They need to stay illegal. We need to implement higher penalties for drug abusers. A slap in the hands is not enough. There needs to be better ways to insure that people getting assistance from the state of social security are not mishandling these funds.

I have a knee-jerk opinion and a shoe-on-the-other-foot-opinion. Mine was the pilot generation for the D.A.R.E. program. For some it worked, for some it encouraged because it made them curious and the videos were of “cool kids”, which didn’t help us impressionable adolescences. One thing I’m trying to understand more is addiction. Some people have addictive personalities. Doctors and pharmaceutical companies know this and create & prescribe the drugs anyway. Marijuana is considered a drug, yet studies show that it helps addiction from alcohol and other drugs. At the end of the day, if you have a family to raise and your own livelihood to worry about, you don’t do drugs. Period. That would be stupid.

If you have an addictive personality and don’t have the capacity to control yourself, then it would be immoral. If you don’t have those traits, it would be amoral.

Addictive drugs should be illegal to manufacture. By anyone. One of the test the FDA needs to conduct is if a drug is habit forming. If it is found to be habit forming it should be denied access to the market and its manufacture should be illegal. The pharmaceutical companies should not get a slap on the wrist. Someone should be held responsible in these companies. With all the revelations about how opioids were pushed onto the public without much care for the long term effects someone should be sent to prison. Or many people. Simple fines in amounts that these companies make in a matter of weeks is not enough. Take some executive out of his penthouse and put him in a prison cell. Do this enough and it will stop. The opioid epidemic is the single largest drug problem this country has faced. And the responsibility rests solely on the pharmaceutical and medical industry. They unleashed it on the populace. And while I will not go so far as to say they knew what the outcome would be and did it anyway. But surely they did not do enough research or allow enough research to be done to prevent it either.
Lets say the baby food industry came out with a new preservative that made the shelf life of baby food last longer and it was cheaper than what is currently available. And after a few years of use babies start going blind. Would we blame the babies or hold the manufacturers responsible. We all know the answer to that. ………..yet in the opioid epidemic we blame the end user. It is a travesty of justice.
In my youth I had to get my wisdom teeth pulled while in the service. I was given one 800 mg motrin after the procedure, that was it. Fast forward two decades when a dentist tried to give me a script for 5 Vicodin after fairly routine dental work. I was astounded. fast forward to today and I know for a fact how we got into this situation and who we first need to hold accountable. And its not the high school athlete that was needlessly prescribed an opioid and now has an addiction problem, he/she should get help. The doctor and pharmaceutical executive should be behind bars.

I agree with what Kevin stated. If someone has an addictive personality disorder, they technically should not have access to any addictive drugs either legal or illegal. It would be immoral on their part to use these substances. However, that is a hard battle to fight as many people who have this disorder will doctor shop and look for the medications where they can find them. Any sense of morals is pretty much thrown out the window. I know in the State of Connecticut that practitioners do have access to a database to see what medications any of their questionable patients have filled so they know which direction to take when it comes to treating said patient.
I feel it is immoral to put the burden of caring for an addicted person into the hands of a caregiver, most likely a family member. Many families are torn apart due to the actions of the user, and many family members become an enabler to the user to try and keep peace in their family. Unfortunately, this is too common nowadays. In my opinion, I feel that many drug abusers are relying too heavily on the EMT to save them since they started carrying Narcan with them. I think maybe some abusers feel that they can have as much as they want and that they will be able to be saved if they do overdose.

Make everything legal, just with some serious warning labels 🙂 We should stop treating drug addiction as a crime, and provide support for those who get addicted. People are going to do drugs regardless of legality, so lets educate the masses instead of instilling fear. Making things illegal does not prevent use, it just creates a dangerous situation for the people who will end up trying them. Put responsibility back on the individual and not on the government to tell us what is right or wrong for anyone.

Vice, whether it is drugs, gambling, sloth, or any other, isn’t immoral, but it has consequences. People won’t want to hang around you. However, I should not have to pay to incarcerate people that haven’t learned this.

are addictive drugs immoral?
Yes, weather used or abused, as we are morally responsible to take care of our bodies, for family sake, society’s sake and even more so in God’s eyes .
Is not taking care of yourself or pulling your weight for any reason and putting your care on others, immoral?
Yes, for the same reasons as above.
Should addictive drugs be illegal?
The US most likely spends billions of dollars a year fighting drugs, and has for the last 40 and more yrs, without a dent in the problem. It is hard to imagine making them illegal, and most already are, would make any difference. I believe it has to start in the family, schools and churches. The government is not very good about handling social problems.
Would it be better to make them legal and control distribution and tax the heck out of them, like cigarettes. and use the money to help prevent and to treat addiction. We would save the billions spent on fighting drugs and receive a billion to help prevent and treat addiction.
I can’t imagine in God’s eyes legalization is right. and morally, I do not believe in legalization.
But I can’t imagine what the right answer is.

It is my belief that this should largely be up to the individual for the lower risk part of the spectrum. Each of us can decide and choose our own goals and desired lifestyle. Then based on that we can make a wise choice about what to do and not do in order to achieve those goals. As for the ones you define as high risk, I think they need to be regulated – particularly the opiates. At some point the individual right to choose has to be balanced with the potential societal cost of the substances. I don’t know exactly where that is, but for me my personal goals are focused enough that I pretty much stick to coffee and the occasional beer or glass of wine.

I’m not an expert either, but what I find interesting is the usage of drugs around the world. The mind-altering drugs have been used for ancient rituals and healing (to this day) have a certain purpose because they open different parts of the brain. Obviously when taking these drugs you’re not going to drive a car, run errands, or even sit and have a normal conversation with someone else. The people that I have known to go to South America to go on their “journey” used the substances in a controlled environment, not to party or get high. In my opinion, that’s A-okay. Chemical drugs that are meant to get you “high” are absolutely disgusting and have taken too many lives. I think when you abuse anything in life-coffee, alcohol, food, etc. the effects are going to be nasty. Check out this TED Talk. I saw it last year and found it very interesting: http://www.thefader.com/2015/04/21/this-banned-ted-talk-on-ayahuasca-is-mind-altering

In my opinion, the line depends on the person and the situation. Some people tend to have an addictive personality, and others do not. Most things in moderation tend to have no long term impact. Some people can’t control themselves and are of the mindset that if a little is good, more must be better. I think this is too individual of a subject and can’t be answered or solved in broad terms or absolutes.

All drugs should be legal. Therefore, monitored and controlled. Being much safer for all sides. The drug companies won’t allow it, though. Their form of heroin and amphetamines generates too much money.

I just read a scientific report about the affects of Alcohol on society. Alcohol does the most damage in our society bar none.

We need to get away from outlawing or prohibiting substances that people clearly demand and will use no matter what. Then figure out a way to educate and regulate. Do people need safe spaces or materials to use them? Take drugs/alcohol out of the dark and be honest of the dangers. We need to do the best we can to limit the damage to families and society, but some individuals will be more inclined to destroy themselves and if we can bring it out of the dark, we can do more to help them.

Like mom said “Honesty is the best policy”

The line that our company is mind and physical impairment drugs are not permitted. Our staff is aware that we will test after any incident. A tool was broken, somebody else’s vehicle ran into one of our vehicles, somebody got hurt on your crew ( the whole crew gets tested), A tree branch scratches the paint on one of the company vehicles because of a tight driveway. These are all incidences that need to be reported and will require drug testing.

We should lead by example, does anyone have kids? What kind of society do/would you want your kids to grow up in?

Yes and I wish we were taught from a young age, collectively, to think this way! The news wouldn’t be the business it is today without the bad news. That’s what people want to hear–the bad stuff. The worse the news, the better the ratings. The news lost my business.

Spot on!

It’s what you do, when no one is watching that counts. Larry mentioned this little powerful statement at SOE….it really got me thinking. Good morning CT!

Yes it is! That is me!
Some days I don’t jump as high as I used to do but I am always at my happiest point when I start the day.

I agree that all young people should see this. Follow your passion and success will follow.

I agree with Patricia and John.

*Thats…

Well said, wasting the ‘middle of the day’; my strong guess is they’re not entrepreneurs. I also like not passing judgment, it is what it is. Thanks for sharing the observation!

Miss Flip!

And in between Wisdom and Virtue lies willpower. You need willpower to clear a path for Virtue to work.

I try to remember just to smile lightly before i engage with people. Makes a huge difference vs when i dont.

Everyone should read “Think and Grow Rich” I would make it mandatory reading in high schools. If you make a conscious effort to live by the principals in this book not only will your life improve but so will those closest to you!

Thanks for the reminder Larry

weaknesses???
Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.
I always think those who pass judgement are weak.