What's new
Fantasy Football - Footballguys Forums

This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

I hate our country's drug policies (1 Viewer)

Grahamburn said:
And if we were to legalize all drug use and simultaneously release all 500,000 of those people who have been incarcerated for drug related offenses would our crime rates go up, down, or remain stagnant? 
The legalization or decriminalizing of drug use would only be one part of the change related to our drug war, a massive shift from failed enforcement to education and treatment for abuse would IMO have the most dramatic affect on reducing our crime rates.  Give it $1 trillion and 40 years, I guarantee our society will be way better off than how we have faired over last 40 years and $1 trillion spent.

 
Grahamburn said:
I guess I'd love to read about these individual incidents, how the arrest was made, and how it was prosecuted then.
Why?  Are you under the assumption that we don't imprison hundreds of thousands of people for victim-less crimes?

 
roadkill1292 said:
It doesn't sound like a good policy for U.S. citizens when we use a non-crime to arrest, prosecute and convict people because we want to get them for other crimes committed. That's pretty un-American.
What's the non-crime?

 
The legalization or decriminalizing of drug use would only be one part of the change related to our drug war, a massive shift from failed enforcement to education and treatment for abuse would IMO have the most dramatic affect on reducing our crime rates.  Give it $1 trillion and 40 years, I guarantee our society will be way better off than how we have faired over last 40 years and $1 trillion spent.
Legalization, decriminalization, taxation, and regulation of marijuana is something I can get on board with. 

I don't think it's a good idea for anyone to have the ability to get heroin at the local 7-11 though. 

 
What's the non-crime?
Grahamburn has argued that it's good to have drug laws because, even if you don't think drug use itself should be treated as a crime, it allows us to arrest and imprison bad guys that are committing other crimes but are hard to catch.  Roadkill's post was responding to that argument.  We all know drug possession is currently a crime.

For what it's worth, I don't think those of us that are pro-legalization should dismiss Grahamburn's arguments out of hand.  There are undoubtedly a lot of bad dudes out there who are imprisoned due to drugs and if let out would commit other crimes.  I just think that truth needs to be balanced against all of the good that would come from legalization.

 
Portugal decriminalized in 2001 and did not see this increased crime you speak of:

Despite claims to the contrary, decriminalization appears to have had a positive effect on crime. With its recategorisation of low-level drug possession as an administrative rather than criminal offence, decriminalisation inevitably produced a reduction in the number of people arrested and sent to criminal court for drug offences – from over 14,000 in the year 2000, to around 5,500-6,000 per year once the policy had come into effect.  The proportion of drug-related offenders (defined as those who committed offences under the influence of drugs and/or to fund drug consumption) in the Portuguese prison population also declined, from 44% in 1999, to just under 21% in 2012.

Additionally, decriminalisation does not appear to have caused an increase in crimes typically associated with drugs. While opportunistic thefts and robberies had gone up when measured in 2004, it has been suggested that this may have been because police were able to use the time saved by no longer arresting drug users to tackle (and record) other low-level crimes.  Although  difficult to test, this theory is perhaps supported by the fact that, during the same period, there was a reduction in recorded cases of other, more complex crimes typically committed by people who are dependent on drugs, such as thefts from homes and businesses.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I've never done drugs - never wanted to and wouldn't start tomorrow if they were completely legal but I never see the people who are fine with the War on Drugs saying we should go back to the days of prohibition.  People do all kinds of stupid and sometimes illegal things when drunk but again, no push to criminalize alcohol.  Seems to me that we have plenty of laws and enforcing those laws whether the person is drunk, high or stoned is a pretty simple solution.

I think I'm in favor or de-criminalization of the hardcore stuff and making it completely legal for weed and maybe some other lesser drugs.  Tax the beejesus out of it, regulate it and move the War on Drugs money to education and rehab.

 
I've never done drugs - never wanted to and wouldn't start tomorrow if they were completely legal but I never see the people who are fine with the War on Drugs saying we should go back to the days of prohibition.  People do all kinds of stupid and sometimes illegal things when drunk but again, no push to criminalize alcohol.  Seems to me that we have plenty of laws and enforcing those laws whether the person is drunk, high or stoned is a pretty simple solution.

I think I'm in favor or de-criminalization of the hardcore stuff and making it completely legal for weed and maybe some other lesser drugs.  Tax the beejesus out of it, regulate it and move the War on Drugs money to education and rehab.
Not even caffeine?  You owe it to yourself to get totally baked once.  It's hilarious.  

 
Countries should work toward developing policies and laws that decriminalize injection and other use of drugs and, thereby, reduce incarceration.

Countries should work toward developing policies and laws that decriminalize the use of clean needles and syringes (and that permit NSPs[needle and syringe programs]) and that legalize OST [opiate substitution treatment] for people who are opioid-dependent.

-World Health Organization 
 
Legalization, decriminalization, taxation, and regulation of marijuana is something I can get on board with. 

I don't think it's a good idea for anyone to have the ability to get heroin at the local 7-11 though. 


If someone wants heroin, they are going to get heroin.  Keeping it illegal means:

1) Enormous profits for drug dealers and cartels

2) Increased crime by dealers protecting their turf and extorting money out of customers that don't pay

3) Unsafe product that will kill addicts because it is too strong or mixed with poisons

4)  Filling up prisons and jails with non-violent offenders, who turn into violent offenders while incarcerated

It is not the job of the police to protect us from ourselves.  They need to focus on protecting us from other people that want to harm us.

 
If someone wants heroin, they are going to get heroin.  Keeping it illegal means:

1) Enormous profits for drug dealers and cartels

2) Increased crime by dealers protecting their turf and extorting money out of customers that don't pay

3) Unsafe product that will kill addicts because it is too strong or mixed with poisons

4)  Filling up prisons and jails with non-violent offenders, who turn into violent offenders while incarcerated

It is not the job of the police to protect us from ourselves.  They need to focus on protecting us from other people that want to harm us.
You have to go a lot farther than decriminalization of use to eliminate those issues. 

 
I have worked in healthcare for close to 20 years.  I used to beat my head against a wall when people would rave on and on about the ills of marijuana.  People just don't understand that getting a prescription for pain due to back pain, knee pain, shoulder pain, or whatever pain is a lot more addictive than blazing up a joint.  But, I gave up the fight, and about once a year I see my primary care physician and I will usually have some sort of pain somewhere and I will get a script for some pretty nice narcotics.  So, instead of blazing up a doobie when I feel like it, I just pop in a narcotic pain pill,  and get high that way.  AND!!!, it is legal.  

:MINDBLOWN!:  

 
Come on.  There are more people addicted to drugs in the US than the entire population of the Netherlands.
That's why it's important to look at percentages. I've provided several data points and opinions to refute your claim. You got anything besides your brother in law?

 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top