1. Ideas
1.1. DECRIMINALIZE
1.1.1. Make it a Medical problem rather than Law Enforcement issue
1.1.1.1. ADVANTAGES
1.1.1.1.1. Greatly reduces the number of people in jail and Law Enforcement costs - financial and social
1.1.1.1.2. Adds government revenue via taxes (possibly)
1.1.1.1.3. Lets the public make their own choices
1.1.1.2. PROBLEMS
1.1.1.2.1. WORRY 3: Is alcohol not is bad enough?
1.1.1.2.2. WORRY 2: flooding schools + colleges with drugs
1.1.1.2.3. WORRY 1: the gateway drug phenomenon (if it's legal, it can be a gateway to MORE)
1.1.1.2.4. WORRY 4: Potential social costs (a nation of dead-heads?)
1.1.1.2.5. Worry 6: Social "Darwinism"? falling heaviest upon the poor?
1.1.1.2.6. Worry 7: Won't the now legal drug sellers take over the market and lobby to not have to pay social costs like Big Alcohol does today?
1.1.1.3. ACTIONS
1.1.1.3.1. IF legalized: Educate Educate Educate! INCLUDING LABELING
1.1.1.3.2. "In a technocratic, capitalist and fundamentally free society like the United States education, counseling, treatment, distribution, regulation, pricing and taxation all seem to fit our national skill set than the suppression of immense black markets and the violence and corruption which come with it." -"Legalize it all" by Dan Baum in Harpers, April 2016 p 32
1.1.1.3.3. Establish a State Monopoly on Drug Distribution! (Kill black market; keep org. crime out)
1.1.1.4. SUMMARY
1.2. 3rd alternative 1: Stop the supply
1.2.1. (a) remove monetary incentive for growers (how?)
1.2.2. (b) Stop 'em at the borders
1.2.3. Genetic engineer strains of the crops involved to reduce potency
1.2.4. Stop transportation (governments too weak?)
1.2.5. Stop growing of drug crops
1.2.5.1. Genetic engineer strains of the crops involved to reduce potency
1.3. 3r alternative 2: Legalize the bad drugs and have the government sell them at below black market prices
1.3.1. "Bad drugs" definition: addictive; cause mental and physical health effects;
1.4. 3rd alternative 3: Educate
1.5. 3rd alternative 4: Ask the question "Why do people use drugs?" and work on the causes.
1.5.1. This answers many of the issues related to our GOAL; but will it encourage teen-age youth to become drug users? How much of the population would become impaired and dysfunctional?
1.5.2. Causes include: -Broken families -mental health sickness -desire to escape (from what?) - societal disconnect (why?) - ...
2. Action Points
2.1. Point 1
2.2. Point 2
2.3. Point 3
3. Goals: Find a model which will...
3.1. Free users from dependency on suppliers
3.2. Free users from a life-long dependency on drugs
3.3. Free society from costs of rampant drug use incl. crimes and broken families and impaired users which comes from drug use, AND cost of prisons and Law Enforcement...
3.4. Free society from the costs of the current enforcement system including high prison populations and extreme policing
4. Problems
4.1. The current model is expensive & not highly effective (the "Make drugs illegal" model) and has high social costs
4.1.1. BUT it does keep the lid on the pressure cooker; the alternative of rampant illegal use by legalization could engender greater social costs and threat to the family than the current model. Investigate this - what are other countries experiences? Is this likely or unlikely?