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If these drugs were legal, and priced high enough to make the purchase a hard choice, but low enough to cut out all the profit from illegally produced drugs, I think we would see a spike in use, but it would level off after all the junkies overdose. For sure, it would put an end to the Mexican gang wars, and would end the massive imprisonment of drug users.
Why would you price them higher? From a political standpoint, having high-priced drugs is as bad as prohibition, just "legal" prohibition. You'd still have the same problem now, people committing crimes to get their next fix. One of the benefits of legalization is lower prices. But we'll get to this in a second.
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If we took the money we are now paying to keep all those people locked up and used it for treatment programs and drug courts, our costs would steadily diminish instead of steadily going up. And the spike in increased use will end all the sooner.
We will always have drug users, just as we will always have alcoholics. The only difference now is drunks don't need to commit crimes to pay for their habit, but dopers do. Improve the quality and lower the legal price, and the crimes will lessen. Put the degenerate dopers in jail when they endanger others, just like we now do with the chronic drunks, and start giving both treatment, not more warehousing.
I don't think anyone here would disagree that drug use can be a problem. But until we start treating drug use as a medical problem and not a criminal problem, we're always going to have criminals. There is nothing wrong with recreational use of any substance--alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, cocaine, even PCP for all that it is worth. It's a problem when it literally becomes problematic for a person to function as a responsible adult in society. That's what abuse is. You can drink every day of your life, and as long as it doesn't interfere with you being a socially responsible adult, you aren't abusing alcohol. But when you can't function, then it's a problem.
But this society treats it as a criminal problem instead of a medical one. That's what needs to stop.
Cigarettes are remarkably expensive, but it doesn't stop people from purchasing them. A modest tax that doesn't make drugs absurdly expensive would be more than enough to pay for rehabilitation.
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I'm all for making drugs legal, but restricted. Junkies should never be able to buy their drugs over the counter freely.
Why not?
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They need to register and they need to pay a price that is uncomfortable, both for their addiction and their recovery.
Hardly. Part of freedom is dealing with the consequences of your actions. We can seek and encourage rehabilitation, and if abusive users are a danger to themselves or others, we can legally mandate rehabilitation. But this sex-predator-esque registration and diseaseification of users? Unacceptable.
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drugs and rehabilitation programs have to go hand in hand.
Agreed. But we can't force rehabilitation until people become a literal threat to oneself or others.
MASSIVE use or public opinion that it should be legal.
It took a majority of Americans breaking the law to overturn prohibition. Well that and Roosevelt enjoyed his liquor. So maybe a stoner President would help.
I don't care if its legal, as long as its decriminalized. Way to many people in jail for non violent drug offences. Many of the violent offenders became that way while in prison for....
Non violent drug offences.
50% of Americans now favor legalization of marijuana. But they are pooled into specific areas mainly. There are large regions of the country where marijuana use is looked down upon still. But its shrinking.
I've seen some of the work quality, done by someone on drugs (including weed), and I don't even want one of them changing my dog's flee collar.
Then you must not want to deal with people who drink either? Look I get that there are idiots who go to work stoned! It's stupidity, but toking a little on your down time after work when your day is done, is in no way shape or form going to effect your work performance.
The solution has always been to go after the casual drug users. Just turn loose the private sector and the profit motive against the casual drug users. The problem will quickly go away.
I've seen some of the work quality, done by someone on drugs (including weed), and I don't even want one of them changing my dog's flee collar.
Then you must not listen to music, buy any art, or have watched any movies. In the creative fields, drug use is wide spread and has been since the beginning of time.
I read just this morning that George Soros was one of the earliest speakers against the War on Drugs. I wonder if he thinks the American will can be destroyed with getting more drugs into the hands of the people. I will be watching who posts these war on drugs posts from now on to see possible supporters of Soros and what he wants for us.
Hahaha, seriously? You do realize that there are plenty of billionaire types on the right who cancel him out. Notice all that money in Republican SuperPAC's? I really feel sad for people who spend their lives worrying about conspiracy theories.
Quite often, their lives would have been better if they had spent more time studying and at the library than worrying about conspiracies.
I guess Ron Paul must be a Soros follower by your logic. He wants us out of the war on drugs and obviously he's a plant by Soros sent in to break the American spirit.
Well roy, I support small government, and ending the nanny state BS in this country, and not having the government or anyone else telling people what they can and cannot consume!
Me too! ALL drugs should be legal. It's not a valid government role to tell us how to live our lives.
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