3 ms·

Why Everything We Thought About Drugs Was Wrong

5 points by rmason 5y ago

smolder 5y ago
Handing out clean needles or throwing people in a cell are both minimal-effort non-solutions to the problem of dangerous drug abuse. The thing "we" are wrong about and continue to be wrong about is assuming there's a way to fix the problem without an effort on the scale of the drug trade itself. Decriminalization and using light disincentives is great if you also work to take away peoples motivations for drug abuse or dealing, but that's just, IMO, a monumental effort that is unlikely to materialize with how fractured civil society is in the US. I see the root of the problem allowing the drug trade to thrive as indifference to the plights of other people, and indifference is a valid stance in a free society. We have to choose to work towards a rising tide that lifts all boats scenario, and we aren't choosing that.
- giantg2 5y ago
  "you also work to take away peoples motivations for drug abuse or dealing" I agree. I suspect that many of the socioeconomic factors linked to drug usage overlap with those linked to violence. It could be efficient to target those and tackle both issues with the same effort. I'm not sure what that would even look like since the policy makers tend to favor the easy or popular "fixes".
jbuhbjlnjbn 5y ago
There are much more plausible explanations, like the one Johann Hari gives: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PY9DcIMGxMs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PY9DcIMGxMs or in plenty more detail, in his book on the topic.
kaminar 5y ago
Take away the drugs, take away the problem for the next generation. The current addicts will suffer tho.
lookalike74 5y ago
>"...most of the people who die from tobacco and alcohol do so in old age, not instantly, like they do when they are poisoned or overdose." This view of alcohol and tobacco follows decades of social assumptions and is highly dubious. It's also suspect the author mentions 'housing first' initiatives as if they somehow correlate with failed harm prevention programs...

5 points by rmason 5y ago

Handing out clean needles or throwing people in a cell are both minimal-effort non-solutions to the problem of dangerous drug abuse. The thing "we" are wrong about and continue to be wrong about is assuming there's a way to fix the problem without an effort on the scale of the drug trade itself. Decriminalization and using light disincentives is great if you also work to take away peoples motivations for drug abuse or dealing, but that's just, IMO, a monumental effort that is unlikely to materialize with how fractured civil society is in the US. I see the root of the problem allowing the drug trade to thrive as indifference to the plights of other people, and indifference is a valid stance in a free society. We have to choose to work towards a rising tide that lifts all boats scenario, and we aren't choosing that.

giantg2 5y ago
"you also work to take away peoples motivations for drug abuse or dealing" I agree. I suspect that many of the socioeconomic factors linked to drug usage overlap with those linked to violence. It could be efficient to target those and tackle both issues with the same effort. I'm not sure what that would even look like since the policy makers tend to favor the easy or popular "fixes".

jbuhbjlnjbn 5y ago

There are much more plausible explanations, like the one Johann Hari gives: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PY9DcIMGxMs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PY9DcIMGxMs or in plenty more detail, in his book on the topic.

kaminar 5y ago

Take away the drugs, take away the problem for the next generation. The current addicts will suffer tho.

lookalike74 5y ago

>"...most of the people who die from tobacco and alcohol do so in old age, not instantly, like they do when they are poisoned or overdose." This view of alcohol and tobacco follows decades of social assumptions and is highly dubious. It's also suspect the author mentions 'housing first' initiatives as if they somehow correlate with failed harm prevention programs...