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And yet, not as bad as criminalizing it. It turns out that when you threaten people with prison for drugs, sometimes they shoot at cops. And sometimes, when sh

And yet, not as bad as criminalizing it. It turns out that when you threaten people with prison for drugs, sometimes they shoot at cops. And sometimes, when shooting at cops, they accidentally hit bystanders. And when you tell heroin users they can't scrub toilets for minimum wage, despite your inability to detect that they use heroin without a piss test, they steal copper wiring out of empty houses and otherwise generally make a nuisance of themselves. And the people who make these drugs, make the absolute worst possible version of them, like, does anyone believe that if the typical drugs (heroin, cocaine, meth, pot, lsd) were legal that you'd have jackasses huffing gasoline and paint and whatnot?

empath-nirvana 3y ago
In a lot of ways "decriminalizing" drug use is worse than fully legalizing it or arguably worse than keeping drug use illegal, because the people _selling_ it are still technically criminals, and decriminalizing basically just increases demand and sends more money flowing into criminal organizations. They'd be better off just fully legalizing it and regulating it.
- NoMoreNicksLeft 3y ago
  I've upvoted you. I completely agree. Decrim is worse than either, and for the reasons you say. Please keep in mind that legalization alone doesn't fix everything, we must also ban piss tests for all occupations where it isn't critical.
FredPret 3y ago
The nuisance drug users become is due to the fact that they are high and operating on damaged hardware. No matter how pure, hard drug abuse is in itself the problem.
- NoMoreNicksLeft 3y ago
  I don't disagree that drug use isn't a problem. But when the junkie buys his heroin at the liquor store, he's not sending billions of dollars out of the country for cartels so they can buy weapons to murder people with. Drug use isn't *the* problem, it's just *a* problem, and a tiny one compared to prohibition. When there's a crackhouse in your neighborhood, that's because no one can buy this at the liquor store.
  - FredPret 3y ago
    But whether there's a crackhouse, or a liquor store in my neighbourhood that sells crack, there will be crackheads around. And that's the main problem. If you don't agree, just take some walks through neighbourhoods with a large number of drug addicts. On my street everything from petty crime to casual assault to literal stabbings have skyrocketed. It doesn't matter where the drugs come from; it matters where it ends up, and where it ends up is inside the brains of our brand-new underclass.

empath-nirvana 3y ago

In a lot of ways "decriminalizing" drug use is worse than fully legalizing it or arguably worse than keeping drug use illegal, because the people _selling_ it are still technically criminals, and decriminalizing basically just increases demand and sends more money flowing into criminal organizations. They'd be better off just fully legalizing it and regulating it.

NoMoreNicksLeft 3y ago
I've upvoted you. I completely agree. Decrim is worse than either, and for the reasons you say. Please keep in mind that legalization alone doesn't fix everything, we must also ban piss tests for all occupations where it isn't critical.

FredPret 3y ago

The nuisance drug users become is due to the fact that they are high and operating on damaged hardware. No matter how pure, hard drug abuse is in itself the problem.

NoMoreNicksLeft 3y ago
I don't disagree that drug use isn't a problem. But when the junkie buys his heroin at the liquor store, he's not sending billions of dollars out of the country for cartels so they can buy weapons to murder people with. Drug use isn't *the* problem, it's just *a* problem, and a tiny one compared to prohibition. When there's a crackhouse in your neighborhood, that's because no one can buy this at the liquor store.
- FredPret 3y ago
  But whether there's a crackhouse, or a liquor store in my neighbourhood that sells crack, there will be crackheads around. And that's the main problem. If you don't agree, just take some walks through neighbourhoods with a large number of drug addicts. On my street everything from petty crime to casual assault to literal stabbings have skyrocketed. It doesn't matter where the drugs come from; it matters where it ends up, and where it ends up is inside the brains of our brand-new underclass.