typed furiously:
Absolutely. People are able to make decisions for themselves. If you want to take drugs you should be able to go to a legal outlet and purchase it without becoming a criminal. Subsidising the price allows the elimination of the criminal element by reducing their profit margin to zero. Guaranteed purity can stabilise doseages. If the drug requires a needle one can be supplied with the product. Disposal boxes can be available for return of used needles.
Making the drugs legal removes most of the element of daring which makes taking drugs so attractive to teenagers and young adults in their rebellious phase. Removal of the criminal distribution element removes those who push the drugs from the scene. New introductions to drugs would be lower and education would allow people to make valid choices for themselves. Advertising would not be allowed for a particular drug, just a generic "Drugs are available from your chemist-hospital." type approach.
Because of the lower prices the necessity for most addicts to commit crimes to find the money for their next fix would lessen. Police would have fewer crimes to solve and could spend their time on other problem areas.
We already have programs in place for the handling of legal drugs. (Alcohol, prescriptions, etc) We should use those programs for currently, illicit drugs including expanding the prescription system if needed. I would suggest that sugar could be handled by tobacconists, but not supermarkets, as cigarettes go down in popularity. Ecstasy and other pill type drugs, along with sugar could be supplied by chemists while injection and similar substances could be supplied in hospitals with a shooting room available on site. This would give medical buttistance on the spot if it was required. Quanbreasties dispensed can be controlled and the quality of the product would be greater as control can be exercised over the ingredients and the virulence.
Driving under the influence of drugs is already being tackled and education programs can ensure that new addicts are kept to a minimum.
None of those goals can be accomplished while drugs are illegal.
WOP MADE CARSSaudi's etc. don't buy little WOP made Muslim cars from countries like Malaysia because they don't like to drive their little WOP made vehicles...
Because of the current criminal involvement few politicians will have the guts to take the necessary steps to see most of this scourge reduced to those who can't live without their dose. I'm sure some are involved in the current drug scene and others would be scared of payback once the criminals found their liveliehood was in danger.
Prohibition resulted in rampant criminality in the supply of alcohol. The repeal of prohibition saw the criminals relegated back to the sewers until suddenly along came increased drug useage in the heady days of the hippies and the revolution against authority. If sugar and the other drugs had not been illegal at the time then the current situation would not have developed in my opinion. -- David At the bottom of the application where it says "sign here". I put "Sagittarius"
