Spoken like a textbook authoritarian submissive.
While I wouldn't expect Big Pharma to collectively come out for legalizing heroin, cocaine, MDMA (ecstasy), etc., it would serve their projected interest to quietly contribute to and promote some form of legalized access to those substances. Any argument to the contrary must first justify continued drug law enforcement, which is clearly futile, wasteful, and totally counterproductive.
One of the counterproductive effects of the drug war is the number of people who have been made virtually unemployable by their criminal records, which are accessible to prospective employers and, mainly because of the Social Security number, remain an almost inescapable stigma. Except for their involvement with an illegal drug, which can be as relatively insignificant as minor marijuana possession, some of the affected individuals were otherwise decent, law-abiding citizens who never harmed anyone but whose lives have been effectively ruined by the scarlet letter of their drug histories. Many of them end up on welfare because they simply cannot find work, while others turn to crime. Still it remains extremely rare that any significant public official even vaguely suggests an alternative to this utterly destructive legacy of the Reagan presidency.No victim; no crime. What these zero tolerant morons don't get is that when you take a non predator ( drug offender ) and enculturate them in an enviroment of predators, when they are released, they are never able to fully reintergrate into society - as they probably are now gang affiliated, and are branded with the title of felon for life. They likely don't own anything anymore, and they are instituionalized - a form of mental illness.
Do we really want a bunch of sick, broke, violent, probably dependant on the government for life, intering society by the tens of thousands every month. What about their children, and the deleterious ramifications associated thereto?
I agree that you should not do the crime if you can't do the time - or if you don't want to face the death penalty. However, you shouldn't have to do the time if you have no victim / accuser!
The drug war is terribly counter productive - privatizing the prison system is stupid, and will lead to more people being incarcerated that don't need to be, and more decadence for us all to deal with; a perpetual nightmare
