Shot in the Dark

Dave’s Not Here

Norway votes to follow Portugal in decriminalizing drug use.

A key factoid in this decision; it seems to have worked in Portugal – where “worked” is “reduced not only the harmful effects of the Drug War, but actually led indirectly to lower drug use overall”, provided you believe the numbers:

A 2014 report from Transform Drug Policy Foundation found the total number of people in Portugal who had used drugs at any point in their lives rose after decriminalization in 2001 through 2012, but the numbers of people who had used drugs at any point in the year or month before they were surveyed actually decreased, meaning fewer were using drugs on a regular basis.

Drug-related deaths, cases of HIV and AIDS among drug users and general rates of drug use all sharply declined from 2001 to 2012 in Portugal, the report found.

On the one hand, you might say “Of course research from the ‘Transform Drug Policy Institute’ is polllyannaish on legalisation!”

To which one could respond “And countervailing research by government will be no less bias, since the “drug war” is a make-work program for cops, corrections staffers and prosecutors”. (and the millions in dues they pay every year to “progressive” pols).

The “war on drugs” has killed more people than the Vietnam war, to less positive good for everyone (but the law-enforcement-industrial complex).

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Mitch Berg

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13 responses to “Dave’s Not Here”

  1. Greg Avatar
    Greg

    So let’s just say we end the war on drugs. How will the cartels and gangs make money? Will the cartels go into manufacturing? Will gang members join the trades? Will all of this infrastructure simply dissolve?

    My business prof said there are only three ways to compete:

    1) Cost
    2) Quality
    3) Uniqueness

    He was wrong, there is a fourth

    4) Government

    The business of crime is merely one manifestation of the business of government. There is no “drug” business per se, it is merely the business of providing what the government makes scarce. Simply making something “not scarce” in no way changes the business model, it merely shifts the product to something else – and there is no way for society to keep ahead of the “something else”.

    Should we legalize marijuana? Why not?

    But what will that change? Not much.

  2. Alt-Good Swiftee Avatar
    Alt-Good Swiftee

    Got an idea. Let’s trade the reprobates 1:1 criminal immigrants for DEA agents.

    And offer those DEA agents an opportunity to transfer to ICE.

  3. Alt-Good Swiftee Avatar
    Alt-Good Swiftee

    Greg, in order to put the cartels (in Mexico, Columbia and Washington DC) out of business, we have to legalize everything, or they will simply jump from drug to drug.

    There is no downside to doing that.

  4. justplainangry Avatar
    justplainangry

    So what happens when you legalize ALL drugs? Cartels will cartel. They will find something else that people would pay illicit money for, or create it, as Greg pointed out via power of the government. Think about it – 0bumbler and his environazi enabler stoogies were going to designate CO2 as a pollutant. Next step is a tax. Tax on air you breath out. Think about it!

  5. Mammuthus Primigenius Avatar
    Mammuthus Primigenius

    What will happen to drug use if all drugs were made legal?
    It would skyrocket.
    You should not assume that the war on drugs is so bad that nothing could be worse.

  6. J. Ewing Avatar
    J. Ewing

    Hmmm. I am thinking that if we just decriminalize murder, homicides will drop substantially. :-^

  7. Alt-Good Swiftee Avatar
    Alt-Good Swiftee

    Given the choice between my Constitutionally guaranteed rights to freedom, property, privacy and someone doing themselves to death, I take the former every time Mamm.

    Same arguments were made during prohibition.

    Maybe we’d have more druggies, maybe not. But in light of the destruction “the war on drugs” has done to the Constitution, 4th amendment in particular, I really don’t care.

  8. sanjuan Avatar
    sanjuan

    A small town near where I lived in Colorado has seen a profound change since the passage of legalized marijuana. A place where no one locked their doors when they left has turned into a pit of theft and DUI’s. One elderly lady described how she hadn’t locked her doors in 40 years. After being burglarized she couldn’t find her house keys and had to replace all of her locks.
    Having lived in Colorado for 35 years, I returned last year to visit my in-laws. To see what has happened to a once incredible and beautiful place has disturbed me to the point that I will never move back. The decriminalization of marijuana ruined what once was the best state to live in to one of the worst.

  9. Mammuthus Primigenius Avatar
    Mammuthus Primigenius

    Suppose a guy with wife & kids starts using drugs. He goes overboard, loses his job, maybe ends up in jail. Who supports the wife & kiddies? It’s not their fault the guy became a louse.
    We all will support the wife & kids. This is why I cannot understand the Libertarian position on drugs. They aren’t hoping for a return of the strong social sanctions that kept the use of legally available opium in check. They just want to smoke dope & not get hassled for it.
    If you think that it is wrong for your kids to use drugs, why is it okay for other peoples’ kids to use drugs?

  10. bikebubba Avatar
    bikebubba

    What I’ve seen, really, is that the problems that were supposed to materialize with dope legalization haven’t. Yes, you had people moving to Colorado to smoke dope, and not surprisingly they found that when they get into car crashes, they have it in their system, and there are some cases where you get people in the hospital or worse with dope-induced psychosis and reactions to that, but the flip side is a big drop in opioid deaths, tax revenue, and you’re not chasing dopers around to put them in jail anymore.

    I am still amenable to the notion that there are some drugs that cannot be handled this way, though the recovery of 95% of Vietnam-era soldiers from heroin addiction is a hopeful sign in this regard, but while I’ve got no real use for these drugs, I don’t see what we’re gaining by banning them.

  11. justplainangry Avatar
    justplainangry

    MP, I do not disagree with you, but would like to point out that we already have the scenario you describe with regards to alcohol. And, I cannot fathom the duplicity and hypocrisy that the same people who promote ganja will slit your throat if they catch you with a cigarette.

  12. bikebubba Avatar
    bikebubba

    Just for reference; per sanjuan’s comment, I did take a look at Colorado crime rates since funny weed was legalized in 2014, and they are up. Whether this is the funny weed itself, the Ferguson effect, or something else, I don’t know, but crime rates are by and large up.

    I still think there’s a lot of good about legalizing dope, but to be fair….

  13. Mammuthus Primigenius Avatar
    Mammuthus Primigenius

    Here is an interesting thought experiment: a pharm company deveops a drug that will make you very, very happy if you take it. Your problems seem to vanish like a morning mist. You are so freakin’ happy that you walk around with a big smile on your face. For a few hours. When the druge wears off, you crash into tear filled depression — until you dose yourself again.
    That is the only effect of the drug. No mental or physical side effects all.
    Should the drug be legal or illegal? Howzabout if it only has any effect all on a random 10% of the population? Howzabout if it only works on certain ethnic or religious or sexual minorities?

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