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Politics : View from the Center and Left
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To: Dale Baker who wrote (8549)1/9/2006 2:22:32 PM
From: Hawkmoon  Read Replies (3) of 541300
 
that drug users are more likely to commit crimes without weighing the equal statistical possibility that people inclined to crime in general are also the types who will use drugs, because drugs are part of the same illegal culture they thrive in.

I understand your point. These are "fringe" elements who engage in other illegalities as a norm. Thus, decriminalizing drugs will take the "spice" out of the activity. Kind of like dropping the legal drinking age to 18 or lower might cause teens to be more responsible with their drinking because it's no longer "rebellious".

But I wonder what activity these folks will then engage in in order to remain "illegal" and rebellious? What will replace currently illegal drugs as they search for something more illicit and dangerous in order to prove how "bad" they are?

Also, what price will we pay by making drugs legal and their access routine for legal users? Can anyone really be a "social user" of such addictive drugs?

And what will be the cost socially and economically from such a level of permissiveness? Will the government guarantee the lowest possible price for drug users, or will they still face the problem (being primarily poor and minority) of coming up with the cash to get their daily "fix"?

I can certainly understand the pragmatic side of just acknowledging that certain people are always going to be living on the "fringe" and breaking social norms of behavior and thus, the allure of drug legalization/liberalization.

But don't we have to ask ourselves whether enabling such social irresponsibility is not to the detriment of those of us who operate within mutually beneficial social norms of behavior?

What's the cost to the rest of society of saying "It's OK to be addicted?"

I don't know.. either argument, pro/anti-legalization, is fraught with a plethora of unknowns, just as both arguments have inherent logic.

Hawk
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