Our ability to contribute to others by providing something of value, so that we may be paid and use that value to support ourselves and our families require the use of our brains, and often our bodies which are operated by our brains.
If our brain function is negatively impacted by drugs, then we can’t contribute well. This means we can’t hold a job. This means we must be taken care of by others, lest we be left to die in the street (or under a bridge). Not long ago, perhaps 150 years, we would die if we couldn’t take care of ourselves.
Of course, those that are on addictive drugs (both prescription and street varieties), cannot stop easily; the drug has control of their brains, and they can think of little else.
So, continuing our discussion on drugs which I encourage you to be a part of, comment by telling us, are addictive drugs immoral? Is not taking care of yourself or pulling your weight for any reason and putting your care on others, immoral? Should addictive drugs be illegal?
What do you do if the drugs are needed to treat depression?
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 don’t think they should be against the law… As our lifespan increases, so does the potential that a percentage of us will be living with pain. Regulations are a proper response.
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.
It’s a fine line on legal or not. We pay a lot of taxes so drug dealers, pimps and bookies can live tax free. Legalizing heroin, cocaine, and prescription drugs could be dangerous and cost tax payers and peoples lives
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.
I believe that drug addiction should be treated as a psychological/ health issue as opposed to a legal issue. America has 5% of the world population and 25% of the world prison population mostly from the war on drugs…… at great costs to us the tax payers. Meanwhile in places like the Netherlands and Portugal, their prisons, judges, policemen, prosecutors, defense attorneys and all of the the support are empty and unused because they have treated this problem as a mental/physical health problem with astounding success. Interdiction has never worked and soon will be impossible with newer technologies that can for instance fly a pre programed drone 60 miles under radar and deliver a 100 lb package at almost no cost….. or a dolphin sized drone underwater. The only way to defeat the drug lords is to cut them out of the picture.
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.
*Correction* my generation was not the first for the D.A.R.E. program. My apologies.
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.
Anything that is used improperly can kill. Guns, cars, alcohol, sharp objects- the list goes on. Often, “addictive drugs” are the only thing that gives some relief in end stage disease. Making them illegal would cause much pain and suffering to many who would use them legitimately. Preventing misuse and illegal access to addictive drugs is where we must focus our attention and resources.
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.
So many of us experience this with family members and friends and see the destructive results. The epidemic is scary looking at nationwide and worldwide.
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.
Addiction is a disease whether it is to drugs; alcohol; gambling., etc., and having a disease isn’t immoral. The twelve step program for AA works for 25 of every 26 who want to get help and works for all addictions. Once an addict; always an addict. Working the program one day at a time, practicing recovery works! All the laws in the world will not prevent addiction. One has to want to help themselves out learn to live with their disease.
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.