> > <serious> > My point is that the whole "war on drugs" is wrong. > It's useless to fight the drug dealers, as it was > useless to fight the Al Capones in the 20s and 30s. > > There are only two logical ways to face the _problem_ > of the drugs: either legalize them - all of them - and > control the extreme cases, or repress the consumers, > with all restraints of liberty that the society > applies to the insane.
I have preached for years that the US government should go into the drug business. Using statistics from years ago, if the govt regulated what are now currently illicit drugs, they could offer cheap drugs to addicts and recreational users, register everyone of them, and tax the crap out of it. Figure that 63 Billion is spent each year on illegal drugs in the US alone, and we spend about 40 Billion to fight drugs each year for a net total of 100 billion dollars per year. If the government stopped spending for drug enforcement, and they taxed 20% they would come out ahead 60 billion a year. Spend some money on drug prevention/rehab.... now that the government knows how does drugs (except for the rare individual who still decided to buy black market drugs). 60 billion, over 10 years, subtract half for lack of interest in drugs, is 300 billion, or about .5% of the current total National Debt ($6 Tril. smackerooni's). Worldwide, 400 Billion is spent in the drug industry, including cost for enforcement and laundering. We can recapture some of this through taxation as well. We drastically slow down the theft and violent crimes in this country, rehabilitate addicts, and make a lot of money in the process. Of course, those countries that rely upon laundering and drug money to support their corrupt economies would be in trouble. And as a last note, the same money, methods, and technology used to catch drug dealers, can easily be used to catch terrorists. Chad > > And by the _problem_ of the drugs I mean the fact > that people get killed because of them. People get > killed because drug addicts want money to buy drugs, > people get killed as innocent by-standers in the > war among drug dealers, and people get killed > because they switch from diluted drugs to pure > drugs and die of overdose. I think that the FDA could make sure this never happens here in the US - but only if the drugs were made in pharmaceutical labs, instead of jungle/urban labs. > > </serious> > > Alberto Monteiro > >
