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An LBM (more of a medium sized one really)


ChefsWild

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Legalized drugs such as alcohol and tobacco do cause damage to people who don't use them. Birth defects, disease from second hand smoke, auto accidents deaths caused by drunk driving, ect. If you want to, you can do a search and find lots of problems stemming from legalized marijuana. Whether they are legal or not, drugs cause real problems, both physical and mental. Unfortunately people by their nature are selfish and shortsighted, which leads them to only care about their own pleasure, even if it harms themselves or others.

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I think the question is not 'does X do any harm' but is the potential harm from irresponsible use really enough to justify a "Nanny State" where the government outlaws scissors so that grownups won't run with scissors and put their eye out.

Yes, the irresponsible use of alcohol or tobacco can cause harm. Arguably more so than marijuana. Yet these things are legal so that adults who wish to may responsibly enjoy them. Which makes sense to outlaw? Some of them, all of them, none of them? Would bringing back Prohibition have a positive net effect on society and the economy, or a negative one?

I am not a fan of drugs and drunkenness. I won't partake and I won't be around other people who are partaking to excess, because I find it seriously annoying and boring. However I'm even less of a fan of a Nanny State where the government tells adults what they can or can't enjoy in the privacy of their own homes.

I don't know enough about drugs to say which ones really are justified in banning. There's certainly some that do a lot of harm and seem very unlikely to offer any social or economic benefits that would outweigh the damage they do.

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Hi Chefs, I think it's a hard line to distinguish between what should be banned ( harmful drugs) and what should not be banned ( natural remedies). The real issue as far as drugs go is that it's about money more than recreation. The government usually only gets involved if it is financially beneficial for them to do so. As far as the end user goes, they usually abandon personal and social responsibility as soon as they get drunk or high. We end up with a choice not to allow these people legal access to drugs and pay the price through enforcement of laws or pay the price through high crime rates, cleaning up the mess people cause when high or drunk, social services for people that would rather get high than pay for their families next meal, or rehab for those that can't control their addictions. For me personally, I believe in capital punishment. I think that if you are so irresponsible as to cause someone's harm while on drugs or alcohol,You should get a long prison term or the death sentence. I know from personal experience that people who get drunk or high generally don't care about other people's safety or happiness.

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I am tempted to enter into the discussion seen here. I have my own opinions about these issues. However, I think we venture into dangerous territory when fail to stick to discussing mushrooms, or other topics directly relevant to mushrooms and/or enjoying the outdoors. If we start trying to discuss politics, religion, economics, law, ethics.... then we risk having the discussion --and perhaps the entire board-- devolve into a flame-throwing mess. I have seen this happen on other discussion boards in the past.

Besides, I'm still interested in what the ID may be for those interesting smallish white-spored mushrooms that got this thread started.

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