4 ms·

I hope you're being snarky, because it's well documented and should be completely obvious. Whenever you have a black market economy where product is sold for la

by curun1r 12y ago

I hope you're being snarky, because it's well documented and should be completely obvious. Whenever you have a black market economy where product is sold for large multiples of its production costs, it will inevitably be accompanied by violence. And when substances are expensive and addictive, people will steal to support their addictions. And when kids grow up without parents, either because they're in jail, addicts unfit to parent or dead from drug-related violence, they're much more likely to run afoul of the law as adults. There's a ton of reasons why someone would be in jail for a reason related to the WoD without their crime being classified as a drug offense.

Houshalter 12y ago
I really doubt a majority of prisoners are in there for black market violence. And you can't blame addiction problems on the drug war, there would be just as many addicts if not more without it.
- curun1r 12y ago
  > And you can't blame addiction problems on the drug war, there would be just as many addicts if not more without it. You can't blame addiction problems on the drug war any more than you can prevent them with a drug war. They're inevitable. But you can treat them as what they truly are, medical problems, rather than criminal acts. You need look no further than the two major legal drugs in our society to see how how few people are stealing or committing acts of violence to support their alcohol or tobacco addictions. But if you rewind 90ish years, you'll see the same violence you see now with illegal drugs surrounding the then-illegal alcohol. We can thank congress for giving us the 18th and 21st amendments because that period showed us the difference between a legal, regulated market for drugs and a black market. People are going to use drugs whether they're illegal or not. And that means other people will sell them those drugs, no matter what laws we put in place. Faced with that eventuality, we need to structure society to minimize the damage that's caused by this. Criminalizing substances manifestly does not meet this goal. It's asinine to suggest that it hasn't multiplied our prison population many times over.

by curun1r 12y ago

Houshalter 12y ago

I really doubt a majority of prisoners are in there for black market violence. And you can't blame addiction problems on the drug war, there would be just as many addicts if not more without it.

curun1r 12y ago
> And you can't blame addiction problems on the drug war, there would be just as many addicts if not more without it. You can't blame addiction problems on the drug war any more than you can prevent them with a drug war. They're inevitable. But you can treat them as what they truly are, medical problems, rather than criminal acts. You need look no further than the two major legal drugs in our society to see how how few people are stealing or committing acts of violence to support their alcohol or tobacco addictions. But if you rewind 90ish years, you'll see the same violence you see now with illegal drugs surrounding the then-illegal alcohol. We can thank congress for giving us the 18th and 21st amendments because that period showed us the difference between a legal, regulated market for drugs and a black market. People are going to use drugs whether they're illegal or not. And that means other people will sell them those drugs, no matter what laws we put in place. Faced with that eventuality, we need to structure society to minimize the damage that's caused by this. Criminalizing substances manifestly does not meet this goal. It's asinine to suggest that it hasn't multiplied our prison population many times over.