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Now do we shoot drug addicts?..nope...but I'm in favor of forced rehab....get straight or face a life picking corn in the hot sun....
Put them in striped suits, and chains! We could call it a 'chain gang.' At last, some sensible answers! When we catch the smart guys snorting cocaine, drive them out to work the fields.
May be better than locking hundreds of thousands in jail....... cheaper for sure.
Yeah....and while we are at it let's legalize all crimes. That way we will have nothing to arrest anyone for. We can empty the prisons! Save all of that money for something else!!!!
Yeah....and while we are at it let's legalize all crimes. That way we will have nothing to arrest anyone for. We can empty the prisons! Save all of that money for something else!!!!
It costs about $25,000 a year to jail people in US prisons...... well over 2 million people jailed, many for drug offences. I believe there is money to be saved. Jail should be for folks who are a danger to others, not themselves. In Britain, a more realistic attitude is slowly dawning on the authorities. Drug use is not going to go away. We have to legalize, tax, and try to control their use in adults, help those who ask for it, and keep them away from children.
I think many taxpayers in America would like to see less people in jail for drug use. Do you think jails should keep being built? For how many prisoners? 3 million? 4 million? When does it end?
Is anyone still actually advocating that ALL drugs in all forms be universally legal?
Is anyone taking them seriously?
Despite the OP's poorly phrased topic Q blather about instituting OTHER forms of
regulation and control... the basic point is still quite valid.
Very simply:
Re-Medicalize the synthesized pharmaceuticals and return their control and distribution
to the doctors and pharmacists who would monitor quality, dosages and all the rest.
If the idiots who use these poisons wish to wallow in it... let them.
If they might seek to engage in some counseling to get off them... offer it.
Whatever it might take to the black market, criminality and terrorist funding out of the picture.
Re-legalize the natural state substances which should be legal by default.
Then stop confusing those who might engage at this level now and then with narcotics addicts.
The Chinese back in the mid to late 1800's were faced with a huge drug abuse problem..the guy hired to fix it...said "get straight or we will kill you"...it worked...
Then again, after the Communists took over China in 1949 eliminated all or pretty much all drug abuse...forced rehab or a bullet....it worked...
Now do we shoot drug addicts?..nope...but I'm in favor of forced rehab....get straight or face a life picking corn in the hot sun....
And meet our newest crop of addicts: seniors addicted to pain medication from pharmacies!
I work in a LTC facility, there's no end to it, on a given shift, from this senior crowd: Where's my pain pill?
And most of them aren't even in pain! They're addicted! Drug addiction knows no age!
Here is the current run-downs for those unclear of the hypocrisy of drug wars, health paranoias and prohibitions:
Beer and wine are alright examples of proper alcoholic intake if done in moderation and in social circles, but over-indulgence makes one act foolishly, dangerously and seem unable to accept pressure sensibly. Drinking alone is tantamount to anti-social behavior and could mark one as a terrorist in the near future.
Thus drinking alcohol is fine if one can control it and partake of it in acceptable social venues/situations.
Tobacco is pure evil but marijuana is a beneficial tool that releases stress, creativity and eases critical analysis to the point of causing giggling fits quickly forgotten after the effect wears off. Marijuana can also be heavily taxed and makes unlicensed street vendors look dated and sketchy.
Thus, marijuana should be legal, tobacco illegal if only because it stinks.
Street drugs are untaxed, made by whomever under who knows what conditions that profits dirty people who wear baggy clothes or those who disguise themselves as rap moguls or rock stars but prescription pills are clean, made by virtuous corporations safely in regulated plants and prescribed by Doctors Feelgood, who are trained and registered health professionals that understand corporate profit margins and personal kickbacks. Plus, the state or individual health plans pays for a goodly amount of prescriptions and on the business end everyone has good hygiene and wears respectable clothing with minimal jewelry. Prescriptions are also legal, usually.
Thus street drugs are evil but prescription pills are necessary to keep society mentally stable and endurable.
Extreme prosperity w/o ethics is a grand thing celebrated by all with a basic understanding of civilization but base poverty is always there by default, so it is deemed to be vulgar and seen as the eternal stain worn by the barbaric.
Thus greed is good and poverty a sign of personal failure due to environment/genetics not being up to snuff.
Now problems will arise if you want to mess with the incarceration/rehabilitation/criminal records industry as there is so much profit involved in so many ways to so many people on so many levels and no one wants to have an ex-con make their cheeseburgers or clean their toilets really, preferring those types be imprisoned for years and/or given a small subsidy from the government to stay out of the way until they are re-incarcerated or death, advanced age or debilitation withdraws them from the equation. Never forget that whether it is a capitalist or communist society, all people must be good for something if they exist, simply as they are there. So be it if it should be an endless loop of work-commute-shop-consume-sleep or endless days rotting in a cage or dying in the street from persecution or disgust, in an endless rinse and repeat cycle, day-after-day. People must contribute something in any way they can!
If a society had a culture that was level-headed and understood human desires, all drugs could be legalized and very few would end up so broken. But that would be a society akin to having heaven on earth... So make as much money as you can while taking whatever form of dope you can and try to stay above the pettiness of control freaks or those under too much influence of whatever, be it drugs or high-mindedness.
I'm in favour of killing those, who would make people do forced labour to make their perfect society.
Anyone who wants me to pick corn, for smoking a joint, better be prepared to die for their belief.
Well, you are late to that party....our legal system has been tossing people into jail for years and use these people for forced labor too....
At the end of the day..what is better? A numb, drugged out society that just stays high with little regard for their actions?..end up in the emergency room or dead from an overdose....not adding to society but working to destroy it....every society has it's limits and there is little if any good encouraging people to self-destruct...
It costs about $25,000 a year to jail people in US prisons...... well over 2 million people jailed, many for drug offences. I believe there is money to be saved. Jail should be for folks who are a danger to others, not themselves. In Britain, a more realistic attitude is slowly dawning on the authorities. Drug use is not going to go away. We have to legalize, tax, and try to control their use in adults, help those who ask for it, and keep them away from children.
I think many taxpayers in America would like to see less people in jail for drug use. Do you think jails should keep being built? For how many prisoners? 3 million? 4 million? When does it end?
What does crime and criminal activity cost society? 25k to lock someone up?....that's a good investment that saves ten times that......look at crime ridden cities across America...people have fled the cities decades ago because of crime....what does that cost? All those private security firms people hire to protect their homes...what does that cost?..what is the cost to the economy?...money that could be invested in education, industry, etc...all tossed into preventing or catching criminals....
What does crime and criminal activity cost society? 25k to lock someone up?....that's a good investment that saves ten times that......look at crime ridden cities across America...people have fled the cities decades ago because of crime....what does that cost? All those private security firms people hire to protect their homes...what does that cost?..what is the cost to the economy?...money that could be invested in education, industry, etc...all tossed into preventing or catching criminals....
Sure, $25,000 is cheap to lock up a dangerous, or career criminal. But a lot of people in jail for drug use, or supply, would not be dangerous criminals. We need to take drug supply out of the hands of criminals. Surely, we can't keeping jailing people like this for what is mainly damaging themselves, not others.
I personally have no interest in illegal drugs, and never have. When I was growing up in the 60s, it wasn't like it is now. I was born in 1953, and when I was going to night clubs in the 70s, there was no sign of drugs other than alcohol. I am told times are very different now.
If illegal drug use could be stamped out, I would agree to the authorities doing so. They have tried for many years and failed miserably. Illegal drugs are freely available to anyone who wants them. This after many years of expensive work trying to stop it. Vast sums have been spent, that in my opinion could have been spent more wisely by cooler heads.
Some call it admitting defeat..... I wouldn't argue with that. If anyone here has a realistic idea for stopping illegal drug use, well, come on down! I'm listening. I am seeing things as they are, and not how I would like them to be. We have to try by legalization of illegal drugs, to control, educate, and hopefully by saving the money we spent now on law enforcement, and raising taxes, have the money to help addicts come off drugs. Plus supply them cheaply enough so we don't have folks hurt by addicts trying to raise funds.
If I thought the general population would suddenly decide heroin, crack, and meth is legal, so would go out to try it, I would never argue for legalization. I don't believe this would happen. I think most people stupid enough to use these things do so already. Most people are intelligent enough, and educated in these drugs enough, to avoid them like the plague. For the ones who do use these drugs, I have no real sympathy, beyond wanting to ensure they don't hurt others in their addiction, and desperation to raise funds for their drugs. In fact, I would ensure top quality heroin was supplied to them. Real good stuff. We could go round with a hand cart collecting the bodies for all I care. We will always have stupid people, it shouldn't be my taxes giving them an expensive, comfy, cell.
The only illegal drug I excuse from the above is weed. It is a plant just like tobacco is, and should never have been banned in the first place. I say this as a lifetime non smoker!!
IMHO - We should legalize, regulate quality and sell the stuff in government stores like booze in New Hampshire. The use some of the profits to lower state taxes and use the rest to set up rehab clinics for those that want to stop using the more addictive substances.
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When we catch the smart guys snorting cocaine, drive them out to work the fields. 
