A mysterious bag of cocaine was found at the White House last week. The saga continues, with commenters clearly salivating for more “Hunter Biden is a dirtbag” content, even though it probably belonged to some 25 year old intern trying to get chicks.
idk what the deal is with coffee. I'm going to get slaughtered for this, but it makes me insane. Caffeinated tea doesn't. Still drink coffee sometimes but definitely not daily and in heavy quantity.
Except maybe angel dust, or roofies, or fentanyl and its even worse derivatives. Those have no redeeming value whatsoever, except maybe to tranquilize or anesthetize very large animals. I was gonna say meth as well, but apparently even that can have some medical uses that have not been made fully obsolete yet.
Still, I find the absence of any redeeming value in my eyes should not prohibit the accessibility for others. Regardless of the opinion of a drug or its perceived merits, I do not think there is anything to gain from criminalization.
Cocaine can indeed kill you, but that is usually either because of 1) whatever it's cut or laced with, and/or 2) its extreme potency when snorted (or in the case of crack, smoked) in highly concentrated form. If it were legal, most people would probably prefer to *drink* it in less concentrated forms (much like with caffeinated beverages) rather than snort or smoke it, either as coca leaf tea or "coffee", or perhaps the cocaine equivalent of soft drinks or energy drinks ("Half-Hour Energy", anyone?).
And an irony of ironies: the converse is also true with the fact that you don't see many people snorting caffeine powder, *except* unwittingly when it is frequently used as a cutting agent for illegal cocaine as it is much, much cheaper. I sometime wonder just how many sudden cardiac deaths allegedly linked to non-extreme doses of "cocaine" are actually from such unwitting caffeine overdoses.
Your point about the increasing danger of cocaine laced with deadly fentanyl is a good one.
With all these drugs––– alcohol, weed, cocaine, etc.––– I worry about how harmful they are to younger people whose brains are still developing. I think there is at least a theory if not studies that show that adolescents are more susceptible to addictions due to the way adolescent brains tend to function. But I don't know the science.
While there is a kernel of truth to that theory, and the studies that support it, it has often been grossly exaggerated by both the prohibitionists as well as even some of those who claim to support legalization. And it is often used as an after-the-fact justification for ageist and illiberal policies like the 21 drinking age, the greatest alcohol policy failure since Prohibition, ever since the dubious claims of saving lives on the highways from drunk driving has been repeatedly debunked (see Miron and Tetelbaum 2009, Dee and Evans 2001, and Asch and Levy 1987 and 1990, for example).
And truly the only people that benefit from it being illegal are the crooks, the creeps, the cops, and the cronies. As is the case with the War on (people who use a few particular) Drugs in general.
While I mostly agree, it is disingenuous to pretend that cocaine use doesn't greatly increase alcohol use.
That's a great point. I agree.
I often think, what would an alternate universe look like, in which caffeine and cocaine completely switched places, in every way?
idk what the deal is with coffee. I'm going to get slaughtered for this, but it makes me insane. Caffeinated tea doesn't. Still drink coffee sometimes but definitely not daily and in heavy quantity.
I personally love coffee, but I can see how it's not for everyone.
There is really no use in making any drug illegal.
Except maybe angel dust, or roofies, or fentanyl and its even worse derivatives. Those have no redeeming value whatsoever, except maybe to tranquilize or anesthetize very large animals. I was gonna say meth as well, but apparently even that can have some medical uses that have not been made fully obsolete yet.
Still, I find the absence of any redeeming value in my eyes should not prohibit the accessibility for others. Regardless of the opinion of a drug or its perceived merits, I do not think there is anything to gain from criminalization.
Good point, Levi.
Cocaine can indeed kill you, but that is usually either because of 1) whatever it's cut or laced with, and/or 2) its extreme potency when snorted (or in the case of crack, smoked) in highly concentrated form. If it were legal, most people would probably prefer to *drink* it in less concentrated forms (much like with caffeinated beverages) rather than snort or smoke it, either as coca leaf tea or "coffee", or perhaps the cocaine equivalent of soft drinks or energy drinks ("Half-Hour Energy", anyone?).
Yeah, of course. Anything can kill you, including eating a hot dog too fast. But yeah I totally get and agree with your point.
Indeed, as Paracelsus famously said, "the dose makes the poison". A wise man he sure was.
And an irony of ironies: the converse is also true with the fact that you don't see many people snorting caffeine powder, *except* unwittingly when it is frequently used as a cutting agent for illegal cocaine as it is much, much cheaper. I sometime wonder just how many sudden cardiac deaths allegedly linked to non-extreme doses of "cocaine" are actually from such unwitting caffeine overdoses.
Your point about the increasing danger of cocaine laced with deadly fentanyl is a good one.
With all these drugs––– alcohol, weed, cocaine, etc.––– I worry about how harmful they are to younger people whose brains are still developing. I think there is at least a theory if not studies that show that adolescents are more susceptible to addictions due to the way adolescent brains tend to function. But I don't know the science.
While there is a kernel of truth to that theory, and the studies that support it, it has often been grossly exaggerated by both the prohibitionists as well as even some of those who claim to support legalization. And it is often used as an after-the-fact justification for ageist and illiberal policies like the 21 drinking age, the greatest alcohol policy failure since Prohibition, ever since the dubious claims of saving lives on the highways from drunk driving has been repeatedly debunked (see Miron and Tetelbaum 2009, Dee and Evans 2001, and Asch and Levy 1987 and 1990, for example).
And truly the only people that benefit from it being illegal are the crooks, the creeps, the cops, and the cronies. As is the case with the War on (people who use a few particular) Drugs in general.