Ed,
I am against the use of marijuana and other drugs. IMO (spent a decade as a drug and alcohol counselor) people who use drugs do so because they are sick in some way. A sickness of the soul one might say. Mental/emotional/social problems/disfunction, etc.
I am obviously all for treatment.
Let me ask you this. If you had a child, and discovered that your child was using marijuana or some other drug, would you… plant some drugs in your childs car and then make arrangements so that the cops could catch your child with the drugs as your plan to intervene in efforts to help your child? Or would you take some other type of approach?
And as far as legalization goes, do you and your friends stop by the liquor store in the morning before work and buy liquor and drink it because it’s ‘legal’? What about glue and other solvents that some kids sniff? Why is THAT type of drug use not much more prevalent than marijuana use? After all, it’s legal, right? Therefore the legality of it must draw people who otherwise would avoid it to use it, huh? If crack were legalized tomorrow would you go out and use it? Is it being illegal the factor that keeps you from smoking crack and becoming a crack addict?
There is actual evidence that crime drops when drugs are made available legally to citizens. I think Switzerland is one of the countries on the forefront in this regard. They supply heroin to heroin addicts. And you know what? Instead of the heroin addict, that was already a heroin addict, spending their day begging for money or doing petty crimes, neglecting their most basic health such as eating meals…they take their heroin and then go about their day. And since they are not judged by the providers they, over time, begin to open up to them and engage in treatment related discussions. They get jobs and start to live better, more productive, safer lives and are significantly less likely to put others in harms way. No sharng of dirty needles as the heroin and needles are freely available in the clinics. No robbing people.
Heroin addicts and other hard drug addicts (drugs where daily addictions can run into the hundreds of dollars/day) don’t start out as criminals, like EVER. What happens is they try it. They like it. They spend their money on it. Eventually they turn to their credit and run through that. Then they borrow from family and friends until those wells run dry. Then some of them at some point eventually turn to either selling it to pay for their habbit or to robbing people to pay for their habbit (unless they make a couple grand/day or more, then they just use and and can function at work so long as they don’t use too much of it, and do so for decades, in basically any profession).
Since people are risking life in prison or their lives re: since it’s illegal and no cops are going to be called dealers are very high level targets for armed robbers, you often don’t read about these crimes but if you even meet a professional armed robber ask them who their preferred victims are: banks where you have the FBI chasing you, funded with millions of dollars and basically everyone in the world willing to help with the investigation OR drug dealers… who so long as you get the drop on them and they don’t know who you are…you are off scott free, NO investigation. No cops, no FBI. And the dealers know this so they are armed to the teeth and hyper vigilant re: protecting their product/life.
Not to mention all the dead cops, fatherless children of cops, innocent people caught in the crossfire, etc, etc… all because of drug prohibition. Prisons filled to max capacity, once someone is convicted once…well they are a felon. Good luck getting a job when you get out of jail. No sir. Some try. Few succeed. But the drug underworld does not discriminate against felons so back to the criminal underworld they go…
And when these drug users get out of jail do the police welcome them with open arms, invite them to their softball games, trying to acutally HELP them fill whatever void is in their soul they tried to fill with drugs by offering them other alternatives? No. They just wait around and sniff around to put them back in jail.
I’d rather see poeple actually get HELP with their problem than prison which often seems to almost come with a destiny of being a career criminal after time in prison. Maybe people who don’t judge them, people who don’t consider them to be ‘scum’ like police do, should be the one’s on the front lines dealing with the drug problems people face. Maybe people who even CARE about them and are invested in helping them to sort out their problems like counselors, priests, doctors, etc are in a better position to work a reducing the drug problem.
The drug war is a straight up failure and comes at a signficant cost in money and lives and ruined families, along with lots of completely innocent victims caught in the crossfire.
Ending drug prohibition is not about solving the drug problem. It’s about solving the CRIME and VIOLENCE problems.
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