nexalizer said:
legalized: explicitely legal
decriminalized: to remove criminal/legal penalties
illegal: not legal / criminalized
Is meditation (for instance): legal, illegal, or decriminalized?
Of course, it is none of the above, there is simply no mention of it in the laws.
This, I believe, would be the ideal state for psychedelics, though explicit legalization does bring some proeminent advantages (mainly quality assurance)
nexalizer,
I like this view a lot; this is actually something I have considered before (having no mention of a particular thing in the lawbooks). However there are possible problems that arise...
If there is no mention, then any type of drug could be sold in a gas station/convenience store. People of any age, background, felony status, etc. are able to purchase things at the gas station (except for cigarettes, lighters, and alcohol which are generally prohibited by law for underage people). As much as we might like to think that the guy behind the counter won't sell something like LSD or MXE or what have you to a small child, it will happen in some places where the owner doesn't care and is just looking to make a buck.
While something as tame as marijuana should be totally allowed for anyone (maybe restrictions for people 14 and younger or something of that sort), LSD has the ability to severely destroy someone's ego for long periods of time. If the person does not know what they are in for this could be very dangerous.
I suppose one could make the argument "Well people who use psychedelics will use them regardless of legality" but I find that to be a fallacy. There are many rule-followers around who are only against certain things because of either the laws surrounding them or the cultural acceptance (and generally legality reflects a certain level of social acceptance). When I was clearly a weed smoking teenager, my father was only concerned with the fact that it was illegal - he was looking out for my safety in a tough society. He encouraged the consciousness-expanding and relaxing aspects.
Classic psychedelics pose such a problem because of the possible extremes faced by users. There is a chance for complete and total enlightenment and fulfillment, but also arguably on something like LSD or mushrooms you could lose your mind and go running naked through the neighborhood, potentially inflicting self-harm or inadvertently harming others or their property.
So what do we do? Outlaw it altogether and pray that the problems of our world will go away (which clearly hasn't worked)? Legalize them completely and accept the downsides? Take all mention of them out of the lawbooks and allow drug markets to run wild?
Personally I think the best option, but maybe the hardest to implement, would be to only allow people 18 or older who have taken a special certification course to purchase psychedelics of their choosing. I say this is the hardest because designing the class, teaching it properly, and implementing this around the country would be extremely difficult. But informing people about all of the potential risks and rewards before they delve into such a deep and potentially life-altering adventure would be very helpful.
You could teach people the importance of trip sitters at extremely high doses. Also things like "how to reverse a bad trip" and "what drugs might do to your mind and ego" could be mentioned. Once someone passes the class and gets the certification they can purchase psychs from specially designated stores.
This would be so hard to implement and would require a previously unseen degree of social acceptance, but one day I think this will be the solution. This is very similar to what people in the US have to undergo to get a CPL license for concealed carrying of a pistol.
People should most likely be certified to handle such powerful things.