Can we win the 'war on drugs' or should we make some legal?

Question

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7531860.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/uk/2005/drugs/default.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6173230.stm

Heroin, in its pure form is fairly safe, so long as it is correctly given. The main problem with heroin use is with the associated criminal behaviour. People steal to fund the habit, take part in prostitution etc.

Making it legal could cut a lot (but not all) of drug related crime.

Answer 1

people just want drugs to be legal so they can abuse then so they wont feel bad for doing it. and its just an excuse to do it more. thats my opinion

Answer 2

There's a great line out of The Wire (best programme on TV) - "it's not a war on drugs - wars end".

There is a lot to be said for taking drug misuse out of the criminal arena and dropping it into the public health arena, if need be providing a clean safe environment for addicts. This would be the carrot. The stick would be that it would be an aggravating factor in sentencing for crime, ie the sentence is greater if committed while under the influence of drugs.

The problem is that you would have to make drugs available to anybody on demand or there would still be a black market for them which would rather defeat the whole purpose. That would clearly have some serious moral and ethical implications.

All I know is that after 30 years of dealing with drug related crime, what we're doing doesn't work. Perhaps it's time to get radical.

Answer 3

Legalizing it only means that people can purchase it legally, they'll still have to steal or prostitute themselves to get money to buy it.

Answer 4

The 'War on Drugs' will never be won. There is far too much money at stake by organised crime and the Police cannot match the money required for informants to get to the top of the organisations.    The only way out of the mess we are in is to legalise the whole lot and take the need to commit crime out of the equasion.  The analogy I would use would be the demise of the CB Radio Craze, when people thought it was illegal it was booming, as soon as it became legal, it all but disappeared, that is what I think would happen to drugs.   If people wish to kill themselves by taking drugs, so be it. The Suicide Act was repealed in 1963 and as most 'junkies' are of no use to Society they can do what they want, what I object to is the Crime they commit to feed their habit, they only take from Society, never Give.      

Answer 5

There would never have been a drugs problem here in UK if we had stuck to the original NHS policy of giving every drug addict a daily fix.

This was how it worked until Margaret Thatcher became PM.  She decided that it was far too expensive for the NHS to go on giving the 1,000 or so registered addicts their daily 'fix' - so she scraped it.

Result - UK now has hundreds of thousands if not millions of addicts, where before the situation was controlled.

Meanwhile and at enormous expense, the Royal Navy are doing their utmost to stop the traffic of drugs from South America to UK. . . .

Royal Navy seize another huge cocaine haul - Trackpads CommunityCaptured: MV Orca II in the Atlantic with Royal Navy frigate HMS Argyll in the ... drugs for onward transmission to Europe and the UK from South America, ...

http://www.trackpads.com/forum/navy/8645...

Answer 6

Neither can the war on drugs be won nor will making them legal ease the problem, all countries who didn't take early action against drugs have failed to find a solution to their use, and I'm afraid Britain is among those nations

Answer 7

By all accounts, the 'War on Drugs,' that began with the Reagan administration, has been a complete an utter failure.  America already has a precedent to compare to- Prohibition during the 1920's.  Just as that failed, the War on Drugs is failing.  Legalize all drugs.  Once the criminalization is removed, the prices drop and therefore the violent crime drops.

That's not even to mention that drug criminalization is a HUGE burden on taxpayers. Or to mention that it is a violation of our constitutional rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  And no, I don't use drugs.  www.LP.org

Answer 8

It should be permitted and approved as legal.

Answer 9

Making Heroin legal would cut down on crime and drug related disease and would put a lot of big criminals out of business. Sadly it will never happen.

Answer 10

72% of people in prison are there for drug related crime.  In Zurich they have a scheme where heroin addicts are supplied with the drug and clean needles.  It has proved a tremendous success with many addicts now holding down jobs (as they don't have to spend all day scoring) and making their lives good.  Often once they sort their life out they are then able to tackle their drug addiction.  It is absolutely futile to try and prevent people from taking drugs - all that happens is that you create an industry for organised crime.  Human beings have always taken substances which alter their conscious state and always will.

Answer 11

Legalize it. Tax it. Gang & violent crimes drop. Release drug dealers and drug possessors and put away murderers, rapist and pedophiles.

Why is alcohol, tobacco & fast food legal? You wont live much past 50 living that kind of lifestyle. Heart attack, cirrosis, or lung cancer will kill you before old age will.

Answer 12

Well if we didn't encourage its growth we wouldn't have so many low life junkies!Stop it at the root of the problem i say so our youth can no longer be poisoned.

Answer 13

No...but it would take extreme measures to eliminate the drug industry...what would have to happen is any person that is convicted of a drug offense would be given a mandatory death sentence...this in turn would make the risk out weigh the reward of the high...of course there will always be junkies and stoners...but most would take extreme caution before deciding to be involved in drugs or avoid them at all costs in turn making the suppliers and dealers out of business...

I do not recall with nation has this law i want to say indonesia but i could be mistaken...try to google it...

Answer 14

You don't get it yet - the War On Drugs doesn't have anything to do with drugs.  The War on Drugs is a reason for the government to spend BIG BUCKS on all those worthless Ted Baxter characters out there - phonies who couldn't make an honest living.

Say that 5% of Americans were worthless drunks - how could the Republicans support them??  Hire them as cops, boarder guards, investigators, prison guards, people who build prisons, book keepers for all of the above.  They can ALL be employed if drugs remain illegal.

You wouldn't want to deny our drunks employment, would you?  Then don't try to be reasonable here.  Of course most of the anti-drug propaganda is bullsh*t ("Just Say No") - but it keeps Republican tough guy drunks employed.  They've got to have somebody to shove around - and that's you if you try to get on an airplane or cross a boarder - and later if you even try to drive your car.  

The War On Drugs is Forever - because you can't fix stupid!

Answer 15

Make most legal...now we grow poppy fields in the UK because of morphine shortages....why are we destroying Afghan crops?????

Answer 16

We have young men risking their lives in the poppy fields of Afghanistan in the much publicised "war on drugs".

To then legalise the stuff would be the ultimate insult to these men, especially those who have lost their lives.

Answer 17

I think it should be legalized to a degree.  As you stated,  most crimes commited are directly involved in drugs, stealing, buying, killing, prostitution..etc.  If it was government regulated, the black market of heroine, cocaine, etc. would drop and so would crime.  Instead we should take the money that is wasted on the judicial system, when all they do is let bad influences out again to repeat their crime time and time again, and provide treatment or rehab for those who are involved in drugs...that is a start at least.