Thank you for the nice post and the honest debate, Loud Mime.
This is a vexing problem, complicated by a “solution” (the “War on Drugs”) that, if it didn’t start out that way, was certainly perverted into a tyrannical power-grab by many.
I’m typing from an armchair, and my closest encounter with the drug problem is having watched my brother ruin his life for many years with the stuff. (He’s been off it now for several years.:-)
Perhaps my concern should be directed more at the crime exacerbated by prohibition. It’s not that I’m unconcerned about that problem, though; it’s that I’m not convinced legalization is a good solution.
The solution has to come from the people, and it’s disappointing to see FReepers advocating “legalized casual use” as that solution. For pot, maybe. Maybe. But for many, pot is nothing more than a stalking horse, a “harmless” way to sneak in cocaine, heroin, LSD, and meth (those others listed in the Mexico story.) Those are not harmless, are they?
Parts of our society seem perfectly content to live with violence, drugs, prostitution, widespread promiscuity, and general trashiness. Well, that’s their freedom (insofar as they get away with it.) As much as I would wish better for them, only a tyrant would try to force them to change their ways.
On the other hand, these folks and their trashy communities are a drain on my community and on my country. Still, the best I can reasonably hope for is that the trashiness can be contained to those communities that want it, and kept out of mine. It still bleeds over into communities that don’t want it, and we have to clean up the messes caused by others. Maybe, in the final analysis, that’s the best we can expect, given the lawlessness and trashiness of some parts of our society.
My brother told me of his ventures to parts of town that no sane person would dare drive through after dark. There are invisible walls in our cities, which ought to be made into real walls. Let everyone then freely choose which side they want to live on, and then let’em stay there, so each side can deal with the problems it alone creates.
Everywhere you turn we will have problems with any "solution." There is no perfect fix. But the current laws are not working.
Perhaps my concern should be directed more at the crime exacerbated by prohibition. It’s not that I’m unconcerned about that problem, though; it’s that I’m not convinced legalization is a good solution.
Sorry, it's the ONLY solution. I live one mile from gangland and see them all the time. We're feeding those crooks with our laws; I do not see how that point can be contested.