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Aha moment
I was lying in bed waiting for my nose to clear so I cold go to sleep. I was reading a magazine and hit an article on drug addiction. Now, I've always known that the "War on Drugs" isn't working, and that it has really bad side effects like making drug dealing more profitable and encouraging passage of laws that infringe on our rights.
But suddenly I realized something. The whole concept is flawed in the first place. The people that the "War on Drugs" is *supposedly* going after take drugs for a reason. Essentially, they take them, or at least started to take them, because their lives *suck* to a greater or lesser extent.
Even if we could wave a magic wand and make it *impossible to misuse drugs and alcohol, all we'd be doing is causing them to find another way to reduce the suckiness of their lives. And I suspect that we'd like it even less.
The *real* solution is to make life worth living for these people. But that requires spending money on things like getting them real jobs,. decent housing and so on.
And neither the public nor the politicians are willing to come out in favor of that. Because it doesn't fit the prevailing ideology.
Damn.
But suddenly I realized something. The whole concept is flawed in the first place. The people that the "War on Drugs" is *supposedly* going after take drugs for a reason. Essentially, they take them, or at least started to take them, because their lives *suck* to a greater or lesser extent.
Even if we could wave a magic wand and make it *impossible to misuse drugs and alcohol, all we'd be doing is causing them to find another way to reduce the suckiness of their lives. And I suspect that we'd like it even less.
The *real* solution is to make life worth living for these people. But that requires spending money on things like getting them real jobs,. decent housing and so on.
And neither the public nor the politicians are willing to come out in favor of that. Because it doesn't fit the prevailing ideology.
Damn.
Not really.
There will *always* be miserable people in the world; some will be miserable for perfectly sane reasons -- broke, etc. -- which might be remedied if you could get them a job. Some will be miserable for reasons not so simply treated. Still, there will always be the miserable (or the stupid thrill-seekers). Right now, some take drugs for that reason. Others drink alcohol for that reason. Why don't we have vast criminal empires built on alcohol?
We did. During Prohibition and the War on Booze.
The War on Drugs is precisely the same thing. The ONLY reason that we have the problems with drug culture that we have today is that the drugs are ILLEGAL. Thus, you need to deal with crooks to get it, you need to be a crook to make it, and the risks make the entire thing ludicrously expensive. Do you think a block of cocaine would be worth thousands upon thousands of dollars if it were legal as booze? Nope. It's a plant product that if it were legal could be produced fast, cheap, and "good" for various values of good. Some other drugs are even easier to make. Instead of five, ten, twenty, a hundred bucks a hit, it'd be something like ten cents a hit. Or maybe even less.
The criminal empires would collapse overnight; who's gonna buy their no-quality-control street crap at 100x value when they can walk into Joe's Euphorium and buy a six-snort of Cocaine-Coca with guaranteed purity? (note that a large number of drug deaths stem from the fact that there IS no quality control, and that even if you are actually getting the drug you think, the purity can vary enough that the amount that gave you a buzz last week could put you in a coma this week.)
The government could regulate and tax it just like tobacco and alcohol, and the same laws applying to alcohol use could apply to various recreational drugs.
Note: this is from the point of view of someone who does not, has not, and will never take such substances, so I certainly have no personal interest in making the crap available legally.
Re: Not really.
And do note that most of the folks brought up on drug charges are the *users*.
That's the *real* reason that they won't legalize drugs. It'd mean giving up too many "useful" (to the wrong sort of people in police and government) powers and "handles" on people.
Just like the PATRIOT act and the rest of *that* mess.
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Politicians often show up at these schools during elections but once they get the vote you rarely see em again.
Just say "no" will never work in these areas because no is often all they hear.
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