What country do you live in?

I've done loads of drugs for about 25 years and I have yet to see anyone "overdosing in front of me".

PS: it's not *your* country. It's everyone's, including the people who like to do drugs. The problem isn't drugs, it's an unusually harsh penal system that is unlike anything in any other western society. You've got to ask yourself one very simple question: Are Americans 100x more horrible than citizens in other western democracies, or are our policies harsh and unrealistic?

>> ^jmd:

Looks like cops and a dose of Mr Obvious.
The war on drugs is because a significant part of the population does not want drugs in their country. Now is it having a huge impact on us because of our poverty rates? yea.. if anything it is a holocaust on the dollar bill. The more we spend on drug wars, the more people that get poorer. There isn't a GOOD ending to this scenario.. either we stop fighting it or it will eventually makes us broke.. how ever...
Still doesn't stop the fact that we don't want these types of drugs around, or the people that use them. Find a different country if you want to shoot up. A country I can't go around without seeing people overdosing in front of me is not a country I wan't to live in.

I always feel like Goldilocks when it comes to the small vs. big government debate. I don't want a government too big, nor do I want a government that is too small. I want a government that is just the right size to be as efficient and effective as possible. >> ^xxovercastxx:

I love how the Sift suddenly believes in small government as soon as the topic shifts to drugs.

>> ^xxovercastxx:

I love how the Sift suddenly believes in small government as soon as the topic shifts to drugs.


I love how the right suddenly believes in big government as soon as the topic shifts to drugs (or reproductive medicine for that matter).

>> ^mxxcon:

If this movie will talk about a solution on the drug problem beside jails, that's good.
If this movie will just talks about how many people are sitting in jails, they should be released and drugs legalized, then it's nothing more but a surrenderist propaganda.


WTF is "surrenderist propaganda"? Surrender to who? The drugs themselves? The people on drugs?

Or is it those evil ambiguously South American drug lords?
<mcbain>MEEEEEEENNNNDOOOOOZZAAAA!!</mcbain>
Ya know, the ones that only exist because of our drug policies?

>> ^xxovercastxx:

I love how the Sift suddenly believes in small government as soon as the topic shifts to drugs.


Personally, I want a penal system that does what a penal system -should- do: rehabilitate those who can be rehabilitated, and isolate those who cannot from the rest of us. The war on drugs attempts and achieves neither. What I do -not- want from a penal system is one that provides a pool of slave labor for politically connected investors. The war on drugs is -really- good at that one.

It's a pure waste of money that could be better spent researching addiction, and how to treat it...something that has gotten little attention and less funding.

If anything, I want more government. I want a health care system in place for everyone. A health care system that also helps people with drug addiction and doesn't incarcerate them. I'd also like to see mental health addressed that way, as well. One day, I hope.

>> ^xxovercastxx:

I love how the Sift suddenly believes in small government as soon as the topic shifts to drugs.

>> ^xxovercastxx:

I love how the Sift suddenly believes in small government as soon as the topic shifts to drugs.


I would suggest that what many of us are advocating is a different deployment of resources. Rather than incarerating people that have an identifiable health problem, we fund programs that would enable those with drug-related issues the help they need.

Difficult task? You bet.

Easy fix? No way.

But at least it would be a step towards making things better rather than worse.

"Its not a war on drugs, its a war on personal freedom ... Keep that in mind at all times."
Bill Hicks

>> ^jmd:

Looks like cops and a dose of Mr Obvious.
The war on drugs is because a significant part of the population does not want drugs in their country. Now is it having a huge impact on us because of our poverty rates? yea.. if anything it is a holocaust on the dollar bill. The more we spend on drug wars, the more people that get poorer. There isn't a GOOD ending to this scenario.. either we stop fighting it or it will eventually makes us broke.. how ever...
Still doesn't stop the fact that we don't want these types of drugs around, or the people that use them. Find a different country if you want to shoot up. A country I can't go around without seeing people overdosing in front of me is not a country I wan't to live in.


This is a fine example of the sort of fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of drug use and addiction that keeps this war on the poor so profitable.

Looks like cops and a dose of Mr Obvious.

The war on drugs is because a significant part of the population does not want drugs in their country. Now is it having a huge impact on us because of our poverty rates? yea.. if anything it is a holocaust on the dollar bill. The more we spend on drug wars, the more people that get poorer. There isn't a GOOD ending to this scenario.. either we stop fighting it or it will eventually makes us broke.. how ever...

Still doesn't stop the fact that we don't want these types of drugs around, or the people that use them. Find a different country if you want to shoot up. A country I can't go around without seeing people overdosing in front of me is not a country I wan't to live in.

>> ^DuoJet:

oh, no shit?
Apparently it's one of those things that's so obvious to everyone involved, yet...not obvious enough for things to change?

Thanks brotha!
In reply to this comment by gwiz665:
Statist subversion at its finest: Drug War.
*quality *doublepromote

Congratulations! Your comment has just received enough votes from the community to earn you 1 Power Point. Thank you for your quality contribution to VideoSift.

the war on drugs is a fucking joke.

Peter Hitchens makes a good point about Brand not being able to deal in anything other than generalities though... good will, benevolence, etc are attitudes not plans/strategies... and aren't easily tied to a dollar figure... which is what the CRUX of the debate is about... some people place more value on $, some on compassion


Peter Hitchens tries to feign compassion by saying if drug addiction affects one family of course they care... well, compassion isn't compassion if you limit it only to yourself or those that directly affect you... REAL compassion isn't delimited by whether or not you know the person in question or not... REAL compassion is self-less

when the jingle in your pockets affects your "compassionate" view... you don't have a very compassionate view in the first place ( i guarantee some blockhead will try to take this to an extreme, such as "then why don't you give up all your money to help those less fortunate than you" instead of realizing that's not then end of the spectrum where my arguement comes from... it actually comes from reality where people don't wanna have to give up luxury [as opposed to necessity] to help someone that they can just as easily ignore or vilify)

and while the comment earlier about incarceration in the US is "somewhat" on the mark, lets not forget that the US prison system exists as it is primarily because its a private, for profit, industry... which shapes drug policy (gotta have your customer base - i mean inmates)

criminalization has always had an impotent effect on controlling drugs... from prohibition to THE WAR ON DRUGS (and the resulting chaos one finds in Mexico because of it)

there are PLENTY of countries that currently use legalization/rehabilitation as a much better deterrent/control; but we don't want to talk about those... because someone is making money of keeping them illegal, and where'd the poor politicians get their kickbacks from then?