We've made no progress at all since Reefer Madness came out in 1936. Reefer Madness and the similar crap was disproven when I was a kid in the 60s. In short the Establishment lied to us about marijuana.
Needless to say, many of us figured they lied to us about weed so they were probably lying to us about heroin and that probably created a pretty good number of junkies.
Incidentally when I figured out that the Establishment was being less than honest I got curious and that was my unwoke awakening. I've been skeptical about government, Top Men, and the Establishment ever since.
I didn't have a serious bent toward drugs other than alcohol. What kept me out of the drug scene other than on the very fringes was what I noticed about those deep into it.
I noticed that druggies were often getting ripped off or were ripping someone else off, getting beaten up and in the case of someone I knew personally, murdered.
The murder victim was an idiot that had saved $10,000 and planned on scoring $10K worth of coke in Anchorage and returning to Kodiak to double his money. He didn't know how to keep his mouth shut and while I don't know what happened his body was reportedly found at the Anchorage dump.
I just looked at the people around me and decided I didn't want to be a part of it. I pretty much steered clear of the drug scene.
We've spent too damned much time and treasure trying to regulate the behavior of drug abusers. It's time to change our tack and go either one way or the other.
Either we get a big, bearded turbaned Saracen (Straight out of 1001 Arabian Nights and complete with those curled up pointy shoes with bells on the tip) with a huge scimitar a to say "Goomzebah!" and lop the heads off of drug abusers or we legalize it and tax it appropriately.
By taxing it appropriately I do not mean taking out 'The gouger's handbook' like they did when they legalized pot in Colorado. Certainly not the way that the feds and states have done with tobacco to try and force people to quit. All that will do is to permit the current black market created by criminalization to continue. A reasonable tax would be acceptable with the caveat that is to be used ONLY for rehabilitation and drug related things.
Making it affordable would certainly cut down on drug related crime.
Speaking of the black market, a couple of months ago I was offered a carton of Marlboro Reds for $50. While I could have easily resold them for $75, I passed.
What we have been doing for about a century hasn't done anyone any real good. Druggies still drug, the black market still runs, people are still getting ripped off, beaten and killed. In spite of squandering our treasure nothing has changed. I suppose on the positive side it's created law enforcement jobs for people that want to do thankless work.
The entire war on drugs has been a big waste of money.
Legalize it all and let Darwin sort it out.
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