The real reasons why the Federal government does not want to legalize drugs

[brett_jv]

70. I believe that at least 80% of the 'societal problems' caused by drugs are really caused by the WoD

And their illegality.

Sure, drug addiction can wreck people's lives, and the lives of their families. But at least in this case, the damage is mostly restricted to the circle of the addict. But with the current system, ALL of society pays, and pays big.

I don't believe, however, the decriminalization in and of itself is a good idea. We need to do that, to be sure, but we also need for the drugs to be sold, and relatively cheaply, at retail outlets across the country. This allows us to raise the taxes for the rehab, bring addicts into 'light' so they can get 'help', and most importantly, to undercut the dealers/cartels/etc.

If you all you do is legalize everything, but don't provide an alternative source, it will do NOTHING to neutralize (in fact it will even help) the cartels, nor will it lower level of 'drug violence' or anything of that nature. Decriminalizing alone, I believe, will make things worse. It makes it harder to bust 'dealers', plus ... millions of drug users will be freed from jail ... increasing the cartel's profits drastically. It actually solves only about 1/2 of the problems at BEST when done alone.

No, taking the extra step and allowing drugs to be sold cheaply, at the retail level, with low profit margins, so that dealers and cartels are cut out ... is the only way this whole idea 'works', if you ask me.

Would this lead to 'more users and addicts'? Of course it likely would. But at least then (save for the likely slight increase in cases of 'drugged drivers' killing others in their cars while high), society as a whole pays a minimal cost ... the damage will be restricted to the users/addicts and their loved ones. And financially, as detailed in teh OP, we'll come out WAAAAY ahead as a society.

As an aside, a fair part of what makes (many) drugs so bad for people is the crap they're cut with, along with the use of dirty needles. Plus, the large variations in purity of street drugs (esp. opioids) leads to lots of overdoses. 'Legal, pharmaceutical quality dope' will end up being a lot 'safer' than the crap people get on the streets. Something like Rx Dexedrine gives nearly as good a buzz as methamphetamine, and doesn't screw a person up NEEEEEARLY as bad as the bathtub crap people use in trailer parks, full of god knows what chemicals. Just as one example.

Plus, for many actual addicts (again, esp. opioid addicts), the things that really make their lives fall apart is actually not so much the USE of the drugs, but rather the intermittent availability, along with the staggering costs of them.

I guarantee there's many 1000's of opioid addicts out there either sitting in jail or on unemployment/welfare that would NOT be ... if they simply could reliably go down to the corner drug and buy a weeks worth of their dope for a price like what it really costs (like $25, rather than $500+ on the street).

A large majority of opioid addicts would get along just fine, go through life as productive members of society, with few people being any the wiser. The reason they CAN'T though, is because they're rendered non-functional when supply on the street, and/or large amounts of money, run out.

Addicts end up missing work all the time because they're dopesick, then they get fired and end up on the dole, or they get caught with it (or steal from someone to get $) and end up in jail (and then a bad 'record' for the rest of their lives, making it tough to get jobs). They also end up with massive amounts of debt, shredded credit if they had any to begin with ... opioid addiction destroys lives, but MUCH of the blame for that destruction can actually be laid squarely on the drug laws themselves, by making dope intermittently difficult to get, and extremely expensive.