end the failed "war on drugs"

[Racer X]

I say tax the drugs. Then every drug user not paying sales tax, and every pusher not collecting tax, is commiting a federal crime. Then form road work crews.

[OWC Jamie]

That will empty out the prisons.
(unless they live with the commoners under overpasses)

[davester]

Before you can reasonably ban drugs, it is necessary for you to define what exactly is a drug and what is not (I maintain that the US has failed completely in this regard if you throw cigarettes and alcohol into the mix. Then you have to explain what it is about the drug that is detrimental to society and why the drug has no positive attributes (FYI my mother relied on medicinal marijuana during her struggle against terminal lung cancer...it is the only drug that worked). After that, you need to make sure that the punishments for using the drugs are commensurate with the damage they do to society (whoa!! cigarettes are in the lead on this one. Are they illegal yet, or do they enjoy government subsidies? Personally, I think it is absolutely clear that the "war on drugs" is simply a self-perpetuating scheme to keep large segments of the corporate society flush. Try to think past that haze of moral prejudice that you have been endowed with by years of government brainwashing. Try to prioritize drugs by their real negative and positive effects. You will find that there is zero relationship between their effects and their prohibition.

[freeradical]

davester wrote:
After that, you need to make sure that the punishments for using the drugs are commensurate with the damage they do to society (whoa!! cigarettes are in the lead on this one.

No way - tobacco use does not destroy someone's productivity at work, break up marriages, or cause people to steal to support their habit.

[laarree]

freeradical wrote:
[quote=davester]
After that, you need to make sure that the punishments for using the drugs are commensurate with the damage they do to society (whoa!! cigarettes are in the lead on this one.

No way - tobacco use does not destroy someone's productivity at work, break up marriages, or cause people to steal to support their habit.
Tobacco can cause a person to take multiple breaks from work during the work day, and that arguably diminishes productivity. It can also be at very least a source of conflict in relationships. Tobacco products are almost universally available and affordable (if less so than years ago), so one would have to make an extreme effort to support their use of tobacco in an illegal fashion. It is also arguable that if someone is addicted to a criminalized substance whose use is held in contempt by society, and whose price and availability is unpredictable and at the mercy of people operating outside the boundaries of the law, they will be more inclined to think, "WTF" and slip into a life of crime to satisfy their needs.

[davester]

freeradical wrote:
[quote=davester]
After that, you need to make sure that the punishments for using the drugs are commensurate with the damage they do to society (whoa!! cigarettes are in the lead on this one.

No way - tobacco use does not destroy someone's productivity at work, break up marriages, or cause people to steal to support their habit.
The cost of the extensive medical treatment needed for tobacco-related diseases and the loss of workers due to the disabilities and early deaths of the people with those diseases is an incredible burden on our economic system. Those costs are passed on to everyone else through increased insurance rates and taxes. There is no doubt that tobacco is very damaging to our society.

[NeverMind]

davester wrote:
Dakota is wrong so consistently (approaching 100%) that I'm starting to believe that he deliberately posts constant falsehoods because he thinks that will stir people up (rather than laugh at him which is what really happens). Think about it...is it possible for a human to be unintentionally wrong that large a percentage of the time? Funny thing is, whenever someone points out his errors, his usual reaction is to call that person names. Weird.

Sure, if that person is 15 and thinks they know a lot about the world.