Opinions - The War on Drugs? Making the average person care...

[Bassic]

So we all know that we as drug users are motivated toward the legalization of drugs. The only problem is that out of the small proportion of people who use drugs an even smaller proportion care about whether drugs are legal or not. An even smaller percentage of people who dont use drugs are at all likely to care whether or not drugs are legal or not.

Fact is for the majority of people there are things that are much more wrong with the world that the simple fact someone can't legally toke up a joint. Take the war on terror in places such as iraq. Take the poverty crisis in places like Africa. Take the corruption crisis currently sweeping US government.

There's such an abundance of things that take priority over drugs. The average person can't see how the prohibition of drugs directly affects all these things. The money in the drugs buisness means that govermental corruption is always going to go hand in hand with drug prohibition. The money in the drugs business means it will always help fund terror as sales cannot be regulated. The money in the drugs business will always, without regulated sales be a direct cause to opression of certain countries by drug cartels.

If you all want to make Drugs legal then the way to do it is not to constantly push the fact that alcohol is more dangerous that most prohibited drugs. It is no to make people recognize that drugs are not that devils child and are safe in moderation.

The way to End drug prohibition is to link it with the problems an average person thinks are wrong with the world and show how prohibition is one of the things that causes these problems.

[darawk]

IMO ending drug prohibition would end 90% of all organized crime. Where are street gangs going to get money to buy guns if they can't sell drugs? The same applies to terrorists. And of course, our gov. spends billions trying to regulate drugs every year, when instead they could be making billions by taxing them.

I think an ad that runs counter to the anti-drug ad linking drug use to terrorism would be good. It would have to be worded correctly though, to ensure that the blame was placed on prohibition, not on indidivual usage.

[Darksanity]

There's a lot of people who just thinks that drug prohibition is as normal as murders, kidnapping, thieving, raping etc. are illegal.

[Riconoen {UGC}]

Darawk is right, ads showing the harm that prohibition has done would be a good start.

[Darksanity]

Who will pay for these ads?

[darawk]

Originally Posted by Darksanity

Who will pay for these ads?

The Drug Policy Alliance might. They have run anti-anti-drug ads in the past.

Also, I was thinking about just how much impact ending drug prohibition would have. Suppose 30% of all crime is directly related to drugs and/or drug trafficking. If drugs were legalized that crime would literally disappear over night. Along with it, organizations funded by that crime would disappear for lack of money. Street gangs would cease to exist in any organized form. But with a sudden 30% decrease in crime - the existing police force would become much, much more effective. Combine this with the increase in tax dollars from taxable drugs, add to that the decrease in extremely expensive programs to try to catch people smuggling drugs, and now you've got tons more money to spend on crimes that are actually serious. In addition to all this, drug addicts are no longer so stigmatized, a crack addict would be treated mor like an alcoholic, and would have a much easier time getting treatment. I think this would literally uplift many poor communities in the U.S. who are dominated by drug-funded gangs/crime.

The "war" on every crime except drugs is mostly winnable. Sure, there will always be some murder and theft, but it can be made to occur so infrequently that it's a relatively minor issue in society. But the war on drugs can never be won, quite frankly because too many people love drugs. If we stop fighting unwinnable wars, we'll win the ones that can be won, and that are actually important.