Best Posts in Thread: Really!? EU asks PH to legalize drugs and abortion?!

I think one misconception that people have is that every person who uses drugs turns into an addict. That simply isn't the case. The average addiction rate for drugs is around 20% (some are less some - such as Weed/LSD/Ecstasy/Shrooms - and some are more - Cocaine/Heroine) if I remember correctly. There are far more people who use drugs - such as alcohol/weed/ecstasy - responsibly than there are addicts. Imagine if we just threw every alcoholic in jail for simply being an alcoholic - aka a drug addict (which would be a horrible idea because they could die from the physical withdrawal symptoms).

People tend to forget that they themselves are likely drug users. It just so happens that your drug of choice is legal....and it isn't that way because it is the least harmful drug available. Alcohol is far more damaging to the body and society than weed could ever be. So if you sit down in the afternoon and have a few beers, well congratulations, you are a responsible recreational drug user. And this is how the majority of other "heavy" drugs are used as well.

The large majority of addicts also suffer from some form mental illness (aside from the addictions). You can't talk sense into people who are addicts and mentally ill...well you can, but that sense won't stick around for long. It isn't the drugs that cause this, it is the addiction and mental illness. The drug is irrelevant, if it isn't one drug it would be another one that they would be addicted to. Some people are just prone to addiction because of preexisting conditions. Locking them up for it does absolutely no good and solves nothing.

Edit:
"Drugs kill your feelings, you do not care about anything else, than how to get more drugs"
That is complete nonsense.

 

If the Philippines doesn't want the stipulations that go along with the handouts then they should stop putting their hand out. Nobody is forcing the Philippines to change any of their laws.

 

Spoiler: Off-topic

Pretty sure the EU has elections. Every government organization has bureaucrats that are appointed by elected officials. I have no opinion about the EU as I could care less what they do but your argument seems a bit flawed.

I agree it would probably not do any good for the Philippines to legalize drugs, but not for the reasons you stated here.

Wealthy countries would be better off spending more money on harm reduction and addiction programs than spending on a war on drugs. This war on drugs has been nothing but a massive failure and has done nothing to address the causes of addiction. It has only made drugs cheaper, easier to obtain, turned nonviolent offenders on to violent gang culture while in prison and has done absolutely nothing to reduce addiction rates.

The Philippine people and government are not mature enough, wealthy enough or smart enough to deal with the legalization of drugs, as is evident by who is sitting at the head of their government. More civilized countries certainly would be better off going with the drug education, harm reduction and legalization route. The biggest issue leading to addiction is mental illness and people self medicating. Figure out what the cause of those issues are and deal with them and you will likely deal with the symptom of addiction.

As for abortion: that won't be happening any time soon in the Philippines. The Catholic Church has its claws dug in way to deep in the Philippines and they aren't about to allow that to happen. Without the poor and uneducated the church would lose much of their power. Gotta fill them seats with someone...and the educated aren't going to church in numbers anywhere near enough for the church to keep their business afloat.

 

I understood what you were getting at. My question was who in the government is going to determine who was being a slut and who wasn't? I personally think it is a major waste of government spending to do stuff like that. But if you want to go that route you need to have a way of punishing the guy as well as the woman. It takes two to make a baby yet 99% of the time it is the mother who pays the most for it and raises the child. You have to punish both the guy and the girl for being "sluts" (note: I don't think having sex out of wedlock makes anyone a slut). It is a little unfair to women as it is usually the man that is trying to convince the woman to have sex, not the other way around. Women need to have their guard up 24/7 and if they let it down with a guy they think they can trust they get deemed a slut and get stuck with a child they can't afford alone....while the guy gets a high five from his buddies.