Hello board. I've always said the biggest harm reduction method we can have is abolishing the DEA. I don't say this lightly or arbitrarily but if you go all the way back to prohibition, they were the ones who put toxins in the precursors to deter people making "moonshining". Likewise, I suspect they are the ones dumping fentynal into the supplies to justify their "war on drugs". Forgive me if this has been mentioned before but it's been a source of contention for a long long time.
Luckily, I've only had one person in my sphere harmed by over use and they got into needles which is a huge NO NO. Other than that, we've been partying all of our lives and have seen it all. The most important thing is to test EVERYTHING especially E and M. I had one bad night a long time ago and went into a 5 day psychosis because I thought I was taking E and it turned out to be something else. Why? Again, because the DEA put the precurors on the watch list so labs starting using stuff that is higher in toxicity, has a lower od threshold, and mimics the effects of a weak dose.
So, the best thing to do is TEST! I cant stress this enough. Not only will it keep you safe but you'll also avoid those bad nights where you're "almost there".
Regeant tests are the best but I recently found out that you can buy regular drug testing cups from any pharmacy and put a little bit of whatever into some water. I just tested some E and it worked great, although the E came up with a bunch of "Breaking Bad" junk too (ugh).
And by abolishing the DEA we also have QUALITY CONTROL! That's so important and a factor that we've NEVER had. The manufacturing should be regulated and people should have resources available to help. In amsterdam, they encourage people to seek medical attention and there is no threat of punishment. They actually want to HELP people.
Of course, this is quite different than what they tried to do in Oregan by decriminalizing everything. While I don't believe anyone should be locked in a cage for a substance, the whole city of portland turned into Zombie land because they dumped a bunch of fentanyl into the streets. They knew damn well what they were doing and that's NOT the regulations that needed to be done. While I am opposed to regulation in any form, I see the value of it.
I was one of key people promoting recreational legalization in Colorado. While everyone was pushing for medical, a group of us were pushing for recreational and that turned out GREAT for everyone. In fact, underage use went DOWN because it was no longer a taboo. We should be able to go down to a smart shop and buy whatever we need for the weekend, know it's pure, and ultimately have someone on the other side of the counter who guides people in a RESPONSIBLE way rather than a blanket statement of "drugs are bad" and then kids find out they've been lied to about cannabis and before you know it, they're smoking crack and meth.
And think about it. Would we have a meth problem if MDMA was legal? Or even if people could buy adderal over the counter? I don't think so. Meth wasn't even a thing until they outlawed MDMA. '
OK that's enough of my rant. Sorry I went all over the place but as someone who has expanded my consciousness is so many different ways I can say that I've never been in trouble because I'm smart, I've never taken "too much" and had ill effects, but I also follow simple rules. TEST TEST TEST. I can't stress it enough.
I don't see an issue at all. You have clubs, raves, etc. where people have fun. It's expected. EMS is standing by. Everyone's looking out for one another. Oh yea, we had a place like that called 90's raves and guess what happened? Senator Joe Biden urged states to use the Crackhouse Law to go after rave promoters (a law that held people liable for running crackhouses).
Prices could be regulated too because of competition. When cannabis was first legalized, I was concerned about prices but soon prices became LESS EXPENSIVE than street prices. I used to get an ounce for like $400 and now I can get one for $150.
Mushrooms, Acid, E and M... I can see coming down to $5 a dose and with quality control, people will only need one or two doses. Nose candy in South America is as little as $3 a gram.
OK. And for all the DEA agents reading this, yea, I know the flip side. "Oh what about those irresponsible people". Sure, we have a country full of idiots. That's true. But why make responsible people suffer because of those idiots? If a crime is going to be committed, its committed whether a person is on something or not. Assault is assault. Rape is rape. Theft is theft. Wouldn't it be much more fulfilling (and honerable) to go after people who've hurt people instead of people who are just chilling, trying to have a good time?
Once again, I implore everyone reading to TEST their stuff. This fentanyl crap scares the crap out of me these days and I don't think it's the guy around the corner's fault. he doesn't want to kill his customers. He doesn't do his dilligence, gets some bad stuff, sells it to people and who put it in there? I bet 99 out of 100 times it's the DEA!
Rant over.
