Necessary Evil: The War on Drugs

[exploited]

[The Dharma Bum]

[Hyperion]

Drug use already is entrenched in our culture. Traverse any major road and you will find at least five different establishments that emphasize the sale of caffeine and alcohol, both of which provide more physical withdrawal symptoms than many criminalized substances like marijuana, acid, and magic mushrooms. We boast of our morning coffee fix as if it's something to take pride in at your workplace. Drug use is synonymous with human culture. Use isn't bad. It's when the habit ventures into an addition or escape that problems arise, but that can be said of anything from overworking to playing too many video games. There's children who flunk out of classes because they prefer to read than do a single math problem. I've even met people who can balance a great life and a weekend heroin habit while close relatives let sweets destroy their children.

There can obviously be some limitations on the sale of hard substances, especially towards adolescents who haven't achieved the age of majority, but it's far too extensive, and your proposals are frightening.

[PoS]

[Kane]

Treating drug use with a rational choice criminal model makes zero sense to me, always has. It should be viewed as a public health issue, the penal system clearly can't handle it. Any professor with a grain of salt can admit as much (And in my experience, all have). Professors of intro to law seemed especially troubled by what this continued war on drugs could hold for the future of our judicial system.

[RoyBatty]

[Nico]

[wormwood]

[Nico]

[Boris Johnson]

Fine, exploited.

http://www.cato.org/pubs/wtpapers/green ... epaper.pdf

Drug addiction is first and foremost a medical harm reduction issue, the only reason its a public order issue beyond public drunkenness is due to the prohibition in the first place. The above paper clearly details how approaching it from a synthesis standpoint where actual use is considered a civil offence actually achieves lasting results.

As to showing lasting results with treating it as a public order issue, data plz?

As a public order and justice issue, its a pointlessly futile battle of attrition. Only 2% of all the heroin that goes into Scotland for example get interdicted.
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/our-drugs-war/4od