Johann Hari wrote an excellent book [1] about how the bad plants came to be demonized and persecuted. Yes, Cocaine and heroin cause problems for people, but does that justify turning addicts' supply chains over to organized crime? Would it not be better to make sure that people who've decided to use the bad plants at least get what they're paying for?

[1] http://www.chasingthescream.com/

Portugal.

When they decriminalized all drugs of abuse, they saw an initial, mild spike in usage rates, and now consistently see far lower rates of drug abuse, for all drugs than pretty much every other country.

No, not Portugal. In case you missed Rayiner's comment above - they still arrest dealers in Portugal.

This is called "moving the goalpost". First you're talking about "junkies" and "crack whores", and when you get shot down on that, you move to talking about dealers.

Pick a position, and argue it; when you're proven wrong, accept it and learn.

Maybe I should just declare victory and start trying to divide the spoils like you're fond of doing?

The point under discussion is the abolition of the DEA, meaning legalization of drugs. The DEA doesn't spend a lot of time running down drug users - this is about dealers.

Don't assume other people are moving goalposts because you didn't understand where they were to start with.

They also provide plenty of support for drug users.

I'm not sure the same would be true in the US, seeing the piss-poor state of mental health treatment in the US.

I'm not sure why you're being downvoted. That's, to my mind, one of the best aspects of Portugal's system: they treat drug abuse as a medical problem, and offer free treatment.

In the US, offering treatment like that would probably be decried as welfare-state redistributory nonsense.

Please provide your sources.

Please provide yours.