Got in an argument today with a guy who said that legalizing drugs will end gang violence. I thought it was ridiculous to say that gangs will stop being violent just because you legalize drugs and that they will go find something else illegal to do and be violent about.

What do you guys think?

I'm fine with legalizing drugs, I just think it's naive to think that it will end gang violence.

He stated the argument by saying that if Chicago legalized drugs, there wouldn't be so many murders.

To answer your question, of course it's not going to end or limit gang violence. What are all these gang members going to do? Are they going to open up a supermarket?

Our society struggles greatly with tobacco and alcohol. How would making every drug legally sold and produced everywhere be a positive for society?

Set up Hamsterdam.

Bunny Colvin was a genius.

Drugs being illegal isn't stopping people from using them. People that want heroin are already getting it today. You're not going to see a spike in hard drug use if they suddenly became legal. That argument is a little silly, IMO. There's stats out there that show alcohol use went up during the time of prohibition.

While marijuana is a drug, we aren't talking about marijuana here Dewskie. We are talking about legalizing all drugs.

Rick, you often use the example of calling the police if your neighbors were smoking meth. Do you even have any idea what that smells like? I'm not being sarcastic, I have no idea. I wouldnt even know to call the police... I can tell the difference between weed and cigs but I certainly couldnt tell you what crack or meth smells like.

Ah. Well it's a hard thing to break down. I'm of the opinion that coke, meth, and heroin are just the quick path to the grave. Sure, people can overcome using them, but on the whole those kind of drugs require quickly-escalating quantities/quality, which inevitably leads to people overdosing or simply fading into the homeless community before freezing to death in a gutter.

Meth especially is such a fucked up thing that there's no justification in legalizing it - it's just a garbage drug. It's a corrupted, dangerous high that has no harmony with anything nature. It's manufactured with chemical byproducts in often disgusting environments, but the primary reason people use it is because it's cheap (unless we're talking about Blue Sky here, I would never insult Walt's work).

Heroin is fucking nasty in all aspects. Coke is a fashion drug. Legalizing all this shit serves no benefit, but the government is missing out on a major opportunity here that Futurama suggests and Game of Thrones mentions:

Venues for controlled suicide.

If the government set up local suicide lodges this country would improve immediately. Basically these facilities would have comfortable large rooms where you could, at leisure, take all the drugs you wanted, the only stipulation is that you don't leave the room. Then once they're gone we have hazmat-suited employees incinerate the remnants and sell the ashes/detritus to farmers as fertilizer.

It's not really about actively seeking it out. I'm not going on a hunt for it. However, I'm pretty sure I'd figure out fairly quickly if the people next to me are using crystal meth all the time. Kind of like how I would be glad that a police officer could shut down a meth house next to my kids school.

Google search for GasHouse Gang

If it was legal there would be no reason for people to still make meth. No one is out making bathtub moonshine anymore. I am sure there are provisions that liquor stores and such have to be so far away from schools, do the same thing for the Drug stores.

Why does he have to be on my property line? My neighbors could all be smoking meth everyday right now and I would have no idea.

People abuse scripts to get high. They wouldnt need to do that if they could go get legal drugs. Much cheaper than prescriptions too.