| Shouldn’t we stop treating nonviolent drug use as a criminal issue and started treating it as a medical one?

Shouldn’t we stop treating nonviolent drug use as a criminal issue and started treating it as a medical one?

hellafunguy35 asked:


Let’s face it, the “war on drugs” is a failure. We’ve spent untold billions in the drug interdiction effort, and drugs still permeate our society.

Isn’t it time we adopted a rehabilitative approach, rather than a criminal one?

Here are some benefits:
1) Less prison space would be taken up by nonviolent offenders and therefore more space would be available to incarcerate dangerous violent felons.

2) The money spent on interdiction efforts could be either saved or if necessary, channeled into rehabilitation programs.

If we went the full drug decriminalization route, there would be some additional benefits:

1) Money that is now illegal and untaxable would be taxable.

2) There would be far less drug-related violence, as when you remove the profit motive you remove the incentive to kill others for profit.

3) Far fewer people would die of overdoses from adulterated drugs, because the drug purity would be regulated.

So why aren’t we doing the sensible thing?

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Comments

5 Responses to “Shouldn’t we stop treating nonviolent drug use as a criminal issue and started treating it as a medical one?”

  1. delphi on April 3rd, 2009 3:20 pm

    Yes! This has been a major issue with me. We seem more intent on jailing people than we are educating them.

  2. adam33079 on April 6th, 2009 6:56 pm

    I’ve never believed in “victimless crimes.” Drugs could be easily regualted and legalized. Same with gambling and prostitution. But show me a politician with the guts to do that.

  3. Atavacron on April 10th, 2009 5:55 am

    Legalize it. Tax the hell out of it.

    Works for Tobacco. And last I heard, secondhand crack smoke hasn’t killed anyone.

    Do it for prostitution while you’re at it. Works fine for Nevada. Tax revenue, the women are tested and clean and the men don’t bring diseases home. Because it’s not like you’ll ever stop that either.

    And a woman can choose to abort her fetus (arguably a fully realized human being depending on who you ask) but she can’t rent out her body in a safe, controlled environment for mutual pleasure and gain? Please.

  4. Randy on April 12th, 2009 2:37 pm

    Whos choice was it to self induce the condition? who is ultimatly responsible for the repeated and illegal act? when it bites them in the rear who whines it wasnt my fault yuor honor> I prefer some of the mid east cures for addiction and drug use/ sales etc…over petty fines and mimimal jail sentances…
    thats as funny as people who get fat by the choice overeating then trying to collect welfare and free med svcs because they are umm disabled now? Be responsible for your own acts or face the consequences simple…

  5. kenfxds l on April 15th, 2009 3:04 pm

    I think we should use the money we spend helping countries that hate us, like Lebanon, and build prisons in the desert specifically for drug users. And make drug dealing a crime punishable by death. Here is what is wrong with your theory. Making drugs legal would not help anything. The addicts still would not have the money to buy them and would still steal or kill to get the money. And what kind of message are we sending our kids? Yeah yeah, I know alcohol is a drug too but a whole lot less deadly than crack. The sensible thing to do is to enforce the damn laws and make people pay for breaking it. I live in a place where meth is everywhere and a huge problem. It leads to a very large % of the crimes committed here. Why? Because the dealers and users are let off with a slap on the @ss and probation. Making it legal would make it easier to get and we sure as hell do not need anymore meth heads running around.