7 ms·

The drug war has failed. Legalize all drugs and tax them. Spend the tax money on rehab, schools, and public universities. We are just propping up drug lords in

The drug war has failed. Legalize all drugs and tax them. Spend the tax money on rehab, schools, and public universities. We are just propping up drug lords in Latin America to feed our insatiable demand for drugs.

DanBC 9y ago
Many of the opioid addicts in the US are people who got legal meds through irresponsible prescribing. Legal opioids have caused massive addiction, and massive harm. The drug war clearly isn't working, and all drugs should be legalised, but we need to recognise that legal drugs will cause harm.
- klibertp 9y ago
  > that legal drugs will cause harm. The GP specifically said to "tax them and spend the money on rehab and education", so I assume he did recognize this.
  - DanBC 9y ago
    That approach doesn't seem to have worked so well for alcohol.
    - noer 9y ago
      The tax revenue isn't spent on rehab though
    - refurb 9y ago
      Compared to what? During prohibition? I'd say things are much better now than then.
    - klibertp 9y ago
      I'm not sure. From what I've read it worked quite well in Scandinavian countries. For example, Norway, while consuming approximately the same amount of alcohol (with a slight upwards tendency, but with spirits usage going down in favor of wine), has had 20 years of non-stop reduction of deaths related to alcohol usage from 1980-2001 (http://www.who.int/substance_abuse/publications/en/norway.pdf http://www.who.int/substance_abuse/publications/en/norway.pd...). That, to an outsider like me, suggests that they have something that works, although I don't know exactly what it is.
- kdelano 9y ago
  Agreed - I've seen friends prescribed opiates by doctors when clearly they were in need of mental support as well (therapy, life coaching, etc). I'm not sure how to overcome the fact that most people do not want to admit they need help or are not able to recognize it.
meddlepal 9y ago
How does legalizing fix or reduce addictions? I understand it makes acquisition less taboo, and perhaps makes treatment a less taboo subject too, but it's not like legalization is a pancea for addiction. Booze is legal and we still have a massive alcoholism problem.
- jacquesm 9y ago
  It doesn't but neither does criminalizing fix or reduce addictions. Addictions are a health problem and quite possibly a mental issue but rarely a criminal problem.
- mmjaa 9y ago
  Legalization doesn't fix addiction. It fixes the sub-culture, the underground, the dark layers in society where addicts lurk in order to be able to continue their addiction. Legalization brings these people into society, by removing the stigma associated with drug use, and makes it less of a problem to be swept under the rug. It makes it easier to contact addicts and get them into effective treatment programs. Right now, there is a huge wall between addicts and treatment: that wall is an entirely fictitious legal construct.
  - AOsborn 9y ago
    Well put.
  - pm90 9y ago
    Just to add one more thing to this excellent comment: legalization also makes it much easier to undertake scientific studies/research of the effect of (currently) illicit drugs, which might actually help us understand them better. e.g. we know very well exactly how much alcohol is considered "safe" or causing least damage; but we still don't know about the long term effects of e.g. MJ.
    - kogepathic 9y ago
      > legalization also makes it much easier to undertake scientific studies/research of the effect of (currently) illicit drugs Isn't this already possible in other countries? I would have thought this would already be possible in Portugal. [0] [0] http://content.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1893946,00.html http://content.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1893946,0...
draw_down 9y ago
OK, but we also need to fix this problem. It's an epidemic.
jostmey 9y ago
But the Heroin addiction crisis is the result of a legal drug trade--the prescription of Opioids.

DanBC 9y ago

Many of the opioid addicts in the US are people who got legal meds through irresponsible prescribing. Legal opioids have caused massive addiction, and massive harm. The drug war clearly isn't working, and all drugs should be legalised, but we need to recognise that legal drugs will cause harm.

klibertp 9y ago
> that legal drugs will cause harm. The GP specifically said to "tax them and spend the money on rehab and education", so I assume he did recognize this.
- DanBC 9y ago
  That approach doesn't seem to have worked so well for alcohol.
  - noer 9y ago
    The tax revenue isn't spent on rehab though
  - refurb 9y ago
    Compared to what? During prohibition? I'd say things are much better now than then.
  - klibertp 9y ago
    I'm not sure. From what I've read it worked quite well in Scandinavian countries. For example, Norway, while consuming approximately the same amount of alcohol (with a slight upwards tendency, but with spirits usage going down in favor of wine), has had 20 years of non-stop reduction of deaths related to alcohol usage from 1980-2001 (http://www.who.int/substance_abuse/publications/en/norway.pdf http://www.who.int/substance_abuse/publications/en/norway.pd...). That, to an outsider like me, suggests that they have something that works, although I don't know exactly what it is.
kdelano 9y ago
Agreed - I've seen friends prescribed opiates by doctors when clearly they were in need of mental support as well (therapy, life coaching, etc). I'm not sure how to overcome the fact that most people do not want to admit they need help or are not able to recognize it.

meddlepal 9y ago

How does legalizing fix or reduce addictions? I understand it makes acquisition less taboo, and perhaps makes treatment a less taboo subject too, but it's not like legalization is a pancea for addiction. Booze is legal and we still have a massive alcoholism problem.

jacquesm 9y ago
It doesn't but neither does criminalizing fix or reduce addictions. Addictions are a health problem and quite possibly a mental issue but rarely a criminal problem.
mmjaa 9y ago
Legalization doesn't fix addiction. It fixes the sub-culture, the underground, the dark layers in society where addicts lurk in order to be able to continue their addiction. Legalization brings these people into society, by removing the stigma associated with drug use, and makes it less of a problem to be swept under the rug. It makes it easier to contact addicts and get them into effective treatment programs. Right now, there is a huge wall between addicts and treatment: that wall is an entirely fictitious legal construct.
- AOsborn 9y ago
  Well put.
- pm90 9y ago
  Just to add one more thing to this excellent comment: legalization also makes it much easier to undertake scientific studies/research of the effect of (currently) illicit drugs, which might actually help us understand them better. e.g. we know very well exactly how much alcohol is considered "safe" or causing least damage; but we still don't know about the long term effects of e.g. MJ.
  - kogepathic 9y ago
    > legalization also makes it much easier to undertake scientific studies/research of the effect of (currently) illicit drugs Isn't this already possible in other countries? I would have thought this would already be possible in Portugal. [0] [0] http://content.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1893946,00.html http://content.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1893946,0...

draw_down 9y ago

OK, but we also need to fix this problem. It's an epidemic.

jostmey 9y ago

But the Heroin addiction crisis is the result of a legal drug trade--the prescription of Opioids.