I think makes sense for drugs govt won't legalise like Heroin, while they should legalise lower end drugs like pot.
> The problem with decrim is that it forces users to interact with criminals to get their fix.
also, decriminalization is usually a step towards legalization. because it's too much to straigh-up legalize them.
also, it's beyond me how some people can get on their high horses about what drugs are okay (alcohol? coffee?) and what drugs are not okay. we should have figured this out by now - but seems that we're going to need more time /s
So legalization seems to be the way forward, i do wonder what organized crime will do in response.
The most lucrative crimes are Counterfeit goods, drug trafficking and human trafficking according to this source.
https://www.occrp.org/en/daily/6240-ngo-transnational-organi...
so you decriminalize it first and after that you make it straight up legal.
Organized crime is going to move to other things in response. There is a risk/reward curve.
I suppose Meth and Crack are not on the list of legalized drugs, which means that half of all drug offenses will not be affected.
Still, halving drug offenses is not a bad result.
Source:
https://www.ussc.gov/sites/default/files/pdf/research-and-pu...
This is not a sufficient step, but a likely first step in normalizing the use of weed in the eyes of the public. Abrupt changes scare people (and for a good reason).
In any case, were it about health and well-being, it likely won't look like a war.
Allowing businesses to legally sell, develop, and advertise addictive psychoactive substances seems dangerous to me. History has shown that if they come up with a new compound that is 20% more addictive but 15% more dangereous, you can bet that this will be their next best seller. On top of that, we should welcome their "innovation" for tax dollars and give them a legal shelter ?
We already have seen what it leads to with opioids, even when we gate it behind doctors prescriptions: a usage crisis. We need more control, not less.
And we need a legal framework that does allow us to help users instead of putting them to prison, that does not pack the courts with addicts, and that allows the police to focus on more pressing issues. That is what decriminalization is about.
Extreme repression is as bad as extreme indulgence, there is a middle ground.
Decriminalisation keeps the organised crime and dodgy product while removing any sort of demand reducing effect keeping it illegal had.