The war on drugs. An outright failure?

[SomeRandom]

I came of age during the “ice epidemic.” A purer form of cocaine. Caused a lot of ODs and actually altered the curriculum on drugs in our schools.
My suburb wasn’t a “hood” so to speak, but it did have drug deals. Happening out in the open in broad daylight. We all pretended not to see it.
All this to say, I have seen the consequences of drugs up close and personal.
I have also seen the war on drugs and imo it’s an abject failure. I have even grown up on media that has basically put that out as it’s central thesis (see The Wire.) It has actively harmed my community more than it helped. Probably worse in the US since we’re not quite as gung ho about it. It’s just prohibition with other substances. The gangsters get rich off the suffering of addicts and the police are trained as soldiers in a war instead of actual police

What are you thoughts? Your solutions?
Have at it, but please be respectful

 

[TheBrokenSoul]

I came of age during the “ice epidemic.” A purer form of cocaine. Caused a lot of ODs and actually altered the curriculum on drugs in our schools.
My suburb wasn’t a “hood” so to speak, but it did have drug deals. Happening out in the open in broad daylight. We all pretended not to see it.
All this to say, I have seen the consequences of drugs up close and personal.
I have also seen the war on drugs and imo it’s an abject failure. I have even grown up on media that has basically put that out as it’s central thesis (see The Wire.) It has actively harmed my community more than it helped. Probably worse in the US since we’re not quite as gung ho about it. It’s just prohibition with other substances. The gangsters get rich off the suffering of addicts and the police are trained as soldiers in a war instead of actual police

What are you thoughts? Your solutions?
Have at it, but please be respectful

I already told the British Government how to win the war on drugs in one day and the simple solution is to make drugs world wide legal , supplied by your doctor .

This takes away all the customers effectively bankrupting all the major suppliers .

This way the drug users are monitored and can get the professional help to recover while visiting the doctors etc .

There may be a potential ''black market'' but customers aren't that stupid I am sure .

That is how you end all drugs and in the process related crimes .

 

[exchemist]

I came of age during the “ice epidemic.” A purer form of cocaine. Caused a lot of ODs and actually altered the curriculum on drugs in our schools.
My suburb wasn’t a “hood” so to speak, but it did have drug deals. Happening out in the open in broad daylight. We all pretended not to see it.
All this to say, I have seen the consequences of drugs up close and personal.
I have also seen the war on drugs and imo it’s an abject failure. I have even grown up on media that has basically put that out as it’s central thesis (see The Wire.) It has actively harmed my community more than it helped. Probably worse in the US since we’re not quite as gung ho about it. It’s just prohibition with other substances. The gangsters get rich off the suffering of addicts and the police are trained as soldiers in a war instead of actual police

What are you thoughts? Your solutions?
Have at it, but please be respectful

I've always found the parallel with Prohibition irresistible. Prohibition made the Mafia rich. A vast amount of today's crime is drug-related, whether it be the actual supply and sale of it, wars between rival gangs, or simply dumb schmucks stealing, to get enough for their next fix.

In my view it would be far better to legalise drugs, control the quality and sources, get them out of the hands of criminal gangs, and just educate people, especially schoolchildren, about the bad effects they have, as with cigarettes. (As with cigarettes, you would want to ban all forms of advertising of course.) But you have to go carefully, in stages, I think, to avoid sending an unintended message that drugs are somehow now "OK".

I know that quite a few senior policemen are of the same opinion.

 

[TheBrokenSoul]

I've always found the parallel with Prohibition irresistible. Prohibition made the Mafia rich. A vast amount of today's crime is drug-related, whether it be the actual supply and sale of it, wars between rival gangs, or simply dumb schmucks stealing, to get enough for their next fix.

In my view it would be far better to legalise drugs, control the quality and sources, get them out of the hands of criminal gangs, and just educate people, especially schoolchildren, abut the bad effects they have, as with cigarettes. (As with cigarettes, you would want to ban all forms of advertising of course.) But you have to go carefully, in stages, I think, to avoid sending an unintended message that drugs are somehow now "OK".

I know that quite a few senior policemen are of the same opinion.

Perhaps it would be a good idea to firstly test the idea with a pilot scheme , choosing a small catchment area and making a statistical analysis of crime fiqures for that area to see if the scheme has affect .

 

[Twilight Hue]

I came of age during the “ice epidemic.” A purer form of cocaine. Caused a lot of ODs and actually altered the curriculum on drugs in our schools.
My suburb wasn’t a “hood” so to speak, but it did have drug deals. Happening out in the open in broad daylight. We all pretended not to see it.
All this to say, I have seen the consequences of drugs up close and personal.
I have also seen the war on drugs and imo it’s an abject failure. I have even grown up on media that has basically put that out as it’s central thesis (see The Wire.) It has actively harmed my community more than it helped. Probably worse in the US since we’re not quite as gung ho about it. It’s just prohibition with other substances. The gangsters get rich off the suffering of addicts and the police are trained as soldiers in a war instead of actual police

What are you thoughts? Your solutions?
Have at it, but please be respectful

It's interesting the government ceded in aspects and literally became drug dealers themselves. Legalization etc.

It seems demand itself makes the determining factor on who won and lost, weither its over weed or booze from past prohibition days.

 

[Tali018]

So you came of age during d-basing and crack smoking during the late 70's/early 80's. The war on drugs has always been a abject failure. The US has given up while still funding a fake wire on it compared to Europe and the Middle East has increased the way they deal with the problem by dealing with the transporting and dealers with the heavier hand rather than the users. If people want to do drugs they will. The boomers in power are simply naïve as the think about drugs back then and simply don't understand the potency it has now. They freely let vaping go mainstream without understanding the future ramifications of it.

 

[TheBrokenSoul]

It's interesting the government ceded in aspects and literally became drug dealers themselves. Legalization etc.

It seems demand itself makes the determining factor on who won and lost, weither its over weed or booze from past prohibition days.

Pharmaceuticals are effectively synthetic drugs .

 

[Tali018]

Pharmaceuticals are effectively synthetic drugs .

But unlike decades ago the gov't has become more reactive on the way it's prescribed (digital versus walk in) and the quantity. For example a decade age one could easily get Hydrocodone digitally prescribed in high quantities. Yet now (in US) the prescription is limited to 10, no refills and one must carry the prescription into a pharmacy and one's ID information is copied into the computer system.

 

[Mock Turtle]

Perhaps the first thing would be to abandon any notions of a 'war on drugs', just as we can't have such against terrorism, underage sex, or many other things that we deem illegal and for which we would like to see an end, but where human behaviour persists in defying our hopes or expectations. Legalising drugs might bring just as many problems as when they aren't legalised - and just different ones.

 

[pearl]

I already told the British Government how to win the war on drugs in one day and the simple solution is to make drugs world wide legal , supplied by your doctor .

Makes it hard for the doctor's oath, 'do no harm'

 

[TheBrokenSoul]

Makes it hard for the doctor's oath, 'do no harm'

Dosage , cleaner drugs without added contaminents , they'd actually probably save a few lives .

 

[pearl]

I think anything would be better than this.

This is Boston Massachusetts 'mass and cass', better known as Methadone Mile
Mass and Cass - Wikipedia

The city is now in the process of removing the tents, but the problem is the best way to a better alternative. The double problem of drug addiction and homelessness.

 

[Twilight Hue]

Pharmaceuticals are effectively synthetic drugs .

They are all still derived from natural sources.

I get what you're saying though. Drugs can be minupulated for benefit or detriment based on what the chemist does with it.

 

[TheBrokenSoul]

They are all still derived from natural sources.

I get what you're saying though. Drugs can be minupulated for benefit or detriment based on what the chemist does with it.

Most prescription drugs or even over the counter drugs at a chemist are harmful if overdosed on .

 

[Ashoka]

I came of age during the “ice epidemic.” A purer form of cocaine. Caused a lot of ODs and actually altered the curriculum on drugs in our schools.
My suburb wasn’t a “hood” so to speak, but it did have drug deals. Happening out in the open in broad daylight. We all pretended not to see it.
All this to say, I have seen the consequences of drugs up close and personal.
I have also seen the war on drugs and imo it’s an abject failure. I have even grown up on media that has basically put that out as it’s central thesis (see The Wire.) It has actively harmed my community more than it helped. Probably worse in the US since we’re not quite as gung ho about it. It’s just prohibition with other substances. The gangsters get rich off the suffering of addicts and the police are trained as soldiers in a war instead of actual police

What are you thoughts? Your solutions?
Have at it, but please be respectful

I not only work with former substance users, but it's an active problem in my city. I totally agree that the war on drugs has done nothing but fail, and fail to meet the needs of the people in my community and in others. Substance use should not be criminalized, but rather, it should be seen as any other illness. These are people who often, in addition to substance use, are also dealing with trauma or other mental illnesses. They need help. They need compassion. Throwing them in jail just makes it worse. Do you know how easy it is to get drugs in prison? We have a big problem in the United States, and we need to fix it with something other than police. We need people trained to provide Narcan and, if people must use, at least learn to use safely (now, with some drugs that is impossible, like Fentanyl. Barely a gram can cause an overdose). Decriminalize drugs and create more spaces, safe spaces, for people who are struggling. That way, instead of being arrested, they can be sent to rehab centers. More than that, teach them other life skills. Some substance users don't know how to handle money, for example. Teach them.

Above all, they need to be treated as human beings, because they are. Addiction doesn't discriminate. They need our help.

 

[We Never Know]

I came of age during the “ice epidemic.” A purer form of cocaine. Caused a lot of ODs and actually altered the curriculum on drugs in our schools.
My suburb wasn’t a “hood” so to speak, but it did have drug deals. Happening out in the open in broad daylight. We all pretended not to see it.
All this to say, I have seen the consequences of drugs up close and personal.
I have also seen the war on drugs and imo it’s an abject failure. I have even grown up on media that has basically put that out as it’s central thesis (see The Wire.) It has actively harmed my community more than it helped. Probably worse in the US since we’re not quite as gung ho about it. It’s just prohibition with other substances. The gangsters get rich off the suffering of addicts and the police are trained as soldiers in a war instead of actual police

What are you thoughts? Your solutions?
Have at it, but please be respectful

I don't think there really has been a war on drugs. The battle is about who controls and profits from it.

 

[PureX]

A lot of politicians and citizens, alike, tend to want to solve problems by banning the symptoms. And it never works ... of course. The 'war on drugs' was yet another idiotic attempt at solving the problem of drug addiction by making it illegal, and of course it has been completely ineffective. It's like trying to solve the problem of damaging tornadoes by banning the wind.

The only way to effectively deal with the problem of drug addiction is to face it head on. To find out as clearly and fully as possible what it is, and how it works so that we can then figure out how to prevent it and how to cure it when it occurs. But this takes intelligence, and money, and time, and persistence. And most of all it takes a willingness to care enough about our fellow humans to invest in finding a solution. And that's where we keep falling short. In a culture based on competition, we just don't care enough about the well-being of our fellow humans to expend any such resources on them. We're too busy and committed to taking care of 'me and mine', for that. So we love it when Nancy Reagan tells us that all we have to do is "just say no", and then imprison anyone that doesn't, and the whole problem will go away. It's complete BS, of course, but it fits right in with our own agenda. So it makes sense to us!

 

[sun rise]

Most prescription drugs or even over the counter drugs at a chemist are harmful if overdosed on .

Anything including water is a problem if taken in excess.

 

[TheBrokenSoul]

A lot of politicians and citizens, alike, tend to want to solve problems by banning the symptoms. And it never works ... of course. The 'war on drugs' was yet another idiotic attempt at solving the problem of drug addiction by making it illegal, and of course it has been completely ineffective. It's like trying to solve the problem of damaging tornadoes by banning the wind.

The only way to effectively deal with the problem of drug addiction is to face it head on. To find out as clearly and fully as possible what it is, and how it works so that we can then figure out how to prevent it and how to cure it when it occurs. But this takes intelligence, and money, and time, and persistence. And most of all it takes a willingness to care enough about our fellow humans to invest in finding a solution. And that's where we keep falling short. In a culture based on competition, we just don't care enough about the well-being of our fellow humans to expend any such resources on them. We're too busy and committed to taking care of 'me and mine', for that. So we love it when Nancy Reagan tells us that all we have to do is "just say no", and then imprison anyone that doesn't, and the whole problem will go away. It's complete BS, of course, but it fits right in with our own agenda. So it makes sense to us!

Neurological prisoners of circumstance will put their Nuerological Reference Frame in a state of disconnection because Neurological Circumstance is a key factor in mental health matters .
That is why people take drugs and/or become alcholics .

 

[Altfish]

I already told the British Government how to win the war on drugs in one day and the simple solution is to make drugs world wide legal , supplied by your doctor .

This takes away all the customers effectively bankrupting all the major suppliers .

This way the drug users are monitored and can get the professional help to recover while visiting the doctors etc .

There may be a potential ''black market'' but customers aren't that stupid I am sure .

That is how you end all drugs and in the process related crimes .

I'd go a step further and make "soft" drugs available over the counter at chemists.
They could undercut the current supply prices, raise tax for the government and cut the crime that is carried out to fund the habit.