Re:Why we can’t wage war on drugs
by Zigurd on Thursday July 31, 2014 @08:14PM
(#8117747)
Meth's most alarming effects are almost 100% due to it being contraband. Desperate people make it in desperate and harmful ways. This makes for lurid images so you can be sold on the idea of no-knock raids and military weapons and vehicles for police.
The real answer for addicts is treatment. The answer for the meth market and "meth labs" is legalization of "soft drug" stimulants.
The Drug War is purely on the cost side of the ledger. It does not save you from the harm of meth labs, it perpetuates that harm and multiplies the cost. That cost is increasingly manifested as a general reduction of freedom due to militarized policing. That's a very high price to maintain a simplistic morality about addicts.
The real answer for addicts is treatment. The answer for the meth market and "meth labs" is legalization of "soft drug" stimulants.
The Drug War is purely on the cost side of the ledger. It does not save you from the harm of meth labs, it perpetuates that harm and multiplies the cost. That cost is increasingly manifested as a general reduction of freedom due to militarized policing. That's a very high price to maintain a simplistic morality about addicts.