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Strategies & Market Trends : Anthony @ Equity Investigations, Dear Anthony, -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Edscharp who wrote (77752)	6/12/2002 5:59:06 PM
From: PartyTime	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 122087

Sorry, Edsharp, but I couldn't resist responding to this one. You wrote: >>>On the other hand, de-criminalizing drugs will create a permanent underclass of drug-dependent people who will have little motivation to de-toxify themselves. For all it's shortcomings the legal system does encourage de-toxification and has provided the motivation for tens of thousands of people to improve their lives.<<< Under the current prohibition system we already have a "permanent underclass of drug-dependent people" many of whom must wait six months or more to get into a treatment program. And frequently when the wait is up, their desire to quit is somewhere else. You also seem to leave out the clear fact that anyone who wants drugs today can get them, and especially youth. And of youth doing drugs? One of the gravest misundestandings about this is there is absolutely no quality control within the cut put into drugs that youth use. The only quality control is the next guy up on the dealing chain. And when that person gets arrested, someone else, because of the profit incentive, takes their place. And like the tobacco companies which geared their marketing to young people, so do the drug pushers want to get juvenile aged kids to sell since there's no risk if they get caught. Also, under a system of legalization, there can exist a potential point of contact with the purchaser--a direct place where help can be offered. Under the present system trust is almost never used as a weapon. And you've also gotta consider that some folks have addicted personalities--about 10 percent alcohol-related; five percent cocaine-related; heroin even less--and these are the individuals who are most apt to get in trouble. Most of the violence associated with drug use stems from the turf battles, control over who sells what to whom, and keeping with the money connections. When the government clamps down and supply sometimes becomes diminished, well that's when you're gonna see an increase in personal assaults and property crimes as it becomes harder to get the money to pay the high costs associated with a decrease in supply. It's a vicious repetitive cycle where even those doing the enforcement themselves are likely to be users. Do a search on how law enforcement itself becomes corrupted by the Drug War. The bottom line is most people would live their lives as they do today. They'd work their jobs, take care of their family and perhaps even have better relationships all around by eliminating the fraudulent and hypocritical behavior that so often is associated with drug prohibition. By the way, a good place for information is the Drug Policy Foundation, now called The Lindesmith Center - Drug Policy Foundation. It has intensely studied the issue since 1987. drugpolicy.org