I'm sure the prohibitionists felt the same way a long time ago. That didn't work, did it?CaptainSpaulding71 wrote:
how about prevention of drug abuse instead of treatment after the fact. what is the cost differential between these two methods? since the drug culture of the 60s, it has become more and more 'cool' to light up. this begs people to walk that fine line between occasional use and abuse. Further, Hollywood could step up to the plate and not glamorize the party lifestyle. live fast and die young is not something we want average schoolkids imitating.Turquoise wrote:
I'll put it this way... The War on Drugs is a collossal waste of money and prison space.
If I want to light up a joint, the government shouldn't bug me about it. Now, I'm not naive enough to think we should legalize everything, but we're taking the wrong approach. We should focus more on rehabilitation and less on punishment. If we can turn former drug addicts into functional members of society, then everybody wins. Prisons get less crowded, less tax money is spent, and finally, these people's labor adds to the collective value of our economy.
Ever since we got on a mandatory drug sentencing kick in the 80s, our prisons started getting crowded, and loads of tax money went down the toilet.
we could take this as an offensive or defensive position. i tend to think that we should be more on the offense with regards to drug abuse.
Neither does this "offensive" approach. People are gonna do drugs one way or another. DARE is a good program and a step in the right direction, but law enforcement needs to take a more defensive approach, as you put it, because rehab is a lot more productive than increasing punishments.
