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Does anyone think 30 days in the joint is going to cure addiction? There's a midway point between send to jail and allow to freely shoot up on the street that we haven't seemed to reach yet.
What would you do if you were king of the world?
Are you confident incarcerating addicts is the best way forward?
Those who govern and write and pass our laws are not always well educated in the area they effect by their actions. After years of dealing with this problem I have learned one thing. You can not help a person addicted to drugs by enabling them. That includes giving them drugs, money, shelter, paraphernalia or anything else. That especially includes lessening the consequences for their actions. Yes that includes putting them in a rehab. That doesn't work either unless they decide to do it themselves. They have to want it. They really have to hit rock bottom and decide on their own that it really isn't that great anymore. Anything done to make their life of drugs more comfortable or easy will further contribute to their addiction. This holds true in 99.99999% of cases.
Untill our law makers and authorities realize this we will have laws and policies that compound this problem. If we really want to help, there has to be consequences that makes the drug addict decide on their own to not take drugs. Untill then we will have policies that compound the problem, kill more people, destroy more families and put a bigger toll on our society. Let's truly fix this problem. Let's get seriously tuff on drugs. Let's make it more uncomfortable for them to the point they will decide on their own to quit or maybe even never start. Let's make it such a crime to deal drugs that no one will do it. Let's save our country and hundreds of thousands of our children.
Mandatory Rehab or Prison
Pick one
Leave rehab? Go behind bars
Does anyone think 30 days in the joint is going to cure addiction? There's a midway point between send to jail and allow to freely shoot up on the street that we haven't seemed to reach yet.
What is needed to deal with this isn't decriminalization. It's legalization, a fuck ton of regulations and aggressive cops and das that make it clear that while getting high and possessing drugs won't get you thrown in the clank all other crimes will be enforced twice as aggressively , homelessness won't be tolerated , theft won't be tolerated , prop destruction won't be tolerated etc.
Our drug policies are a disaster that get people killed daily as well as making the polices job all but impossible and decriminalization causes more problems than it fixes and is a very much let the chips fall where they may kind of policy.
I keep telling you what the answer to this problem is but I think the cop in you makes it very hard to accept. We need a whole net set of rules for drug use and a very clear line on what will be and won't be tolerated. You will be a functional addict or be solid gone , you can use ab and c but not xyz. If heroin and cocaine classic aren't good enough straight to jail. If you sell anyone meth and fenty you get the Ronald reagen mandatory sentence. If you sell anyone that shit and they die you go away forever. Use all that atf and Dea energy and literally hunt down anyone who refuses to adjust to the new normal.
It will take some time for everyone to get used to the new way but it will be better for everyone. The cops the addicts and the families of said addicts.
Those talking about Portugal don't really understand what Portugal did. In 2001, when they decriminalised drug possession into an administrative offence, they had total drug deaths of 76 per year. In the last 20 years this has fallen to as low as 10, but has seesawed in-between the highest and lowest figures.
Portugal also still has more opioid addicted people per capita than the UK, Denmark, Netherlands, Italy and Poland.
When talking about prison populations prior to decriminalisation, Portugal locked up around 4x as many people for drugs as the European median. They currently sit as more are less bang on the median average across the continent.
Also Portugal doesn't have the Fentanyl cancer to deal with .
This being decriminalization?
Addicts aren't criminals unless we want that. Addicts who commit crimes are criminals.
Prohibition makes addicts criminals and but that's a choice. I have to believe there's a better way.
Get ready for the socialist bedrock of who I am.... I think we as a society should worry more about the greater good than personal success. We should care about the health and well being of our brothers and sisters, even if it costs us money.
I probably pay a much higher percentage of my salary in taxes than you because I'm Canadian, but you know what? Our social safety net is a hell of a lot better and I'm thankful for it. Now that I'm older and have health concerns, I'm amazed by how much of is free. I have more money in the bank than I'll ever spend, but if I didn't I'd still be fine, and a lot of people don't.
Long story short I think just putting addicts in jail is a bad solution and we can do better. I wish we could have this conversation over pitchers of beer because it's long and complicated, I know you're very different from me, and I'd love to hear how you feel.
It’s only a matter of time before fentanyl is there if not already.
Even many of the pro legalize drugs crowd was against this plan:
- they knew that Portland would suck up all of the resources and poorer communities would be ignored.
- more money was supposed to go towards beds in treatment facilities. But, that did happen. Not nearly enough facilities were created.
How many people moved to Oregon due to this policy?
I doubt it will catch on like it has in the US. Heroin is a relatively small problem here and opioid painkillers aren't prescribed en masse. I have never come across anyone in my personal or work life who was addicted to prescribed medication.
After rehab for one or two times, they get 6 months "probation" for drug testing.
Edit: let the rehab handle the probation.