Reply #54: From post #39. [View All]

[rrneck]

"Recreational drugs with no medicinal use should still be illegal, but without long jail terms for their possession and use. Lock up the dealers, but not the users. Instead, the sentencing for addictive drugs should be some sort of detox and public service. That takes the pressure off the jails and at the same time takes into consideration the peculiarly American tendency to overindulge in damn near everything."

You're right, the war on drugs is an abysmal failure. You can't legislate morality, but you can use government to help raise the quality of life for people. That's where the real rising tide that lifts all boats comes from. You start lifting those at the bottom and we all benefit. Those at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder frequently overindulge in recreational drugs and, unlike those in the upper classes, they can't afford to check themselves into the Betty Ford Clinic and put their careers on hold till they clean up.

In a country that is addicted to cheeseburgers and reality tv, uncontrolled narcotic use would do more than ruin the lives of poor people. Make that shit legal and Glaxo Smith Kline will turn it out by the boxcar load. It'll become the biggest corporate revenue stream since Marlboros and Texas oil. Legalizing drugs would be disaster capitalism on steroids (another controlled substance that's wrecking professional sports). Decriminalizing the use of the substance and using the infractions of the law as an opportunity to help people is the best way I have been able to come up with so far. But I'm always open to suggestion.

on edit:
And welcome to DU! :hi: