Disclaimer: Dave left me, JeromeProphet, with the keys to his blog, so don't blame him if I crank the tunes a little high.
Speaking of high, I thought what better way to celebrate Dave's vacation, and my turn on his blog than drugs?
Disclaimer: I am not presently using any illegal drugs, nor do I advocate the use of illegal drugs. Children, please find other ways to amuse yourselves. Drugs are not the answer.
Having said that, I find myself having to ask if whether our society's attempt at eliminating drug use has created more harm than good. There doesn't appear to be any great reduction in overall drug use, although the type of drugs being used may have changed over the years.
In the meantime whole nations live under the constant threat of gang warfare due to the illegal trade in drugs. And in the United States a relatively large percentage of the population is imprisoned due to the illegal status of drugs. This doesn't even mention the even larger numbers of peoples out on bond, facing trial, on probation, or having to identify themselves on job applications as having been convicted of a crime due to the illegality of drugs.
Illegal drug use is a huge mess for society, and society can't afford to ignore it, but that doesn't imply society can solve the problem by continuing on the path it has employed for nearly one hundred years.
Most politicians eyes glaze over when asked, rarely, if they would favor decriminalizing drug use. They realize there simply isn't overwhelming support for changing approaches to this vexing social problem.
Yet, broad support doesn't imply that society is correctly addressing the problem.
Some argue in favor of decriminalizing drug use, and instead propose to approach the use of drugs as a medical problem. They argue that some European nations have discovered that the "medical" approach works better than the "criminal justice" approach. That not only does the medical approach seem to reduce rates of drug use, but it is less costly for the implementation of such a program. That instead of turning drug users into criminals, and spending huge amounts of money to imprison them we could instead be spending the money on anti-drug programs, and drug rehab programs.
Perhaps on a limited basis it might be worth a try?
2 comments:
Legalize drugs to take them out of the hands of criminals and to thin the overcrowded jails. Tax the sale, fund the clinics. It is logical. Plus, everything made by God has a purpose whether or not we've discovered it.
Morgan,
You see somehow that would be just a little too easy. It's far better to create a criminal element in society. That criminal element fuels gangs, which then feed upon each other, and the communities which the infect with crime, and fear.
It works so much better when the goal is to blame people for being poor. They're lazy, uneducated, and prone to crime. Let's move away from them, leave them behind, keep our children from going to school with their children. Avoid all social interaction, and give them the tough love in prison they deserve. We'll patrol their neighborhoods like an occupying force, so they'll be as frightened of us as they are to open their doors at night.
No, Morgan, when the goal is to divide, and pit one part of society against the other we simply need boogeymen, and what better than the war on drugs to provide us with the justification for creating, and sustaining a social order which feeds upon itself.
Legalizing drugs for adults would clear out the prisons, and jails of America. It would significantly reduce (almost eliminate) the flow of money into gangs - which would essentially eliminate the better organized, and more violent gangs.
It would help to restore order to the underclass which has been shaken the most by the influence of drugs, and gangs.
The revenue from the taxation on drugs could be used to provide anti-drug education programs, and rehabilitation programs.
Also, a blanket pardon of all those who had been convicted in the past of drug offenses would reinfranchise millions of potential voters.
Decriminalization of drugs would actually reinvigorate a respect for the police, and a desire to cooperate with the police in maintaining a less violent, more orderly society.
Yes, there would be problems, but those could be handled in a much more open, and rational fashion than is currently being carried out by the NEVER ENDING WAR ON DRUGS!
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