Hatred of Cops and Support of Drug Legalization

[Comrade Grumpy]

76. Yes. Here's why:

You have to think about harm to both individuals and society.

If all drugs were legal, we would assume there would be some higher level of use (at least at first) then currently. That would result in an increase in the harms associated with drug use--addiction, overdose deaths, intoxication, etc. (But, as I posted above, the assumption that drug use, and the harms associated with it, would increase, is not supported by much evidence.)

But if drugs were legal, we would get rid of the harms associated not with drug use in itself, but with those caused or exacerbated by drug prohibition. No murderous Mexican drug cartels, no prohibition-related gangbanger violence on our street corners, no heavy-handed drug war policing that leads to all kinds of undesirable consequences: arresting and imprisoning millions of people (more than a million a year for decades) who didn't do anything to anybody, militarized no-knock SWAT drug raids that kill cops as well as drug users, no highway profiling and policing for profit, etc.

And some of the harms associated with drug use under prohibition would be ameliorated. People would know what drugs they're taking and how strong they are. That means fewer overdoses. Money not wasted on prohibition enforcement could be used to provide treatment for those who really need it. People could get clean needles and not share them and spread disease.

How's that for a start?