Posted on 11/04/2020 7:40:51 AM PST by grundle
Oregon voters just approved a ballot initiative which decriminalizes personal usage of small amounts of heroin and cocaine.
However, it is still illegal to manufacture, distribute, or sell these drugs on a commercial scale.
Therefore, people who use these drugs will still be getting them from illegal manufacturers, distributors, and sellers.
Which means that the problems of contamination, unknown levels of potency, gangs, drive by shootings, etc., will still be possible.
In order to get rid of these problems, the drugs need to be legalized at all levels of manufacturing, distribution, and sale.
Only then, when the drugs are fully legal, and are manufactured by brand name companies whose reputations are on the line, and whose labels list all of the ingredients, as well as the exact concentration and potency of the drugs, will we be able to see what happens when these drugs are legalized.
As it stands now, with the drugs decriminalized only for personal usage, but still banned for manufacturing, distribution, and sale on a commercial scale, it will be impossible for users to know for certain what exactly is in their drugs, or how strong they are. And in order to buy the drugs, users will still be interacting with criminals.
By legalizing these drugs for personal usage, but continuing with the ban on on commercial scale manufacturing, distribution, and sale, how exactly is this supposed to work?
Coca won’t grow in Oregon. I don’t even think I they can grow it in tropical Mexico.
Where are they going to get their drugs? It is still illegal to transport them across state lines or to bring them into the country.
Many addicts become dealers to support their habit.
It helps nobody when someone who is addicted to a substance (which might have first been prescribed to them legally) is placed cage with gangbangers and loses their ability to earn a living. That will only make their addiction worse and increase their chances of becoming a violent criminal down the road.
I’ve met professionals prescribed opiods after surgery who became addicted and then lost their ability to work forever due to legal issues even if they did treat their addiction. It makes absolutely no sense
Dealing is another story but I don’t believe anyone should be taken to jail purely because they are found holding a small amount of substance.
That system only ensures addicts or light users become jobless violent criminals down the road. Most likely dealers like you said because a drug record prevents them from getting a regular job ever again.
Possession laws also allows cops to plant tiny packages and imprison anyone at will to boost their felony quota (or whatever other reason they feel like)
Or they become drug dealers to support a $1500 a day heroin habit.
“It helps nobody when someone who is addicted to a substance (which might have first been prescribed to them legally) is placed cage with gangbangers and loses their ability to earn a living.”
Nice slight of hand there throwing prescription meds.
We’re talking about coke, heroin, and all sort of other life destroying poisons. The easier you make it to use it the more people will use it at a huge cost to society.
Singapore has the right solution.
Stimulants, opiods, benzos, etc more powerful and more addictive than street drugs are prescribed to people who become addicted every day. Who then inevitably turn to heroin, cocaine and meth when they can no longer get or afford prescriptions in their downward spiral.
People who cannot afford doctors and expensive prescription drugs are more likely to start with cheaper street drugs or alcohol to self medicate their mental issues. Placing these mentally ill people in jail with violent criminals is no solution and only makes them MORE ill.
Placing these people in jail and taking their jobs away for minor possession does not make it any harder to abuse drugs. In fact this very thing encourages them to become thieves enslaved to more dealers who they meet in jail. Drugs are fully available even in jail so locking people up does nobody any good.
The “singapore solution” I agree for dealers but countless good people in terrible situations become addicted and just needed some mental help rather than jail and forced unemployment. The prison system is the furthest thing from help for a mentally ill person
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