.com/Why-Illegal-Drugs-Should-Be-Decriminalised-by-Dr-Vernon-Coleman
Dr. Vernon Coleman
https://VernonColeman.com
Dr. Vernon Coleman Archive With 165 Posts
https://earthnewspaper.com/category/dr-vernon-coleman
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