It's worth looking at what has worked in other countries, and there seem to be two solutions:
1) Go the Singapore/China route and make the penalty for both use and dealing extremely harsh. Often execution.
2) Go the Canada/Nordic country route and implement free injection clinics. Undercut the dealers with safe free or low cost drugs in return for counseling.
The evidence seems to suggest that DEA type enforcement where you simply seize drugs and lock up the dealers for 10-20 years is completely ineffective. It's like running a lottery where there's an immense payout, but also a small chance of going to prison for awhile. People are still going to play.
I'm definitely on #2, although it should be clear that abusing the substances should have consequences of some kind to serve a deterrent. Not sure how that looks but protecting people from falling into addiction is necessary because after addiction it's hard to help someone who seemingly wants to continue on an obviously destructive path. Maybe alcohol addiction could be first since it's already legal.
Comments
It's worth looking at what has worked in other countries, and there seem to be two solutions:
1) Go the Singapore/China route and make the penalty for both use and dealing extremely harsh. Often execution.
2) Go the Canada/Nordic country route and implement free injection clinics. Undercut the dealers with safe free or low cost drugs in return for counseling.
The evidence seems to suggest that DEA type enforcement where you simply seize drugs and lock up the dealers for 10-20 years is completely ineffective. It's like running a lottery where there's an immense payout, but also a small chance of going to prison for awhile. People are still going to play.
I'm definitely on #2, although it should be clear that abusing the substances should have consequences of some kind to serve a deterrent. Not sure how that looks but protecting people from falling into addiction is necessary because after addiction it's hard to help someone who seemingly wants to continue on an obviously destructive path. Maybe alcohol addiction could be first since it's already legal.
Singapore has a tiny border to police.
China is...well, China.