Do you think ALL drugs should be legal?

[Lunanova]

I think all drugs should be decriminalized.

I'm a psychology major, a few weeks from graduation. I've not once tried any drugs, not even marijuana, so I can't say I'm speaking from experience. But addiction is not something to criminalize. Being on a substance is considered to be a mental disorder, as it *literally* changes your brain's functioning (depending on the drug).

We can't just assume every one makes the conscious choice one day to get hooked on drug. A majority of drug-related issues are due to upbringing, poverty, and other things that an individual is born into and does not have control over, more or less. We often look towards the example of people throwing their lives away and say "see, don't be like them. criminalize drugs" without understanding that no one *wants* to throw their lives away over their drug addiction. It's an itch that they have to scratch, not a game that they want to play. Humans who have addictions are enslaved to that addiction, and breaking such an addiction takes time, rehabilitation, and support.

Criminalizing drug users and putting them in prison for possession or use of drugs only perpetuates this issue in communities where it is a prevalent issue. I can get into deeper systemic issues, but thats not the purpose of this thread. The point I'm trying to make is, drug users are not inherently evil. They're not bad people for having an addiction. They need treatment, not punishment.

I've written several research papers on this subject. This is just a lil bit of my $0.02.

Couldn't have said it better myself! We should have a restorative approach to a lot of things, including addiction, crime, stuff like that.

Also I hate to break to everyone but a good portion of people have an addiction of sorts, and it doesn't have to be drugs. It's anything you use to cope. Video games, TV shows, working out (its real believe me), pornography, self harm. We should be asking "why do they need to cope?" not "what are they coping with and how do we punish that?".

I'm a reasonably happy person, and would like to think I'm doing OK in my life journey and even still I had to say to myself... Wow, I really do have this addiction and it's not something that anyone has brought up to me because it's not like alcoholism. Doesn't mean it's not interfering with being my best self.