The War on Drugs
I'm interested in everyone's opinions on the War on Drugs.
Personally, I think it's an extremely failed method of trying to reduce drug users. In reality, it has only fueled the drug problem and created the several drug trades we see today. There are better ways we can combat these issues, I think this video shows this.
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Personally, I'm with you on it being a lost cause as it's done more harm than good. It's cost lives, money and so much more to basically tell us something we can't do despite the United States being a self proclaimed "free" country. Total bullshit
I've been talking to several of my friends about it and they are against the position supported in the video because "Drugs are bad, wall is good".
It's expensive, ineffective and racist. I'm all for legalization of drugs, as long as it's properly regulated.
I just watched this video! I love In a Nutshell. I don't support legalization (well, I kind of do, but staying within the bounds of possibility I don't), but I certainly support decriminalization. The war on drugs is OBVIOUSLY ineffective and OBVIOUSLY destructive on multiple levels. This shit needs to stop. Filling prisons with people suffering from addiction or people recreationally enjoying a hit of the occasional oddity is a horrible misuse of power. Anyone who supports the war on drugs should seriously consider what they aim to accomplish through it and then compare their goals with what's happening in reality.
Agreed. Everything in moderation like alcohol. We could put dealers out of business and ultimately reduce crime
There is no aim. It is just another political scapegoat. If you look at Drug Regulation and Banning throughout American history it more often than not has some political reasoning for it, not exactly any real legitimate health concerns.
That being said, drugs that are very bad for us, propaganda is the best tool to defeat it, not fighting a physical war. Smoking Addiction in the USA for example has literally been smashed percentage wise, with fewer and fewer teens and young adults year by year taking up the habit. People need to be educated on the drugs, they need to be persuaded not to use them, not forced not to use them.
D.A.R.E and the "Just Say No" Campaigns personally were the most effective campaigns and tragically they saw their peek during the late 80s and throughout the 90s, now I never see advertisement and anti drug propaganda geared towards teens and young adults on TV anymore unless it involves "Smoking."
I do agree most of them need to be unbanned, but heavily regulated. At the same time the billions thrown at Drug Law enforcement, border patrols, raids, etc etc etc can then be better used for Education and Propaganda to just try to convince people not to use them to begin with. It's always been the most effective weapon.
You see, drugs are a sensitive subject. I couldn't give a shit if you did drugs without affecting other people, but if you're doing drugs in people that aren't up for drugs' vicinity, that's where I draw a line. It already happens a lot while drugs are illegal, imagine how it'll be if/when it's all legalized.
The way I see it, in the end people are gonna do whatever they're gonna do. The consequence that comes with freedom, is that you have the choice to fuck up your life, despite the ethical and moral implications. With that said, I think they should legalize all drugs, and get some kind of control on them, that way you take away the revenue from the cartels, and the guys who are dealing on the street.
Plus, when you take the criminal element out of drugs, you take some of the appeal out of it. People always want what they cannot have - its often reffered to as "The forbidden fruit!" So in theory, people might be less likely to do drugs.
Marijuana should probably be legal. Right now, it's a "gateway drug", where it's not really as bad for you as the government says it is, and therefore, hey, the government must be lying about how all those other drugs are bad for you, too, right?
All the harder stuff should remain illegal. Sorry. Imagine if it were all legal. What would happen? If a legitimate company tried to market it, it would be sued out of business after the first few kids died. So it would have to be the domain of not-so-legitimate companies that ignored court judgements, which is basically where it is now, but the bad guys would be harder to stop.
The War On Drugs is one where you lose no matter what you do.
R.I.P. Nancy Reagan, even though everyone made fun of "Just Say No" anyway.