Hey fellas please allow me to clear something up real quick...
I never said that I agreed with Duterte's approach. My stance has been and still is that his approach (supposedly) is working for him but would like to know a different option that would also work. Official statistics from the Philippines is that over 600,000 users and dealers have disappeared since Duterte has been president and there are currently a little more than a half a million addicts undergoing rehabilitation.
He, and all other governments can get the fuck out of the business of dictating what people can and can not do with their bodies. No type of prohibition works, has ever worked, or will ever work. It's as simple as that. Anyone saying otherwise is an ignorant fool.
I almost feel the same way which is why I think it's stupid as hell for prostitution to be illegal. However, when you start to see patterns and correlations between violent crimes and drug addicts you're almost compelled to take some sort of action to put a stop to drug trafficking.
Research Portugals drug decriminalization policy. It's a case study over 10+ years in a country of 10 million + people. Anyone involved in this conversation should do the same at the minimum.
I Think what Portugal is doing is pretty good. I don't know how much you have researched what they're doing but if you have researched it as extensively as I'm thinking then you realize that there are flaws in their program over there. And besides, I think Duterte's stance is to get rid of drug users and dealers entirely instead of placating them, which is essentially what Portugal is doing. I even read an article about Portugal where a guy who called himself Mario in Lisbon is a crack cocaine and heroin addict. He is homeless and JOBLESS and yet he spends more than $100 a day to get high. Now how do you suppose he's able to afford to do this? Drug related crime statistics in Portugal look good mainly because certain drug offenses have been either decriminalized or reduced to minor offenses. Any government in the world can crunch those kinds of numbers in order to look good.
What do you mean exhaust that option. The percentage of people in prison for crimes to fund their addiction is much smaller than the ones in for simple possession. If we legalized drugs and only jailed people who commited crimes to fund the addiction -- we would increase the resources available by decreasing total spending
I mean that those who are in prison aren't even close to the total number of addicts there are in society. If we were to jail and/or rehab 80% or more of them then resources towards doing so would be severely exhausted. I don't know if legalizing drugs would do anything to the violent drug related crime offenses because a broke and jobless addict must still burglarize, rob, steal and (possibly) kill to get their fix regardless if recreational drugs are legal or not.
It is almost as if we should have laws against, robbing, killing and abandoning your children.
Sarcasm not withstanding, I repeat that when you notice a pattern of correlation between drug use and certain crimes then you have to take notice and do something about it.
Yeah and one of the reasons junkies have to resort to stealing and robbing is because drugs are so expensive because they're illegal
Even though competition between pushers and dealers always make it more affordable especially when one of them has a money trail of crooked politicians and law enforcers to help them get it for ridiculously low wholesale prices.
Alcohol is by far the most damaging drug on earth but alcoholics aren't kicking down your door for a fix because it's cheap and easily accessible.
Alcoholics aren't kicking down your door for a fix because alcohol isn't as addictive as crack cocaine, heroin or meth. The people addicted these drugs are the ones kicking in doors and robbing gas stations.
I think something crazy like 1/3 or 1/4 of all crime in America involved alcohol
It was 1/3 and they included DUI in those statistics. As much as I hate DUI and think it should warrant a very, very severe punishment, it's mainly an impairment issue. It's not the same as someone saying
"I need a bottle of E&J, I think I'll go pull off a home invasion to come up with the money for it".
Plus, any place with real law and order doesn't have to worry about junkies robbing to get their next fix... we're currently having a heroin epidemic in America but it hasn't translated into a crime epidemic because it is very likely that you will be held accountable for your crime.
I totally disagree that it has not translated into a crime epidemic. Where I live home invasions, robberies and drug related murders are spiking right along with the spike in, not just heroin, but meth, K-2 and fentanyl use as well. Many drug addicts are unable to think ahead and realize that they will be held accountable for what they do. Drug addiction is so strong that all they can think about is getting their next fix.
I feel sorry for your wife.
Oh? Why is that?
Portugal has been a pretty good model for the legalization and regulation of drugs. They have diminished their black market supplies of illicit drugs substantially, while educating their populace on drugs rather than criminalizing such, and it has led to less drug use, with decreases in addiction the younger the user gets.
That country is extremely poor, and many turn to selling drugs in order to survive. Yes, not all are like this, and many are leeches and corrupters of their communities, but to simply murder people, and murder police who refuse to do so, without any sort of fair trial, is not what civilized countries do. Plain and simple.
Please see my reply to Bald1 concerning Portugal.
Alcohol is a factor in around 40% of all violent crimes in America.
In my country around 60% of all the people incarcerated for a violent crime were under the influence of alcohol when the crime was committed.
Please see my reply to Undying Poster about the relevance of alcohol related crimes in my country (Murica).
If we're actually being honest the portrayal of drug addicts as mindless violent people willing to do anything to get their fix is ridiculous when we're faced with a reality of large amounts of normal non violent people that turn into violent psychopaths while under the influence of our most socially acceptable legal drug.
Copy that. I think if a government is going to criminalize one then they should criminalize them all. But I repeat, drug addicts ALSO turn into violent psychopaths while under the influence but many of them also COMMIT VIOLENCE in order to get drugs. I still haven't seen anywhere in my country where a pattern has developed between robberies and home invasions perpetrated by alcoholics because they needed money for some Mad Dog.
And I'll repeat once again that I do not like what Duterte is doing I just think there is nothing else he can do Other Than just accept the fact that there will be drug users in his country and as long as there are drug users there will be drug dealers and drug related crimes.