Violence as an Unintended Drug Consequence.

The way we enforce the laws against the street level, while often overlooking border intervention/prevention has resulted in the situations where we indeed have narco states. The foot soldiers of these narco governments are essentially street thugs with better guns thanks to drug money.

If we were serious about drug interdiction/etc then we wouldn't have the city of Atlanta as being the central shipping point and merchandizing center for drugs East of the Mississippi. I mean Atlanta is hundreds of miles from the closest sea port and is generally not considered to be a land border state. How lax does our drug enforcment have to be to result in a city a thousand miles from Mexico being the center of the drug trade in the USA?

I really think drug laws should be enforced to a draconian extent because that is the only way you could effectively limit the drug criminal industry. If you made the consequences severe enough and actively sought out users and suppliers, you could prevent 90% of the drug industry from functioning. But do you really want potheads in jail for 25 years for having a joint? And do you want to have to effectively prevent any and all cross-border movement that isn't inspected for drugs?

The drug law enforcement could work. But then again the public tolerance to actually enforce the laws is limited. I'd give people 18-25 a bit of a break for their first offence. Say 1 year in a halfway house and 5 years community service. For other people, I'd give a graduated scale. Having Mj nets you 10 years in federal prison no parole. Cocaine or a derivative there of 15 years federal prison, no parole. Amphetamines/Speed/Meth/Ludes/ Fraudulent Prescription 20 years in federal prison, no parole. For Acid/Dust/ any other morphine/opiate derivatives or mind altering drug 25 years in federal prison, no parole. And all the above sentencing guidelines are despite how little or how much quantity of drug is found at the time of arrest.

If a user realizes that he can get 25 years in prison for doing a speedball, he may stop buying it. If a dealer realizes he could get 25 years in prison just on the cocaine and hash residue in his vehicle- he might change lines of work. The dubious distinction of being a well connected drug user or supplier would seriously impeed your daily life until you either quit cold or got busted by the feds. Offer bounties of $5,000 for each drug tip that leads to a conviction.

Pretty quick people would get the message drugs, or being around someone who might have drugs, or tolerating drugs in your personal life ultimately is a risk no sane person could or would tolerate. The meth heads, crack addicts, and potheads would all disappear quickly from the free environment. Those homelss people who have mental handicaps and drug addictions would be incarcerated and undergoing forced treatment for their mental illnesses- something that they don't get right now. Fact is that even a recreational level of use has negative consequences at some point. The weed you buy or the coke you score, or the hash that gets gifted to you for your after work week personal relaxation came from somewhere.

And more than likely that somewhere at some point in time involved a pointed gun and people under duress as the drug moves from origin to end user. It is a horrible reality to know that almost all drugs that are illegal and of illicit nature cause unmitigated suffering far beyond even that caused by the user of the drug.

But if we aren't going to get serious about enforcement, then it is time to make it all 100% legal. At a very least result, the duress and violence that accompanies your drug supply line would end. Narco states would probably still be run by former narcotics dealers, but their access to easy cash would be gone and with time their ability to influence their governments would cease. On the downside, a lot of idiots will OD or otherwise self destruct. And for the friends and family involved it will be a horrible experience. But in the grand scheme of things, most addicts are not of the redeeming type as Coleridge, Black or Doyle. Meaning their self destruction is probably a net good to society rather than a loss.

When I think of it on that scale and point of view, I really do think drugs should be totally legalized. It would eliminate much violence and rid the world of a lot of dead weight to society. It might even cause the inner American city to diversify its economic activities away from the thug-gangsta/drug dealer/pimp popularity contest that it is now. Without drug money and without the inequity of the relationship between user and supplier due to criminalized drugs, most users would be able to more from the margins of the society to at least a functional basis. Spending money treating the chronic abuser of drugs will likely be cheaper than attempting to enforce drug laws as they exist right now.

Call me crazy, but the world would be a much more peaceful place with legalized drugs.