> It is not the war on drugs that is destroying the U.S's lower class, it's the ridiculous prison sentences.
I don't see these two things as separable.
> But then you have the issue of regulating or even organizing the legal (private) distribution of drugs. I don't see that ending well at all.
Perhaps you are right, but it is my opinion that it is the very illegality of drug abuse that makes it so difficult to treat, especially for the harder drugs. If you read the Portugal study you find that addicts that are not threatened with jail time or other criminal sanction are more likely to seek and pursue treatment. And Portugal has a small fraction of the funds for treatment available as the US would have if it repurposed it's "Drug War" budgets for treatment, so you could imagine that such policies would be more effective here.
One key additional concept from Greenwald's report is that individuals who choose to avoid hard drugs are not dissuaded by their illegality just as they are not dissuaded by the harm that these drugs cause. Furthermore, individuals who would otherwise choose not to do drugs don't change their minds because the criminal sanction disappears. Choosing to do hard drugs involves a decision-making process that requires a person to disregard signifiant harm to their person. This insensitivity towards risk on the part of the addict means that criminal sanction simply does not have the deterrent effect one would expect; inversely, non-drug users are deterred primarily by the ill effects to their health and wellbeing, so drug's illegality barely enters into the equation.
I don't see these two things as separable.
> But then you have the issue of regulating or even organizing the legal (private) distribution of drugs. I don't see that ending well at all.
Perhaps you are right, but it is my opinion that it is the very illegality of drug abuse that makes it so difficult to treat, especially for the harder drugs. If you read the Portugal study you find that addicts that are not threatened with jail time or other criminal sanction are more likely to seek and pursue treatment. And Portugal has a small fraction of the funds for treatment available as the US would have if it repurposed it's "Drug War" budgets for treatment, so you could imagine that such policies would be more effective here.
One key additional concept from Greenwald's report is that individuals who choose to avoid hard drugs are not dissuaded by their illegality just as they are not dissuaded by the harm that these drugs cause. Furthermore, individuals who would otherwise choose not to do drugs don't change their minds because the criminal sanction disappears. Choosing to do hard drugs involves a decision-making process that requires a person to disregard signifiant harm to their person. This insensitivity towards risk on the part of the addict means that criminal sanction simply does not have the deterrent effect one would expect; inversely, non-drug users are deterred primarily by the ill effects to their health and wellbeing, so drug's illegality barely enters into the equation.