Legalization is the only way to go.
Around here the real problem junkies are all on meth (the guys who smoke pot generally are trying to relax, so they don't cause near as much conflict).
Meth is very cheap to make so cooks and dealers are said to make well over a couple hundred percent profit for every middle man who touches it, on down to street level.
Its one of the nastiest most addictive drugs out there (right up there with crack and tobacco)
So what would be the likely effects of legalization.
If it was legalized it fully and sold in the liquor stores it could go for probably 10% of it's street price now. There would be no more on the street than there is now because they already seem to have no problem finding as much as the can pay for.
Crime would definitely go down. Simple math, if it's 10% of the price you only need to steel 1 car stereo for every 10 stolen now. Not to mention the jail space freed up because the dealers would just stop dealing because they wouldn't be able to compete with the cheaper prices and higher quality of the state dope.
This would solve many problems.
1. We could use the tax money from the sales of drugs to fund voluntary rehab centers for those who want it- saving the rest of us money and making rehab more effective (since it really doesn't work for people who aren't interested in quitting).
2. Reduction in street crimes- due to simple reducing the amount of income necessary to support the habit.
3. Many fewer junkies. - Besides rehab being available and free for those who want it. You also have the ones who will never be able to be rehabilitated and can't control their habits suddenly be able to afford 10 times their normal fix. They will OD in short order, funerals are much cheaper rehab with a 100% no repeat offender rate.
4. You would free up cops from having to chase down junkies, dealers, and all the crap that goes along with having Illegal sub-cultures in our country. So that they could maybe even actually show up on the same day you call them. (In my here the saying is in an emergency order a pizza, at least they'll be here in 1/2 an hour).
5. The resources freed up on our court system would allow for more in-depth trials and enough time to fully investigate crimes (we simply cannot afford to allow cops or courts the time and money to do their jobs fully now)
6. TAXES WOULD GO DOWN. Or at least the govt spend the money on more worthwhile enterprises.
7. You would have many fewer kids trying the drugs. - They would have as their examples the junkies who, all on their own do dope until they are ruined/dead. This is a much better example than we have now, with a gov't that tells so many lies about drugs that nobody believes the true things they occasionally say. As it is most junkies blame the governments response to their habit for their problems (some rightfully so) and not the drugs themselves. If the gov't stayed out of the mess then the junkie has no one to blame but themselves.
8. People who use the drugs occasionally and in moderation, who don't become addicts, or miss work, or go to work high. The ones who still pay all their bills, don't steal, take good care of their kids. They get left the hell alone.
9. All these things would leave the drugs fully responsible for the problems caused by drugs. - The cops would be seen as more of a protector and less of a disciplinarian to the guy on the street. (I often wonder how much more effective police investigations would be and how much easier their life would be if many of their potential witnesses didn't hide from them or deny seeing anything to avoid drawing attention to themselves and their drug habits.)
10. The war on drugs simply isnt working, it hasnt ever worked. And it isnt a war on drugs its a war on a very large percent of our own citizens, who's only crime is that the chemicals they prefer aren't gov't aproved..
11. The only real loser would be the people who make their living off the drug war, this includes the dealers who would be undersold by the state licensed stores. These people really don't providing anything useful to society so my vote is screw them
12. A lot of our politicians have proven in their younger years that they couldnt even drive a car on drugs. And theyre gonna try to fight a war on drugs?
