Could cocaine and khat be legalized in another 50 years?

[5280]

Could cocaine and khat be legalized in another 50 years? What are the benefits of legalized cocaine and khat, what are the drawbacks?

[Mr. Reactionary]

Khat is pretty low-demand for drugs; if you want to chew a plant for stimulant purposes we have tobacco already available. But in terms of harm to society they're a lot better than Heroin or meth, so maybe. Only real issue is how addictive Cocaine can be.

[5280]

Would low doses of cocaine make society more productive, like coffee?

[Mike Thick]

Would low doses of cocaine make society more productive, like coffee?

That's an interesting idea, although I'm inclined to disagree. Here's a breakdown of the differences between caffeine and cocaine that you may find interesting.

http://guestlist.net/article/6640/caffeine-vs-cocaine

Even if it isn't a great plan, the image of a cocaine dispenser in an office break room is hilarious.

[angus]

Would low doses of cocaine make society more productive, like coffee?

That was the thought in the late 1800s when black dock workers in New Orleans were given cocaine.  The practice quickly extended to plantation owners as well.  I think it only lasted for a couple of decades.  By 1914 the New York Times featured articles claiming that negro rape of white women and other horrible crimes and uncivilized acts committed by negroes in the south was due to their use of cocaine.  This of course led to many sheriff departments increasing the caliber of their handguns fro .32 to .38 to bring down the scary cocaine-crazed negroes. 

Not sure if any real data exists from that period, but a number of peer-reviewed studies have shown that well-rested students who take cocaine before an exam perform, on average, better than their well-rested peers who do not take cocaine before the exam.  Even more interesting, a 2013 study from Wake Forest showed that when rhesus monkeys were given cocaine for three weeks, then cut off completely, after a few days of painful withdrawal shock and delerium, they became 25% more efficient at simple tasks, on average, than rhesus monkeys who were never given cocaine.

Not sure about khat.  I've only ever encountered it in National Geographic articles. 

[Simfan34]

Large(r)-scale Somali immigration?

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

bit of a weird duo, no?

[DavidB.]

Khat has just been outlawed in the Netherlands.

[Maxwell]

I hope dhog will be legal soon, too

I'm going to jump off a cliff now.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Possible, but not likely.  Certainly not if drug legalization takes place only on a drug by drug basis.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Perhaps not 50 years. Still, we can't entirely dismiss the possibility that within a century or so the entire Western world will have turned into an amoral libertarian dystopia - in which case legal cocaine will be the least of our problems.

[World politics is up Schmitt creek]

Perhaps not 50 years. Still, we can't entirely dismiss the possibility that within a century or so the entire Western world will have turned into an amoral libertarian dystopia - in which case legal cocaine will be the least of our problems.

Ever read Snow Crash?

[Antonio the Sixth]

Perhaps not 50 years. Still, we can't entirely dismiss the possibility that within a century or so the entire Western world will have turned into an amoral libertarian dystopia - in which case legal cocaine will be the least of our problems.

Ever read Snow Crash?

No, but it sounds like a lot of fun. The mere fact that it features a corporation created from the merger of the CIA and the Library of Congress clearly makes it worth reading!

What I had in mind was slightly more grounded, along the lines of this essay, but the general idea is there.

[they don't love you like i love you]

LOL@Tony.

Don't you actually oppose legalize even MARIJUANA?

[Torie]

Cocaine is a very, very bad drug. Over time, it causes brain damage. No. I have no idea about the other drug. I have never heard of it.

[Clark Kent]

What is "khat"?


Regardless, they should stay illegal, and I don't think that'll change.

[angus]

What is "khat"?

The flower of paradise, or so say the Yemeni and the Somali.

It's a little shrub that grows in East Africa and parts of Arabia, and its twigs and leaves are eaten, chewed, and sometimes smoked.  During Ramadan it is used to relieve fatigue and hunger brought on by fasting.  It has an active ingredient called cathinone, which is a central nervous stimulant and a keto-substituted amphetamine, geminal to the amino substituent.  The World Health Organization calls it addictive, and of course blames it for civil strife in affected areas.  Kinda like the cocaine was blamed for all those negro dockworkers running around molesting white women and robbing the general store.  (They probably forgot that the criollo spaniards had already decided 300 years prior that inferiority of the subspecies was the real cause.)   

I've not sampled it, but I don't really think it's a problem.  I suppose you probably shouldn't try to drive a car or operate heavy machinery after a consuming a bowl of bushman tea, but I'm not sold on the philosophy that we should try to control its use.

[Antonio the Sixth]

LOL@Tony.

Don't you actually oppose legalize even MARIJUANA?

I'm fine with personal consumption and (obviously) medical use. I don't think it should be sold for profit. For the record, I'd say the same about cigarettes.

[they don't love you like i love you]

LOL@Tony.

Don't you actually oppose legalize even MARIJUANA?

I'm fine with personal consumption and (obviously) medical use. I don't think it should be sold for profit. For the record, I'd say the same about cigarettes.

So basically you want it to be legal to buy and use but have the only way to buy it via an illegal black market?

[Virginiá]

LOL@Tony.

Don't you actually oppose legalize even MARIJUANA?

I'm fine with personal consumption and (obviously) medical use. I don't think it should be sold for profit. For the record, I'd say the same about cigarettes.

So basically you want it to be legal to buy and use but have the only way to buy it via an illegal black market?

This is quite possibly the worst way to go about legalization. It would cause the power/profitability of gangs and cartels to explode.

[Cory]

Cocaine is a very, very bad drug. Over time, it causes brain damage. No. I have no idea about the other drug. I have never heard of it.

If used in relative moderation it's fine. Just don't be a moron and you should be fine.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

Khat actually is a decent cash crop for impverished areas, which makes it a pretty bad blow to criminalise it.

Also, our government has just randomly decided to ban, like everything, from poppers to laughing gas. Ugh.

[World politics is up Schmitt creek]

LOL@Tony.

Don't you actually oppose legalize even MARIJUANA?

I'm fine with personal consumption and (obviously) medical use. I don't think it should be sold for profit. For the record, I'd say the same about cigarettes.

So basically you want it to be legal to buy and use but have the only way to buy it via an illegal black market?

Yeah, Antonio, this...this isn't a sensible position.

[TheDeadFlagBlues]

No?

I think that there's a non-negligible possibility that MDMA, LSD and psilocybin mushrooms will be legalized, along with powerful new synthetic nootropic-type drugs that induce happiness but not euphoria along with increased cognitive capacity.

Psychedelic drugs and empathogens actually have a lot of value to society. I realize that this makes me sound like a crank or an idiot but there have been a number of studies indicating that MDMA has value in treating patients with PTSD and that it has a lot of value for therapeutic reasons. The same goes for "magic mushrooms" and LSD with regards to therapy. In general, these drugs are not fully understood but I imagine that, MDMA in particular, could become a mainstay of later 21st Century and 22nd Century society in terms of common social rituals and the like.

Like it or not, many drugs are here to stay in society, the question is which ones will have staying power and which ones will be discarded; drugs are too potent, too exhilarating to be disposed of and no war and no social controls can stop people from using them in some form or fashion. It's pretty taboo to say this, of course, but I don't see what's so terrible about the notion of people imbibing something on occasions that makes them feel pleasant or euphoric or whatever; that's, you know, our society's experience with alcohol, which has a lot of terrible consequences. It would, in the end, be a good thing if we substituted some drugs for binge drinking, I think.

[TheDeadFlagBlues]

Khat actually is a decent cash crop for impverished areas, which makes it a pretty bad blow to criminalise it.

Also, our government has just randomly decided to ban, like everything, from poppers to laughing gas. Ugh.

laughing gas is a great example of a drug that should be legal and easy to purchase.