Are 'Legal Drugs' as Dangerous as Illegal?

by SodaHead News Posted 2012/06/14 20:00:00

Related Topics: benzo fury, Drugs, k2, Marijuana, Cigarettes, Music, Pot, Military, Teens, Smoke, Market, Teen

1,302 votes
Read all 1,019 opinions
Lightning Report View Results and Demographics + View Demographics

Loading Demographics... Click an icon to see demographic results Display unknown and private
	Yes	1,138 votes	87%
	No	164 votes	13%

Just because a substance is legal, that doesn't mean it's safe. With new substances hitting the market on a regular basis, it's impossible for authorities and experts to keep track of them, meaning there's very little reliable information available. A while back, a handful of teens were hospitalized after taking synthetic marijuana -- cause enough for concern. But this weekend a 20-year-old man died after taking a substance called Benzo Fury at a Scotland music festival.

David Liddell, director of Scottish Drugs Forum, said in a statement, "Benzo Fury is a so-called legal high -- or New Psychoactive Drug -- which appears to have a similar effect to Ecstasy. It's one of the new legal highs developed to get around the banning of similar compounds ... As it's not been around for long there is little information on long-term effects and as with all these drugs, there's no knowing what's actually in them. The names are just to market them and may bear no relation to what's in them." Do you think these "legal drugs" are just as dangerous as the illegal ones?

+50

Add a comment above

Magnus ☮ RP ☮ 2012 ☮ 2012/06/14 23:39:01 (edited)

Yes

+17
Legal drugs kill more people than all of the illegal ones combined - apart from, of course, Cannabis that in and of itself has never killed anyone, and yet which is illegal... makes sense.

EDIT... PROOF: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/0...

>> See Replies

More polls by SodaHead News

meg to Denny 2012/06/15 15:45:57

Well now kids are doing something with bath salts, do you know how difficult they are to find now? In decent scents for people who actually use them properly.

reply
Denny to meg 2012/06/15 18:48:51

I just started reading about the results. Is this the actual Bath salts like you would get at Bath & Body or just the name??? Yep you got me that's pretty stupid.

reply
meg to Denny 2012/06/16 02:16:20

+1
Same bath salts just regular bath salts you use to soak with.

reply
Denny to meg 2012/06/16 02:26:13

That's amazing. I'm so glad I'm paying for our education system.

reply
meg to Denny 2012/06/16 02:30:46

+1
Some of us actually learn stuff or try to.

reply
Inquisi... to Denny 2012/06/16 23:21:55

+1
No, it's research chemicals... it just looks like bath salts. But, they use legal research chemicals and sell them as "bath salts", so they're, technically, a legal high. It's really scary... there are a lot of legal recreational drugs and many of them are just as dangerous (and even more dangerous, in some cases) as drugs like PCP or crack.

reply
ehrhornp to Denny 2012/06/14 23:13:19

+1
http://www.wellnessresources....

That is because they already died. lol

reply
Inquisi... to Denny 2012/06/16 23:17:21

Umm... that was likely bath salts, which are the kinds of legal drugs this question is talking about... it's not about pharmaceutical drugs.

reply
Pixie·MzAwesome♠ƤĦĂĔŢ♠ 2012/06/14 22:48:29

Yes

+1
they are more dangerous I mean look at Bath Salts!

reply
Kei_Jo 2012/06/14 22:46:48

Yes

For the likes of America, yes, but Ireland (where I am) has different laws and are usually stricter on medications. For example, I know you can just buy, over-the-counter, an asthma inhaler in Spain, while in Ireland, a prescription is needed.

reply
ilikewater to Kei_Jo 2012/06/14 23:18:39

What do you need a prescription for in Ireland that you don't in the US? Just curious as I personally don't know.

reply
Kei_Jo to ilikewater 2012/06/14 23:26:14

Yeah, for some things, not all things. The likes of hayfever/cold/flu medications are over-the-counter.

reply
relic to Kei_Jo 2012/06/14 23:26:50

Ireland :: Spain = Ireland :: United States.
How exactly does that equate?

reply
Kei_Jo to relic 2012/06/14 23:27:23

Was giving examples of countries outside of Ireland and comparing.

reply
lee 2012/06/14 22:46:01

Yes

+1
and if you are talking about new "designer" drugs like "bath salts", they are FAR MORE dangerous the legal drugs because they have never been tested or approved by ANYONE and the ppl making them have no motive beyond selling them for huge profit without becoming criminals in doing so.

stick to the drugs nature made, not some chemistry loser out for quick money.

reply
Doreen 2012/06/14 22:44:24

Yes

Actually they are more dangerous. They do not do a complete test on what harm they can do and the doctors hand them out like candy sometimes without really looking at what else you are taking and end up doing a serious or deadly mix. You see new wonderful drugs in commercials and then two years later you see law office commercials helping people sue because the drug had not been tested properly and just handed out. Legal pharmaceutical drugs have more chemicals in them than any of the illegal street drugs.

reply
will 2012/06/14 22:35:49

Yes

+3
Anything can be dangerous if misused

reply
Tinka123 2012/06/14 22:33:40

Yes

+3
Actually no, they're worse. The legal drugs are often worse than illegal drugs. I have lost so many friends to prescription medication. The laws against illegal drugs destroy more lives than the drugs themselves.

In 2007 a study conducted on over 150k cadavers in FL found that prescription medications kill 300% more Americans than ALL illegal narcotics COMBINED. Not a one of those deaths was pot related. If saving lives is our goal, we need to seriously reevaluate what we're actually doing policy wise.

reply
joe mauro to Tinka123 2012/06/15 01:55:25

+2
bravo please tell gov rick scott of florida that!

reply
Tinka123 to joe mauro 2012/06/15 02:29:45

+1
Thanks. Oh, I know - I lived in FL for several years. Mostly as a teenager. We've got real problems on the horizon with teens and prescription medication, we have that opportunity to do something about it now and we're failing miserably. We're the only country in the world that ostracizes, rather than educating those addicted to drugs. Very dangerous business there.

reply
Platinum Fangs 2012/06/14 22:30:33 (edited)

No

If you take too much of anything, it will end up badly, esp. drugs. Look at Alcohol. Its a drug, but you take too much and you end up beating your wife and kids and slaughtering people on the highway. People wern't intelligent enough to accept an outright ban on the substance, so we all have to settle with being responsible, just like all other substances.

But Illegal drugs are just that for a reason, cause a little bit will hurt and even kill you. taking a bottle of ibuprofen or aspirin wont ruin you life like one injection of heroin or one snort of crack.

Unless it's weed. You'll die from smoke inhalation before you ever OD on that stuff.

reply
LOU 2012/06/14 22:29:29

Yes

Conservatives love their legal drugs.

reply
joe mauro to LOU 2012/06/15 01:55:56

+1
well said

reply
LOU to joe mauro 2012/06/15 10:18:26

+1
You should take a trip to Utah and sit down to eat dinner with wealthy Mormons and listen to them when they talk about their perscription medicine.

reply
Barefoot Peace and Love∞ijm... 2012/06/14 22:26:15

Yes

+1
If not used properly yes...... they could be!

reply
Tinka123 to Barefoo... 2012/06/14 22:37:46

Even when used correctly, legal drugs can kill you. Many 'pain management' doctors routinely prescribe lethal cocktails of drugs that are known to have the potential to kill when combined, yet so many continue to prescribe them together.

reply
Barefoo... to Tinka123 2012/06/14 22:42:59

+1
I agree.... totally......!!

reply
Tinka123 to Barefoo... 2012/06/14 22:49:49

+1
Sad part is, it's usually teenagers that die from those drugs. And I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that they are legal, easily obtained - and thus people, particularly teens, grossly underestimate their capacity to kill. Really dangerous situation we'll see in the not so distant future with that, 'cause teens are moving away from the illegal stuff and towards the legal srcipts because they're so easy to access.

reply
Barefoo... to Tinka123 2012/06/14 22:52:09

+1
I know that's right..... I have been to the doctor and had an allergic reactions to what they gave me...drove myself there with my eyes almost swollen shut.... I don't take anything ..... except maybe Ibuprofen sometimes.....!!

reply
Tinka123 to Barefoo... 2012/06/14 23:00:45

Oh jeez, that's crazy. Just goes to show - they're fallible like the rest of us.

reply
Barefoo... to Tinka123 2012/06/14 23:10:11

+1
but of course!

reply
imsmarter 2012/06/14 22:25:25

Yes

+2
duh.

reply
Patric 2012/06/14 22:25:05

Yes

+1
morphine is dangerous regardless if legal or illegal..

oxycodine some how becomes safe if it is legal ????

reply
joe mauro to Patric 2012/06/15 01:56:22

+1
roxycodine is far worse

reply
Patric to joe mauro 2012/06/15 13:27:32

one is bad, one is worse, pick you poison...

reply
mankatt 2012/06/14 22:23:31

Yes

are you kidding - just as dangerous - but - given that they are also synthetic - you build up a toxicity in your body from the chemicals - so even WORSE!

reply
Diana 2012/06/14 22:21:38

No

No,illegal drugs Idiots take them and don't give a dam.Legal drugs the doctor gives you.
You report the side effects .If you have any.The doctor will either cut down on the dosage
or replace it with something else.You are under a doctors care.Illegal drugs,You are the idiot taking care of yourself.

reply
mankatt to Diana 2012/06/14 22:25:27

+2
I think they meant - is abusing legal drugs just as bad as abusing illegal ones -

reply
Diana to mankatt 2012/06/14 22:29:41

Abusing anything is bad.If you love live you don't abuse drugs.

reply
Little ... to Diana 2012/06/14 22:27:10

+1
A Doctor is not going to be of any help when they give you something
that will kill you. I have made 3 trips to the ER because of medications
that made my blood pressure crash. Luckily I lived close to the hospital.

reply