Drugs: A moral decision, a matter of choice, or a national health risk?

[jesus_wept]

I don't think prohibition works, or has ever worked, so we should legalise drugs for our own consumption, lock up the dealers to take the market out the hands of ruthless criminals, treat users if they need or want help, regulate the drugs to make sure people are buying and taking what they paid for and generally leave people alone to do what they want, as long as they're not harming anyone else.

[The Grand Nudger]

Most of what I have encountered personally (although that means jack shit in the over all scheme of things) is junkies ripping people off to pay for their habit.

-and there are plenty of junkies ripping people off to pay for their eating habit, their housing habit, their electricity habit (and at least a few that are ripping people off for no discernible reason...their needs are met, they're wealthy beyond all description)........

Meth is an amusing animal - it's one of the easiest drugs to manufacture - and you can get the materials dirt cheap just about anywhere - ammonia, methanol and a dehydrating agent (iirc). If it were well regulated and legitimate as a business then it would be difficult to see it costing much more than aspirin sans whatever obscene taxes we might put on it in order to dissuade users (not that doing so actually works, but that's a whole different can of worms). Sure, people steal aspirin and the money to buy aspirin - but again, people steal food as well. So, here's a suggestion. All of the money we spend on our drug war can be diverted to funding college educations, vocational programs, and public works that enhance our national infrastructure while providing employment. Something tells me that there would be less theft in the world if there was less poverty and more opportunity- even if there wouldn't be fewer "junkies". I say that because the residents of affluent neighborhoods manage to fund their much more expensive addictions without rummaging through each others townhouses on a daily basis.

-but it's just a suggestion.

[ShaMan]

I need to do some research before I add any more here...

[The Grand Nudger]

The most recent data (2013) I can find states that the average tuition fee for a 4 year degree program at a public, in state college is $8,893.

During that same period, the requested level of funding for the war on drugs was $25.6 billion (and this ignores other funds from other sources that either directly or indirectly get used for the same purpose or to support that machinery of that war).

That's nearly 2.9 million chunks of tuition. For perspective - that's a number larger than the -population totals- of 17 of our states individually, a hell of alot of people. It's also a larger number than the populations of all but 17 of the nations cities. Coming from St. Pete - (which makes that list, and is the cutoff for our numbers)....it would be as though every single person "8- 80, blind crippled or crazy"...as the saying goes.... in the city I grew up in was shipped off to college on the states dime. It's also roughly equivalent to 10% of the number of students enrolled in colleges nationwide. A hell of alot of college students, specifically.

Granted, not every penny in the war on drugs is wasted - but surely a portion of that money might be diverted and thusly better spent. Any number bridging the gap between 0 and 2.9 million is likely to make -some- difference. This is just one possible avenue for spending that money, obviously. I know that you're not standing up for the war on drugs explicitly Cap - don;t want you to get the idea that this is a direct rebuttal to anything you mentioned, it's not (and I suspect that we share at least some common opinions on that count). I just wanted to quantify what we were discussing for the peanut gallery.

[KUSA]

All medicinal plants should be legal. Any plant that helps a person or community achieve a measure of balance, health, and healing, and is offered in its natural state, should remain available for people to choose for themselves whether or not it is beneficial to consume.

I think this is a sensible viewpoint and I agree wholeheartedly with it.

As to the war on drugs and the criminalization of drug use is concerned I have to cry foul.

It is a fact that legalizing drugs reduces it's usage. Here is one example.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/201...e_vignette

The government incarcerating people for getting high is unthinkable to me. Robbing someone of a portion of their life for a non violent act such as this is reprehensible.

[The Grand Nudger]

The government isn't actually doing much of the incarcerating of late. Our prisons are becoming a for profit enterprise - government is simply acting as a willing accomplice and facilitator (and you probably don't have to wonder very hard to determine what said organizations spend their lobbying dollars on). It may seem unthinkable to you - but it's incredibly lucrative for those that run the prisons. When you approach it from that angle it doesn't even register as surprising - even if it does come off as disappointing.

[KUSA]

I don't agree with that either. There shouldn't be a profit made for locking a person up.

[The Grand Nudger]

Something that's always tickled me. In states that have legalized (or decriminalized) MJ - what portion of residents still incarcerated are being held on charges of possession or intent to distribute? There's a few pennies to be saved while setting lives back in front of those we've wronged, I'd imagine (though I doubt that those parties farming them for cash are going to relinquish their livestock without a fight).

[LastPoet]

I had my fill with drugs some years ago. Never did meth though, that came after i stopped. Nevertheless, i worked to support my heroin habit and never harmed anyone per se. I still linger on how good it made me feel sometimes, nightmares included.

I think choosing the harsh reality to face has a positive value.

[Jackalope]

Something that's always tickled me. In states that have legalized (or decriminalized) MJ - what portion of residents still incarcerated are being held on charges of possession or intent to distribute? There's a few pennies to be saved while setting lives back in front of those we've wronged, I'd imagine.

As far as I am aware, in Washington, no sentences were altered. I am aware that the DA of King County (and probably others) stopped prosecuting existing possession cases when the ballot measure passed (though nobody got their dope back).

However, simple possession of small amounts of reefer was not a serious offense here to begin with - its not like WA was locking up a bunch of dopeheads to begin with. This ain't Kentucky, son. :p