Should meth be legal?

[Occulus]

36. It's only made in a "bathtub gin" way because of its prohibition.

As another poster pointed out (and I always bring this up in drug discussions because it usually radically changes the conversation), meth is already a Schedule II prescription drug, sold under the trade name Desoxyn. Yes, there are chemical reactions involved in its production, but people only use battery acid and other nasty crap because of the prohibition. As I pointed out above, the methods used because of the prohibition produce a product of dangerously variable quality.

Legalization (of any drug, not just meth) would provide a pathway to providing users with controlled, measured doses of a guaranteed purity, thus preventing overdose. That, in fact, is why the production methods, facilities, and quality control of legitimate pharmaceutical drugs (like Desoxyn!) are so strictly regulated by the FDA: to prevent overdose and adulteration.

It seems that what you're really against is ingesting any substance that requires chemical reaction to produce. The problem is that that's far too broad a prohibition to withstand serious scrutiny. By your definition, things like aspirin and the entire class of -cillin antibiotics (to name but two in a long, long list of examples) would have to be prohibited as well.

Further, purely chemical drugs aren't all "bad" in the least, if given in a controlled manner. Until about 1985 or so, MDMA was apparently regularly prescribed by clinical psychologists to couples receiving marriage counseling (and, apparently, it worked). When the rave crowd got hold of it, it was banned, because of course we simply can't have large groups of young people feeling an artificially-enhanced sense of empathy, acceptance, and openness, now, can we?

Recently, it has been found that the drug enhances personality traits associated with "openness"- a reduction of secretiveness, with oneself or with others, a greater awareness of people around the user as people (empathy), and so forth. Remarkably, the personality traits this drug enhances are all considered "positive" personality traits, and echoes of these effects have been seen to persist for up to a full year following one dose. Currently, MDMA is being used to treat PTSD in soldiers returning from war zones.

The more I learn about street drugs, drug policy, and how those policies and justifications for them relate to the legitimate pharmaceutical industry, the more I come to realize that we have been rather shamelessly lied to by our "betters" for several decades running, the angrier I get, and the more I want to see real, substantive change in relation to our national drug policy, in particular, prohibition in general.

We've been had, and it's become such pervasive "common wisdom" that many react defensively when the subject is brought up. The hypocrisy is right out there in plain sight, though, for all to see who are curious enough to dig past the bullshit and get to the actual facts.