Thursday 3 March 2016

Should the law treat alcohol like other drugs such as heroin, yaa baa, cocaine and marijuana?

Source background
Dopamine is involved in
the brain's reward system.
In "Here's What Happens To Alcoholics’ Brains When They Quit Drinking," Ben Taub (2016) discusses recent research that helps us understand why the drug alcohol is so highly addictive. Taub says that scientists examined the brains of dead alcohol addicts and the brains of living rats that had been addicted to alcohol to see what the levels of dopamine were and how many receptors there were for this chemical in the brain that strongly affects our feelings of pleasure. According to Taub, the scientists that discovered new ways in which alcohol damages the dopamine system that contribute to psychological cravings that characterize alcohol addiction.

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My Yes/No question is:
Should the law treat alcohol like other drugs such as heroin, yaa baa, cocaine and marijuana??

My answer is:
Yes, alcohol dealing and use should be treated like the use and dealing of any other addictive drug. Current drug laws in many countries, including Australia and Thailand along with the US, the UK and many others, are irrational, immoral and unjust. We know that alcohol is a drug of addiction just like things such as heroin, cocaine, yaa baa and marijuana. The evidence shows that alcohol is at least as harmful both to the drug users and to society as many of the illegal drugs, so there is no good reason why alcohol should be treated differently. At the moment, these laws encourage people, especially young people who can think, to disrespect the law. Why, after all, would they respect something is is clearly unjust and against reason? Such laws, do not deserve respect. And this undermining of the law is bad for society.

Worse, current drug laws that criminalize personal decisions of adults to use drugs such as marijuana and yaa baa only worsen the harms that those drugs cause society. When popular recreational drugs are made illegal, people naturally still want them, which leads to more corruption, more crime and waste of police resources. Instead of investigating rape, murder and theft, police are wasting time and money chasing after decent adults who are harming no one when they normally use heroin, marijuana or other drugs. There are only two groups in Australian society, Thai society or any other society that benefit from laws that criminalize activities that many decent citizens want to enjoy: corrupt officials and mafia scum. I don't think it's sensible, or moral, to keep encouraging an actively supporting these two groups whilst actively harming many decent citizens by giving them and their children criminal records for no just reason.
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Reference
Taub, B. (2016, March 3). Here's What Happens To Alcoholics’ Brains When They Quit Drinking. IFL Science. Retrieved from http://www.iflscience.com/brain/what-happens-alcoholics-brains-when-they-quit-drinking

1 comment:

  1. Yes, I support the similar law for alcohol. Your abovementioned reasons and opinions are quite clear and difficult to deny. From my objective viewpoint, not in favor of alcohol or non-alcohol drinkers, I suppose that it is not fair for other drugs like cocaine, heroin and stuff like that because alcohol is regarded as a drug that makes people addicted and causes a chain of serious physical, mental and related problems to themselves and others. It might be noted that its drawbacks considerably outweigh its benefits.

    However, if the law were coming soon, I would say alcohol lovers and many companies associated with alcohol beverage strongly oppose. But, I don’t understand that as having known already that alcohol leads to several widespread disadvantages, they are still pleasant to drink and do their business. Why don’t they care about their long-term health and other possible trouble?

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