This is local to a lot of you guys. Marietta PD pulling out of the traditional WoD door kicker task force with the intent to focus more on addiction treatment. I've heard this theory before, maybe Spain or Portugal (?), treating addicts like they have a disease that needs treatment instead of like criminals that need punishment. https://www.ajc.com/news/local/mari...FcmmdzdxByFXFIk2sRgYnbejuXJ6FUXYARc487YbNoru8
We lost the WOD before it started. Continuing the same old approach doesn't work, this probably won't either, but it's worth a shot.
It really needs to go all 21st Amendment and just be legal. Almost all of the "problems" related to drugs are due to them being a black market product. Legalization would destroy the Mexican drug cartels, virtually eliminate gang violence, free up police to focus on real crimes, provide insane amounts of tax revenue for all kinds of projects, and make legit medical/addiction care available to addicts, all in one fell swoop.
War on drugs is a crock of shit. Even birds and orangutans like to get drunk and high. These critters are out there eating rotten fruit like it was prison pruno so they can get their swerve I’m. Using drugs goes back to before Hominids even evolved. Stopping people from using drugs is like trying to stop people from fucking eachother. The best approach is to take steps to minimize and contain societal harm from the people who go overboard. Otherwise, you know, a line of coke off a hooker’s anus once in a while never hurt anyone.
So many people have come to this position it’s amazing that they’re still pursuing this shit. Government inertia, vested interests and all that are to blame I guess.
There is a metric $hit ton of money involved on both sides of the conflict, just like a conventional war...or war on poverty. But they keep playing with OUR money.
Our laws and policies mostly aren’t based on science or anything rational. It’s all based on emotion and the relative power of vested interests. I can’t see Big Gov ever letting go of drug prohibition. A small place like Portugal can change direction. I don’t hold much hope that the colossus that is the US Government can do the same. Any change will have to come at the state level pushing back against the Feds. There’s enormous momentum behind marijuana and Federal legalization is probably going to take a few more decades. Decriminalizing coke and ecstasy? Let alone making them legal. Yeah none of us will live to see it.
Do you have any idea how many billions of dollars police departments around the country get and spend on the wod?
I do. It’s a great argument for reducing the power and control of government. The fact that they can continue these disastrous policies in the face of minuscule public support and even outright opposition is proof positive that government must be reined in. It’s ironic that the lefties are the ones arguing for personal freedom with drugs but want to further empower the institutions that perpetuate fascistic control. Well logic isn’t their strong suit.
Donald is way too smart to do it tomorrow. Doing it now reduces its potential political benefit and comes with substantial risk of alienating some of the base. That’s something you hold in your pocket as a Trump card (haha). Best to use it when you need it to cause maximum disruption. He won’t do it unless he’s on the ropes or until after he’s won and needs it. Call it a potential October surprise. Trump will win 2020 anyway. Lefties have been doing their level best to lose since Donald was inaugurated.
Both sides do that. Righties talk about freedom/constitution, but want to control what you put into or do with your body.
Agreed. Goes to show what both sides of the powers that be want is to control you completely. They want to own us like pets. They’re all fucking fascists, just one side is more extreme about it. Too bad the Libertarian ideology is from a game theory and economics standpoint a natural loser.
While I’m not against legalizing drugs . It’s obvious you’ve never lived in an area over run with opiate and heroin abuse. There is criminal activity everywhere that destroys the community that drives out anybody worth a shit and........ it has nothing to do with it being illegal. Those fuckers fall in so deep they can’t hold a job but, they have to find money to pay for their “fix” somewhere. And that somewhere turns into property crime that ruins a neighborhood. The property crime always escalates to violent crime even if it’s accidental. I’ve lived it and see it every time I go back to visit family . Fuck the addicts . If it’s legalized there should be no government funded intervention or rehab . Let em pull out on their own or OD. Call me heartless or whatever you want but , they (drug abusers) have ruined more people’s lives than the dealer selling it illegally and maybe even killing a few folks ever have .
The powers that be have figured out how to make it so you can't get rid of the WOD even if it is fully legalized. For example, MA just legalized weed after several years of trying during which time the rich and powerful moved things around and signed deals behind closed doors making sure that all the right people would be owning and controlling a limited number of outlets for commercial sales. The outlets that have opened very slowly under the new law are heavily controlled and taxed and the prices are double what you would pay an expensive dealer on the street. Plus tax. The high price ensures that it is still profitable to sell illegally and the police now have to go after the illegal dealers for tax evasion. Now there's twice as much money in the game for the politicians to suck up and hand out plus they own a chunk of the business.
Anybody who didn’t realize this is how it would unfold is a damn idiot or incredibly idealistic and has no historical knowledge of how government operates. It will become legal in each state when the right people figure out how to make money off of it . It really is that simple .
Opiates are definitely fucked up, I had a friend from HS die of an overdose last week, but a large chunk of the junkies got started on prescription pills anyway. And if cops and courts were freed up from chasing drugs, they would have plenty of time to deal with petty theft and other crime.
I thought this was insightful. https://www.ted.com/talks/johann_ha..._about_addiction_is_wrong/details?language=en
For the Army and Marine freaks I’ve known, that’s called a regular Tuesday night. You don’t want to know about weekends. Ask around a few former Marines if they ever had a “hog pot” and if they ever won it. There’s got to be a term for this. I’m calling it now: Powdered donut