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There was one post on Singapore and their success with mandatory death penalty for drug trafficking. I believe there was also a post on Portugal and their success with decriminalization.
I don't see your statistics. Are you asking for more restrictions on prescriptions? What exactly are you proposing we do other than what we are currently doing, because even as you have noticed, what we are doing is not working. What changes to our current system do you want to see? We already go after traffickers and dealers.
I, unfortunately, have had a lot of personal experience with addicts. I did not come to my opinion based on nothing. I've sat in many hospitals and rehab centers. I know the reality of recovery, and I've read the statistics. I've read the opinion pieces from doctors on both sides, I've done my research both for and against decriminalization. Have you actually read anything in support of decriminalization?
No one side has the monopoly of information and proof, otherwise this wouldn't be a debate. There is simply what has already been tried, and what has not been tried.
-Very tight restrictions on prescriptions..they still aren't that strict despite all the press because pharma companies have strong lobbies and still make a lot of money selling Oxy and hydro. Trust me..I know. They are not restricting prescriptions nearly enough. Let's try going back to pre 2000 levels at least, maybe, before opening up heroin stores?
- Treatment for current addicts
-sealing the border where most of the heroin comes from.
Go back 25 years before the pain pill epidemic..look at the number of OD's, and look at them now. When there was less access to opiates, you had fewer addicts and fewer deaths. That's where the "what we are currently doing isn't working.." is nonsense. What we are currently doing is barely different than what we did 10 years ago when this thing was blowing up.
The one size fits all approach you take with pot and alcohol and applying it to opiates is naïve and dangerous. The situation with what Perdue Pharma did with Oxy and where we are now is all the evidence you need for what would happen with complete legalization..you'd have a ton more addicts.... but again..for some reason that's too hard for people to handle when they want their weed I guess.
Those very tight restrictions on prescriptions are making the problem worse. Just legalize already.
It was chic with models and rock stars, not suburban kids to nearly the extent it is now.
It is making the problem worse for current addicts, but it is the only way to stop breeding so many addicts in the first place. The current ones need to be treated..or unfortunately they will die off. What we need now is to stop having 14 year old kids getting access to the stuff and it's precursors, which build the demand, in the first place.
Legalize all drugs.
The war on drugs has cost taxpayers a trillion dollars and drug use, addictied babies, and overdose are on the rise. The more the government tries to stop it the worse it gets.
We have more people in prison that are imprisoned throughout the world.
We can blame it on doctors, big phrama, pushers, etc., but the one responsible is the one who swallows the pill, snorts, smokes, or shoots.
I believe Einstein said, "insanity is repeating the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."
I think it's a lot less complicated than you're making it. The underlying issue is whether government has any right to tell us, "You cant imbibe that dangerous drug but you can go right ahead and imbibe this other dangerous drug." Alcohol related deaths together tally a whopping 88,000 deaths per year. More than 16 million people are living with serious illness caused by smoking or otherwise imbibing tobacco. About 1 in 30 will eventually die as a direct result, but all 16 million suffer to some degree or another for the rest of their lives. Why are tobacco and alcohol legal, but a long list of illicit drugs illegal? It doesn't make sense.
By every indication, Prohibition really did significantly reduce alcohol consumption in the USA. So why did we repeal it? Honestly, because the American people were sick of big brother telling them that they couldn't drink a beer if they wanted to. The American people were so keen for the government to stop protecting them from themselves, they repealed a Constitutional Amendment! The same issue exists with heroine, crack cocaine, cocaine, marijuana, LSD, PCP, crystal meth, X, etc. Just like alcohol and tobacco, these and hundreds of other illicit drugs are bad for you. The real question underlying it all: Is it the duty of government to protect citizens from themselves?
All indications are that if we legalized all elicit drugs and spend even 1/10th the money on treatment that we currently spend on the WOD and incarceration, we would do vastly more to mitigate and eliminate addiction and drug related deaths. I say legalize it and then regulate the crap out of with the goal of saving lives in mind.
You have to try to kill yourself with alcohol. A kid usually only drinks enough to kill themselves under tremendous peer pressure.
Far from the case with heroin. Experienced users die all the time. You'd end more lives making heroin legal than you'd save. First time users OD all the time also. 88K die from alcohol and it's legal and how much is consumed per capita?...1/4 of that many die from heroin OD's and it's illegal. It's much more dangerous.
It was chic with models and rock stars, not suburban kids to nearly the extent it is now.
It is making the problem worse for current addicts, but it is the only way to stop breeding so many addicts in the first place. The current ones need to be treated..or unfortunately they will die off. What we need now is to stop having 14 year old kids getting access to the stuff and it's precursors, which build the demand, in the first place.
That would mean exercising more responsible parenting, preferably in two parent families. Something I'm all for, btw.
14 year old kids don't have as much access to alcohol as they do to illicit drugs, or so it seems these days. Maybe because alcohol is legal and regulated?
You really don't think that models and rock stars influenced suburban kids?
-Very tight restrictions on prescriptions..they still aren't that strict despite all the press because pharma companies have strong lobbies and still make a lot of money selling Oxy and hydro. Trust me..I know. They are not restricting prescriptions nearly enough. Let's try going back to pre 2000 levels at least, maybe, before opening up heroin stores?
- Treatment for current addicts
-sealing the border where most of the heroin comes from.
Go back 25 years before the pain pill epidemic..look at the number of OD's, and look at them now. When there was less access to opiates, you had fewer addicts and fewer deaths. That's where the "what we are currently doing isn't working.." is nonsense. What we are currently doing is barely different than what we did 10 years ago when this thing was blowing up.
The one size fits all approach you take with pot and alcohol and applying it to opiates is naïve and dangerous. The situation with what Perdue Pharma did with Oxy and where we are now is all the evidence you need for what would happen with complete legalization..you'd have a ton more addicts.... but again..for some reason that's too hard for people to handle when they want their weed I guess.
I say legalize, but do so with caution. I would favor taking a very Amsterdam-like approach to the most dangerous drugs like angel dust, cocaine, heroine and crystal meth. Have specific parks or other locations designated for users to use and keep an eye on them. If somebody looks like they might OD, you're a lot more likely to catch it and save their life. It's a lot harder to save an OD victim's life when they live alone and they're unconscious on their bathroom floor.
Shift all the money we're wasting on the War on Drugs towards treatment and recovery programs. Instead of criminalizing the use of drugs, focus on helping people get off of them. And spend more of the money you've saved on helping RX addicts recover as well.
By the way, how do you propose to seal that borders on heroin? Afghanistan supplies 80 percent of the world’s opium, and thus, 80 percent of its heroin. Most of it is funnelled through Pakistan and makes its way into the USA from every conceivable direction. By air, by land and by sea. How do you propose to seal all of these things?
I say legalize, but do so with caution. I would favor taking a very Amsterdam-like approach to the most dangerous drugs like angel dust, cocaine, heroine and crystal meth. Have specific parks or other locations designated for users to use and keep an eye on them. If somebody looks like they might OD, you're a lot more likely to catch it and save their life. It's a lot harder to save an OD victim's life when they live alone and they're unconscious on their bathroom floor.
Shift all the money we're wasting on the War on Drugs towards treatment and recovery programs. Instead of criminalizing the use of drugs, focus on helping people get off of them. And spend more of the money you've saved on helping RX addicts recover as well.
By the way, how do you propose to seal that borders on heroin? Afghanistan supplies 80 percent of the world’s opium, and thus, 80 percent of its heroin. Most of it is funnelled through Pakistan and makes its way into the USA from every conceivable direction. By air, by land and by sea. How do you propose to seal all of these things?
Most of it is coming from Mexican cartels.
Bottom line is you cut down demand, less will come.
Demand is being driven in large part by pill addicts.
It's not rocket science. Heroin has made a big comeback because of pills.
Demand has been met by Mexican drug cartels.
Stop it from all sides and angles. First you start with the legal stuff where upwards of 80% of the addicts start off. There's too much supply. This is the pharma industry and their paid off government.
It will always be around, but there's no reason it can't be scaled back to where it was decades ago.
That would mean exercising more responsible parenting, preferably in two parent families. Something I'm all for, btw.
14 year old kids don't have as much access to alcohol as they do to illicit drugs, or so it seems these days. Maybe because alcohol is legal and regulated?
You really don't think that models and rock stars influenced suburban kids?
So it seems, to you.
You didn't have double digit od's in Plymouth Massachusetts during the heroin chic era, every year. I know it was on the news and MTV, but the reality is that it wasn't anywhere near the way it is now.
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You ignored the bulk of my post.
