"Iran has executed more than 10,000 narcotics traffickers in the last decade;"
--www.payvand.com/news/04/mar/1012.htm
"Iran has the highest proportion of heroin addicts in the world and a growing Aids problem."
--news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/this_world/3791889.stm
"The GOS [Government of Singapore] nonetheless is concerned about the increase in addiction rates and recidivism among drug offenders who have undergone treatment. There are currently about 9,000 addicts undergoing rehabilitation in Singapore treatment centers, the same number as in 1995."
--http://www.state.gov/www/global/narcotics_law/1996_narc_report/index.html
The Netherlands has extensive demand reduction programs and lowthreshold medical services for addicts, who are also offered drug rehabilitation programs. Authorities believe such programs reach about 7080 percent of the country's 25,000 harddrug users. [my note: in a total population of 15.1 million]
--http://www.state.gov/www/global/narcotics_law/1996_narc_report/index.html
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Using a population of 3 million for Singapore in 1996, that works out to an addiction rate of about 0.30%.
Using the State Dept. figures for the Netherlands, and a population of 15.1 million, the addiction rate was about 0.17%.
Also note that the Singapore figure only takes into account the addicts under treatment, whereas the figure for Holland is the estimate of the total number of addicts.
In the early ‘80s, Spain experienced a crime wave after legalizing the personal use of small amounts of drugs. Do you know what that socialist government did in response? Any “infraction” with a monetary value less than $200 was non-actionable, even if someone was assaulted and injured seriously. God forbid statistics show the truth to the world!
I keep repeating this but I will now rephrase it for you: the U.S. taxpayer should NEVER, EVER have to pay the bill to support people who are incurably addicted to illegal substances. Cocaine, meth, heroin - all result in damage far beyond just the addict.
Illicit drug addiction is costing our society, our people, and our nation dearly. Which is why people like Chavez (Venezuela), Castro (Cuba), Kim Jong-Il (N.Korea) and most of the Islamofascist organizations are neck deep in drug trafficking: they are trying to paralyze and destroy this nation.
People like you, good people with the best of intentions and deep compassion, want to maintain a perspective of humane treatment and compassion for drug addicts. Well, I too feel that way because drug treatment for addicts does work. BUT unlike you, I have a terminal point. Three strikes and you’re out.
I suspect that recidivism to drug addiction would cease to be a problem because no sane person wants to die. Only the crazy ones using an addictive substance in an effort to wreck themselves would be in the strike three zone. And I suspect they would be difficult to catch.
Social Security pays out money to addicts so they can eek out an existence. SS is going bankrupt. It may not be there much longer for my boomer generation and we’ve paid all our lives into that scheme. (My sister and her shack-up stud were rock-n-roll musicians who made lots of money, paid no social security taxes, and consumed all their earnings via drugs). So what happens to these incurable addicts on the public dole when the government money, OUR MONEY, runs out?