There's no evidence that it actually accomplishes even that little.
It reduces all the crimes they would have committed when they were high.
The murders, the rapes, the molestations, the thefts, the drunk/drugged driving, the assaults, etc.
So yes, I would pay tens of billions, if necessary, to reduce all that. That is a legitimate function of government and tax dollars.
Wrong - subjecting to possible arrest ALL members of a certain group (drunks and drug users) because of what SOME of them MIGHT do is an utterly ILlegitimate function of government.
“Wrong - subjecting to possible arrest ALL members of a certain group (drunks and drug users) because of what SOME of them MIGHT do is an utterly ILlegitimate function of government. “
I disagree, obviously. These folks are deliberately lowering their inhibitions, and/or making themselves largely unemployable yet desperate for drugs (and thence drug money - an legalizing it doesn’t make it free), and/or making themselves irrational, and/or making themselves permanently crazy. All of those demonstrably foments criminal behavior.
Just like I want someone arrested for waving a knife in my face because he MIGHT cut me, just like I want a drunk driver arrested because he MIGHT hit me (or others), just like I want person who plans an assassination arrested BEFORE he carries it out, just like I want people banned from putting out attractive nuisances like unfenced swimming pools in their front yards because kids MIGHT wander in and drown, I want people who deliberately stir up their crazy BANNED from doing so. I see it as a necessary and functional part of government.