JNickel101 said:
I think a better solution would be to firebomb all the drug "fields" in south america, to include the kingpin's house....and yes, drug dealers belong on "my prison island"...
sorry, i have no tolerance for drugs and/or their abusers....
Believe me, I'm no fan of pushers or abusers. However, I posit my idea of decriminalisation under "What we're doing isn't working, so let's try something else." Criminalisation of drugs is probably what's gotten us in the mess we're in now. A couple of other models:
In Egypt, the hookas in the street cafes were loaded with a mild hashish. No trouble.
In Turkey, domestically-produced drugs are perfectly legal. It's a capital offence to
import dope, but if it's made there it's no trouble. No noticeable drug issues there.
In Amsterdam,
everything's legal. Not that big a problem there, either.
Face it - while there are known psychological, physiological, and psychomotor effects from the use of narcotic drugs, the principal problem has been the crimes associated with trying to "score a fix." This is because the prices are so high.
That is done to maximise return on investment, cover associated legal expenses, and to allow one to operate for as little time as possible when working under the eyes of the law. If drugs are decriminalised, prices will drop and the street crimes should resolve themselves in short order.
Also, once they're decriminalised, they can also be taxed. The revenue generated (as I said, I'm no fan of taxation. However, it's a large part of life now...) can be put into education and rehabilitation, and we can work on the drug problem at its source, funded
by its source, without placing a massive drain on the economy. You think prisons are helping? Dream on...
The source of the problem is, of course, demand. Some people have an addictive personality - and they'll get hooked on pretty much anything. The trick is to identify that sort of personality.
Educate people to let them know that dope may make you feel good, but coming down makes you feel worse than you did before you go up. That's part of why people try to stay high all the time - so they don't come down and feel worse.
Is there legitimate use for narcotics? Sure - that's how they got started in their purified form anyhow. Dentists and EENTs use cocaine as a topical surgical anesthetic. Morphine (derived from opium. In turn, I think heroin was derived from morphine) was - and is - used in post-surgical and post-traumatic pain management in the short term. And, a good number of synthetic narcotic painkillers are attempting to duplicate the function of morphine without the addictive side effect (or to reduce it, and allow longer-term use.)
Cannabis is used to manage pressure in the eyeball in severe cases of glaucoma, THC is extracted and administered to stimulate appetite in chemotherapy patience, and THC (in whatever form) can also be used to manage chronic pain (which, believe me, hurts. I've got enough of it myself, but weed is illegal, and likely to remain so. So, I just deal with it - but I find it tiring. Surgical intervention is unlikely to help.)
The main problem that has lead to narcotic drugs has been one of purification - as we tried to make them stronger (to minimise dosing,) the effects became more pronounced. Then, they went underground. Since narcotics can be extracted from natural sources using simple chemical methods, we're not likely to get rid of them (meth is an exception - methamphetamine can be extracted from pseudoephedrine, which is why you can't get good sinus medication over the counter anymore.)
Should Dealer McDope be cast out? Certainly - he capitalises on suffering. If drugs are decriminalised, the potency can also be controlled (reduced) - which will reduce the "coming down" effects, and help to reduce addiction. The common strength can be agreeably low, and lower "steps" provided for those who need to wean themselves off of whatever they're taking. Providing "low-concentration" narcotics will probably still result in an underground for "the good stuff," but we can counter that by making dealing in drugs underground a capital offense, since it's easy enough to get something otherwise. Waste a few of these guys, and people might start thinking twice about dealing.
Also, negotiate treaties that will allow us to hunt down and kill "drug lords" that continue to try to import dope into the States - again, it's easy enough to get something useful, but let's adopt a variation of the Turkish model. Grow it here, get it here, use it here. Bring it in the country and we'll waste you. Have mules bring it in - we'll waste them and find you and waste you as well.
Make sense?
