Compared to the current status quo? hardly. The drug war is more profitable.



Pretty much nailed it right here. That's why it's more profitable. You can claim to witness programs for addicts but they are not the norm.

This post was edited by Arsenic_Touch on Oct 21 2014 04:44am

...this makes absolutely no sense . The war on drugs is prosecuted by the government at great financial expense .

...haha. You're going to sit here and claim that the drug war isn't profitable? HAHA!

...what a brilliant response , cackling .

That's right widow, resort to insults like you always do. Go back to ignoring my posts because I'm done with you.

The U.S. federal government spent over $15 billion dollars in 2010 on the War on Drugs, at a rate of about $500 per second.

Source: Office of National Drug Control Policy

State and local governments spent at least another 25 billion dollars.

Source: Jeffrey A. Miron & Kathrine Waldock: "The Budgetary Impact of Drug Prohibition," 2010.

http://www.drugsense.org/cms/wodclock

War on Drugs is expensive.

This post was edited by Skinned on Oct 21 2014 05:03am

Because when I say profitable I'm automatically referring to the government and not the companies that profit from it and drive the policies through lobbying, couldn't be that, right? the drug war is highly profitable and you have to be extremely naive to not see that it is. That's why there will never be a shift that is outlined in the OP. These companies make more money treating them as criminals. As do the police precincts that depend on the revenue. Precincts around the country are complaining that they have to slash their budgets because of decriminalization and legalization. Claiming they lost revenue from marijuana-related asset seizures. The prison industrial complex, the law enforcement, drug enforcement industry, and the cartels themselves are deeply invested in the current status quo, it's not going to change any time soon.

This post was edited by Arsenic_Touch on Oct 21 2014 05:19am

Are for-profit prisons the companies you're talking about? I agree that they are a moral blight as well. Unless you mean something different.

Hard drug use much of the time leads to severe mental illness and very early cognitive declines. The rehab thing will only work if we have some universal health care. Drug problems come with mental problems and health problems. There is a lot of comorbidity.

How many people who want to end the drug war are willing to accept some form of universalized health care? Probably very few. Plus there is the inherent criminality of being a junkie....many drug addicted inmates aren't just incarcerated for drug charges.

I mean the anti-drug war crowd can keep pointing to the model of nations that are less populous than some of our cities because that is a good tactic (drugs --> Portugal, guns --> Switzerland), but that distracts from the conversation as much as it adds to it. Those places have universal health care as well, which has a lot to do with why their guns are used in crimes like ours (no permanent urban underclass).

I agree our situation with drug policy is a mess, but responses are becoming more tailored. I don't know if you've ever heard about drug court, but it is a lot different than regular court...you're more likely to be working with social workers than lawyers there. It is a step in the right direction. But we can't castrate our law enforcement system because they're necessary to deal with this.

See my edit.

...electabilty is what drives policy . Politicians who would support the legalization of drugs like heroin , crack , powder cocaine etc... would be committing political suicide .