Silhouette
Gold Member
- Jul 15, 2013
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So take CA as an example. They decriminalized pot and now are an official cartel state, producing more pot than the state consumes. So they're exporting illegally.
Then CA has decriminalized meth and heroin use, and other narcotics. You can be arrested over and over and over in CA for possession/use of heroin and nothing happens to you. Using the same justification of "medical uses and popularity", look for CA to begin softening laws on distributing heroin as well. After all, think of the profits CA could make off of other states where it's illegal?
Everyone is familiar with the costs of heroin addiction in terms of overdose. Everyone knows someone who has lost a dear family member from heroin overdose. That never used to be the case. Now it is. Welcome to post-liberaltopia 2018.
But what most people don't sit down and pencil out is actual costs $$ to hardworking citizens and insurance companies from heroin addiction's #1 spinoff: indigence. Heroin addicts are unemployable. They just are. So they quickly become indigent and homeless. But while they are homeless, their addiction rages on. I've been doing an informal survey of some addicts I know. Each one has on average, about $100/day habit. That's $3,000/month and $36,000/year. Many addicts use much more dope than this per day so this is a relatively conservative estimate.
Each one.
Think about that for a minute. Crime rates in my area have escalated to the point of ridiculousness. People can't leave their homes. Bands of coordinated roving addicts patrol and case streets for signs of temporary lulls in occupancy (such as running to the store, God forbid a vacation). used to be your random heroin addict wasn't your next door neighbor. Now bunches of them live right near you so they case your daily habits and know when you go out & return. Because they share the same loserdom, they band together frequently and form "drug families" that support each others' using and stealing and fencing to get money to use more. These addicts are making us prisoners in our own homes. These "families" coordinate. They really do. And the situation is reaching a tipping point.
As they steal and steal and steal to not become dope sick, insurance claims skyrocket. At some point something has to give.
Each year the average heroin user costs society roughly the same as the US median income
Interesting and fun fact though. While doing my informal survey I did notice that whenever the topic of cops or real actual jail time came up, the addicts became unanimously nervous. Probably not from the stigma of jail, but because their internal addict-demon knows that if they are incarcerated, the using comes to a full-stop immediately. That's a situation they fear more than anything. Huge disincentive.
Minimum security work prisons with drug dogs making regular rounds of the cells? Just a thought. Would be cheaper than each and every single heroin addict stealing $36,000 worth of stuff from others, forcing them to become in despair, indigent and likely to turn to drugs....
Discuss.
Then CA has decriminalized meth and heroin use, and other narcotics. You can be arrested over and over and over in CA for possession/use of heroin and nothing happens to you. Using the same justification of "medical uses and popularity", look for CA to begin softening laws on distributing heroin as well. After all, think of the profits CA could make off of other states where it's illegal?
Everyone is familiar with the costs of heroin addiction in terms of overdose. Everyone knows someone who has lost a dear family member from heroin overdose. That never used to be the case. Now it is. Welcome to post-liberaltopia 2018.
But what most people don't sit down and pencil out is actual costs $$ to hardworking citizens and insurance companies from heroin addiction's #1 spinoff: indigence. Heroin addicts are unemployable. They just are. So they quickly become indigent and homeless. But while they are homeless, their addiction rages on. I've been doing an informal survey of some addicts I know. Each one has on average, about $100/day habit. That's $3,000/month and $36,000/year. Many addicts use much more dope than this per day so this is a relatively conservative estimate.
Each one.
Think about that for a minute. Crime rates in my area have escalated to the point of ridiculousness. People can't leave their homes. Bands of coordinated roving addicts patrol and case streets for signs of temporary lulls in occupancy (such as running to the store, God forbid a vacation). used to be your random heroin addict wasn't your next door neighbor. Now bunches of them live right near you so they case your daily habits and know when you go out & return. Because they share the same loserdom, they band together frequently and form "drug families" that support each others' using and stealing and fencing to get money to use more. These addicts are making us prisoners in our own homes. These "families" coordinate. They really do. And the situation is reaching a tipping point.
As they steal and steal and steal to not become dope sick, insurance claims skyrocket. At some point something has to give.
Each year the average heroin user costs society roughly the same as the US median income
^^ I'd say that's a very conservative estimate. I estimated in my small area that just our region the hidden (theft/insurance claims) costs are $30 million. That doesn't even include the healthcare we have to provide these addicts, the food stamp cards, spread of diseases like HIV and Hep C that come with shooting up, other welfare programs, removal of child custody, foster care, temporary housing...all while they have zero intentions or indeed ability to get off the drugs....and all while certain states have zero disincentives for them to not start in the first place, or to get clean once they have.
Interesting and fun fact though. While doing my informal survey I did notice that whenever the topic of cops or real actual jail time came up, the addicts became unanimously nervous. Probably not from the stigma of jail, but because their internal addict-demon knows that if they are incarcerated, the using comes to a full-stop immediately. That's a situation they fear more than anything. Huge disincentive.
Minimum security work prisons with drug dogs making regular rounds of the cells? Just a thought. Would be cheaper than each and every single heroin addict stealing $36,000 worth of stuff from others, forcing them to become in despair, indigent and likely to turn to drugs....
Discuss.
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