Not sure Boortz is making much sense here. On the one hand, the drug war is stupid. But what if druggies dont seek treatment? Force them to get treatment? And how do you do that? Prolly need to use force, right? Like go to their house and arrest them? Same crap, different day. Then at the end, he acknowledges we use drugs in our culture every day. So should we treat alcohol and tobacco like the other drugs? Or treat the other drugs like alcohol and tobacco?
"But what if druggies dont seek treatment? Force them to get treatment? "
If you spent the money you now waste on drug enforcement on enforcement of burglary and assault laws, you'd still get rid of the worst druggies and the recreational ones wouldn't matter.
Are you on drugs? How can you consider that we would no longer use the force-of-law to apprehend druggies and then immediately conclude that because of that you would still have to go to their home and apprehend them?
The reason a druggie hides his habits is fear of the police. Without that fear any number of avenues become available to him for intervention and treatment. His employer may detect a problem and make treatment a condition of continued employment. His family, friends or other efforts in the local community will provide help.
If his irresponsible acts while being influenced by drug usage result in crimes, he will still be arrested for the individual crimes and be held responsible, Then one of the conditions of his punishment would certainly be treatment for the drug abuse.
What kind of treatment would be required for someone that smokes a joint on the weekend with some friends?
So should we treat alcohol and tobacco like the other drugs? Or treat the other drugs like alcohol and tobacco?
Tobacco, specifically nicotine, is highly addictive. Since 1990 tobacco use has dropped 50% How was that accomplished? Education. The alcohol prohibition turf wars demonstrated that alcohol prohibition was a dismal failure. Politicians and bureaucrats chose to repeat history. The consequences to come from their choice was know yet they still made the choice. End drug prohibition and it ends the violent crime problem it facilitated. Then, and only then can the drug problem be addressed rationally, honestly.