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Comment by seibelj | Hacker News Reader

If we free people for marijuana possession and sale why not free people for cocaine possession and sale? And so on.

Exactly, now you're getting it. Certainly all people jailed for personal possession of any kind of drug and all small scale dealers should be pardoned and dealt with by social workers instead, or simply allowed to live their lives unharassed.

Another thought comes to mind (which I mention just for novelty's sake): even if a full rational analysis says that taking, say, heroin is a bad idea (for pretty much anyone who plans to live for more than a year, or whatever), it seems legalization should open the door to people tweaking the formula to come up with something with similar positive effects and fewer drawbacks. It seems to me that a great way to get people to stop taking dangerous drugs is to make something that's just better and is also less dangerous.

I've read a few things over the years saying that medical and psychiatric researchers (all but the bravest) have absolutely avoided doing anything remotely connected to the illegal drugs because of fear; given marijuana's use in pain management, and more recent results about psychedelics being possibly useful to treat depression and PTSD, this has probably set back research by years, possibly decades.

There are countries with prescription heroin, safe injecting rooms and addiction support not just looking at mental health, but also housing, work and relationships.

There are indications that this strategy works in decreasing harm, decreasing economic impact, and decreasing supply by drying up demand in illegal supply chains.

As always with public health and challenges to existing socio-cultural norms, there’s a lot of room to further discuss.

https://transformdrugs.org/heroin-assisted-treatment-in-swit...

Diamorphine is already very safe, has few side effects, and is commonly used as a stronger version of morphine in cancer treatment.

What is diamorphine? Well, it's the scientific name for heroin. However, it differs from the drug in being far purer, being used in a clinical setting, and with carefully controlled dosages. Other than that, it's identical to heroin.

This means we can conclude that the negative aspects of heroin come from impurities, addiction, mental health issues of the users, unsafe injection practices, and unknown strengths resulting in overdose.

You can, with access to medical grade heroin, use it occasionally with no negative side effects. We know this because it is used daily in hospitals around the world.

Why not indeed? But realistically we need to go one step at a time and keep pushing the Overton window.

I support this statement. No citizen should be held as a criminal for ingesting, smoking or injecting something into their own person.

If we are not allowed to treat our own bodies in any manner which we see fit, then these bodies are not our own.

Yes, it is essential that we legalize cocaine and many other recreational drugs.

Yes, why not?

It is time to accept we need to manage these things differently.

This is hilariously almost-selfaware.

Reminds me of these interactions on twitter:

> arrest the cops killing Breonna Taylor

> yeah, let's arrest every cop killing an african american...

> yes, that's the point

> the covid vaccine should be free

> yeah, let's just make chemotherapy free as well..

> yeah, let's

Who would build our furniture and make our clothes then?

Please read up on the crack epidemic in America in the 1980s and 1990s. You probably didn't live through it so see what widespread drug use does to society and especially cities.

Could you explain it for us then? I'm genuinely curious in what you observed.

Yes we should.

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