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Pro pots come up with dozens of studies that prove marijuana is a miracle "drug" that should be taken by all people at all times, like vitamins. I've known enough drug addicts to know that they ALL think that their drug of choice is the best thing to ever happen to them.
Except, these cures aren't really used! Nothing is really cutting lung cancer tumor growth. At best, the very best that legitimate studies come up with is that if someone is sufficiently high, their symptoms will be masked by drug use. At the same time, the medical findings that pot causes strokes, heart attacks, cannabis psychosis and permanently damage the developing brains of children are all dismissed as phony, flawed, and the result of anti pot reefer madness.
The reality is pot use is growing, spreading. Our doctors and technical workers are coming from India, our chemists, scientists, nuclear physicists and engineers are coming from China. Growth in drug use is companioned by a downgrade in education. We used to be first. A few more years of drugs and we'll be joining Portugal.
I really don't care that America is rapidly developing an international reputation as a nation made up of lazy drug users. I do mind sharing space with these zombies who have turned pot infested neighborhoods into a Walking Dead set.
All pot addicts can say is "it's not true". Keep saying it. You need to say it. It is all that justifies the unjustifiable.
This is actually funny. You deal with pot smokers every day...and you don't even know it!
Also note: far and away the best auto body man I have ever seen is a pothead. He's a stoner...but hand him a piece of flat sheetmetal, and he can turn it into a perfectly-formed fender! I found out about him from a dude with a street rod pickup. He needed a bed side he couldn't find...this dude used his other one as a template and literally MADE one from scratch; it is perfect in every detail. I have seen him repair panels others had said were not repairable. He repaired a dent in a very-difficult spot (just behind the driver's door, right at the body line) on my de Ville...and did a good enough job that he didn't need any filler. It looks like it was never touched...and the car is painted Tuxedo Black, which shows every tiny flaw!
I don't deal with potheads every day anymore because I am in a position where I don't have to do that anymore. But I certainly did and knew it every time. Potheads are like drunks, they always think that no one can tell. They always think they do a much better job high than they do sober. Just like drunks. It's the same mind. The same sort of rationalization. Just like a drunk, you might get a pothead in a sober moment and get some kind of performance out of them that's just luck.
The one thing I can say about potheads is that you can talk one into anything. Drunks, especially mean drunks become very suspicious of others. Potheads, at least until they descend into psychosis, can be convinced the sky is purple and falling. As a young woman, I have used that to my benefit many many times.
Or didn't you know that pot causes erectile dysfunction?
Hard evidence on cannabis use and erectile dysfunction
Marijuana and Erectile Dysfunction | SexHealthMatters.org
Tsk tsk, it's like pot users haven't made the connection between the rise in pot use and no other rise, except in Viagra commercials.
Shhhhh. No one is going to mention the connection. It will be our little secret.
Pro pots come up with dozens of studies that prove marijuana is a miracle "drug" that should be taken by all people at all times, like vitamins. I've known enough drug addicts to know that they ALL think that their drug of choice is the best thing to ever happen to them.
Except, these cures aren't really used! Nothing is really cutting lung cancer tumor growth. At best, the very best that legitimate studies come up with is that if someone is sufficiently high, their symptoms will be masked by drug use. At the same time, the medical findings that pot causes strokes, heart attacks, cannabis psychosis and permanently damage the developing brains of children are all dismissed as phony, flawed, and the result of anti pot reefer madness.
The reality is pot use is growing, spreading. Our doctors and technical workers are coming from India, our chemists, scientists, nuclear physicists and engineers are coming from China. Growth in drug use is companioned by a downgrade in education. We used to be first. A few more years of drugs and we'll be joining Portugal.
I really don't care that America is rapidly developing an international reputation as a nation made up of lazy drug users. I do mind sharing space with these zombies who have turned pot infested neighborhoods into a Walking Dead set.
All pot addicts can say is "it's not true". Keep saying it. You need to say it. It is all that justifies the unjustifiable.
Most violent crime is a result of the illicit factor! Do you think that 80,000, people in Mexico would have been murdered if it was legal? Did you learn anything from prohibition? Making something illegal does not put a dent in it's availibility; all drugs are readily availible, and will continue to be irregardless of the punitive consequences - the more illegal something is, the more lucrative; criminally appealing it is!Let's outlaw booze - it's deleterious affect are horrible. Nevermind; we've been there, and done that - turned out like shit just like the drug war.
How about the anti depressants? There was never that many depressed people until they started prescribing
that shit?
I could care less what you put down your throat, up your ass, or in your lungsAs long as you don't injure others, or put them in harms way
Isn't doing the same thing over, and over while seeking a different affect?
So you legalize drugs and believe it will get better! What happens when violent crime quadruples in the country, because you legalized meth? What happens when organized crime and the drug cartels continue to supply America and the world with crack and heroin? All you have done is assist them to do it. What makes you think doing stupid things can't make a bad situation much worse? Pot won't be a problem, because people will just grow their own, but those other drugs will be a problem and the freedom to use them can become your problem. Gangs will continue to supply neighborhoods and shoot it out for control, as their empire expands. It takes more than just saying as long as you don't hurt people. Even a normal law abiding citizen is made prone for violence by taking meth. Your solution is stupid and appears to be driven by mindless ideology.
Legalize pot, except for export. If you want to wipe out the Mexican drug cartels and most of our country's violence, go to country's like Bolivia and stop the problem at the source. There won't be any crack on our streets for drug gangs to war over. That will free up the resources to go after meth labs.
The bottom line is that Americans like, and will obtain their drugs at a high personal, and societal cost. If they were legal, the cost to society would be mitigated greatly; the impetus for violent crime associated with illicit gain would be all but wiped out! Instead of branding people for life as a felon because they wanted a buzz, and feeding the penal monstocities, resources could be channeled to educate, and treat dependantcy!
Explain to me how the drug war is a net plus! Why don't you make the same argument with booze, or cigarettes? The drug war is the biggest fucking debacle we have ever instituted!
Take a look at Portugal!
We have capitulated on illegal imigration because the numbers are overwhelming. The number of Americans who desire illicit drugs are far, far greater - do the math. Why the hell would you advocate a war with mass American casualties ( all of us ) that you cannot win?
Your reasoning must have an alterior base. Do you profit from the drug war?
People who want to outlaw weed are control freaks and should get checked for possible mental instability.
You do know that everyone who uses marijuana doesn't conform with the Cheech & Chong stereotype, don't you?You can't reason with potheads. You can only feed them Cheetos and hope they shut up.
No reason to put them in jail, though.
Did you know that our government at one time urged farmer to grow more cannabis?
[used to make ropes for sailing ships and during WWI and WWII]
Did you know that our government at one time urged farmer to grow more cannabis?
[used to make ropes for sailing ships and during WWI and WWII]
Heres a vid and thread that tells all about it:
Hemp for victory
But it seems Dubya and some others aren't yet ready for that info because still trying to reconcile their positions with the web of life reality...next step in reality edu 101 would be about personal responsibility and freedom etc in that the more responsibility folks are trusted with it follows that the more responsible they tend to be, especially when you assure they have their basic unalienable self evident rights etc because it tends to keep people reminded of who and what they are as humans etc...
That is as good a layman-level presentation of the mechanics of addiction as I've ever read.I don't think pot use is increasing in America based on what I read and I see misinformation from zealots of both sides of the pot issue. I'm not on the bandwagon either way on the issue of legalizing pot. I think it would be better to legalize it and it may have the potential to remove people from more harmful drugs. THC is a legal drug in America and it's been tested and found not to be addicting. Those are the facts from clinical studies, just like it's a fact that THC is used to treat certain conditions and is proven effective.
The properties of addiction are rooted in using a drug that mimics an important biochemical function. The studies indicate the body often responds to the externally given drug as if it's producing too much of that related natural chemical. Since balance is so important for good health, the body may atrophy some of the cells that produce the natural compound. The more the person takes the drug, the more the body is thrown out of balance, because it doesn't have time to replace the cells when the drug isn't externally taken. As the person takes more of the drug, more natural chemical producing cells are destroyed. Once the body is way out of balance, it can take a long time and can be quite painful getting it back to balance.
Similar things can happen with the body altering complex biochemical production, but the point is the same. Taking the drug that mimics a natural biochemical function fools the way the body regulates it's balance.
Some drugs are known to do this and others don't. Since THC targets receptors, it's effect is short enough to not trigger an important biochemical change. The person may become psychologically addicted to the behavior, but it doesn't produce physical addiction. Once the person stops playing head games with themselves, they can go on and not even want the drug. A person can become psychologically addicted to all kinds of behavior, like a video game or cell phone, so it isn't anything like true addiction. Often a psychological addiction will stop just because it becomes boring.
While I believe sweeping legalization of all presently banned drugs would be a bad idea because it would occur as a traumatic transition and if the effect were severely negative it would be difficult to regain control. A much better approach to weaning away from the existing brute force drug war would be to decriminalize marijuana. Then, when the public becomes accustomed to that level of relaxation, establish regulations for production and distribution to adults according to the existing liquor distribution model.So you legalize drugs and believe it will get better! What happens when violent crime quadruples in the country, because you legalized meth? What happens when organized crime and the drug cartels continue to supply America and the world with crack and heroin? All you have done is assist them to do it. What makes you think doing stupid things can't make a bad situation much worse? Pot won't be a problem, because people will just grow their own, but those other drugs will be a problem and the freedom to use them can become your problem. Gangs will continue to supply neighborhoods and shoot it out for control, as their empire expands. It takes more than just saying as long as you don't hurt people. Even a normal law abiding citizen is made prone for violence by taking meth. Your solution is stupid and appears to be driven by mindless ideology.
Legalize pot, except for export. If you want to wipe out the Mexican drug cartels and most of our country's violence, go to country's like Bolivia and stop the problem at the source. There won't be any crack on our streets for drug gangs to war over. That will free up the resources to go after meth labs.
While I believe sweeping legalization of all presently banned drugs would be a bad idea because it would occur as a traumatic transition and if the effect were severely negative it would be difficult to regain control. A much better approach to weaning away from the existing brute force drug war would be to decriminalize marijuana. Then, when the public becomes accustomed to that level of relaxation, establish regulations for production and distribution to adults according to the existing liquor distribution model.So you legalize drugs and believe it will get better! What happens when violent crime quadruples in the country, because you legalized meth? What happens when organized crime and the drug cartels continue to supply America and the world with crack and heroin? All you have done is assist them to do it. What makes you think doing stupid things can't make a bad situation much worse? Pot won't be a problem, because people will just grow their own, but those other drugs will be a problem and the freedom to use them can become your problem. Gangs will continue to supply neighborhoods and shoot it out for control, as their empire expands. It takes more than just saying as long as you don't hurt people. Even a normal law abiding citizen is made prone for violence by taking meth. Your solution is stupid and appears to be driven by mindless ideology.
Legalize pot, except for export. If you want to wipe out the Mexican drug cartels and most of our country's violence, go to country's like Bolivia and stop the problem at the source. There won't be any crack on our streets for drug gangs to war over. That will free up the resources to go after meth labs.
The next step could be registered addict access to inexpensive, clinically pure and measured doses of heroin along with sterile needles and syringes. This step would immediately produce a substantial reduction in existing levels of crime typically associated with heroin junkies (burglary, shoplifting, auto theft, street level prostitution, etc). Make treatment and gradual withdrawal programs available to addicts who are interested.
Beyond that I won't speculate on further steps where other, more dangerous and destructive, drugs are concerned. But having managed to break away from the wholly counterproductive brute force approach to dealing with marijuana and heroin use the acquired experience might suggest a potentially useful approach to such really hard drugs as freebase cocaine and amphetamines.
One thing I will suggest is the same approach which has been eminently successful in dealing with cigarette smoking, which is realistic and motivated public education. That method is what encouraged me to quit smoking cigarettes after my 35 year addiction to them and there is no question that cigarette smoking has substantially decreased.
As for those who simply cannot, or will not, break away from compulsive use or the really hard drugs, your suggestion of voluntary isolation with unlimited access to one's choice of poison is the best idea I can think of. Because I strongly believe degenerate hard core drug use is slow-motion suicide.
Did you know that our government at one time urged farmer to grow more cannabis?
[used to make ropes for sailing ships and during WWI and WWII]
This is actually funny. You deal with pot smokers every day...and you don't even know it!
Also note: far and away the best auto body man I have ever seen is a pothead. He's a stoner...but hand him a piece of flat sheetmetal, and he can turn it into a perfectly-formed fender! I found out about him from a dude with a street rod pickup. He needed a bed side he couldn't find...this dude used his other one as a template and literally MADE one from scratch; it is perfect in every detail. I have seen him repair panels others had said were not repairable. He repaired a dent in a very-difficult spot (just behind the driver's door, right at the body line) on my de Ville...and did a good enough job that he didn't need any filler. It looks like it was never touched...and the car is painted Tuxedo Black, which shows every tiny flaw!
I don't deal with potheads every day anymore because I am in a position where I don't have to do that anymore. But I certainly did and knew it every time. Potheads are like drunks, they always think that no one can tell. They always think they do a much better job high than they do sober. Just like drunks. It's the same mind. The same sort of rationalization. Just like a drunk, you might get a pothead in a sober moment and get some kind of performance out of them that's just luck.
The one thing I can say about potheads is that you can talk one into anything. Drunks, especially mean drunks become very suspicious of others. Potheads, at least until they descend into psychosis, can be convinced the sky is purple and falling. As a young woman, I have used that to my benefit many many times.
Or didn't you know that pot causes erectile dysfunction?
Hard evidence on cannabis use and erectile dysfunction
Marijuana and Erectile Dysfunction | SexHealthMatters.org
Tsk tsk, it's like pot users haven't made the connection between the rise in pot use and no other rise, except in Viagra commercials.
Shhhhh. No one is going to mention the connection. It will be our little secret.
Pro pots come up with dozens of studies that prove marijuana is a miracle "drug" that should be taken by all people at all times, like vitamins. I've known enough drug addicts to know that they ALL think that their drug of choice is the best thing to ever happen to them.
Except, these cures aren't really used! Nothing is really cutting lung cancer tumor growth. At best, the very best that legitimate studies come up with is that if someone is sufficiently high, their symptoms will be masked by drug use. At the same time, the medical findings that pot causes strokes, heart attacks, cannabis psychosis and permanently damage the developing brains of children are all dismissed as phony, flawed, and the result of anti pot reefer madness.
The reality is pot use is growing, spreading. Our doctors and technical workers are coming from India, our chemists, scientists, nuclear physicists and engineers are coming from China. Growth in drug use is companioned by a downgrade in education. We used to be first. A few more years of drugs and we'll be joining Portugal.
I really don't care that America is rapidly developing an international reputation as a nation made up of lazy drug users. I do mind sharing space with these zombies who have turned pot infested neighborhoods into a Walking Dead set.
All pot addicts can say is "it's not true". Keep saying it. You need to say it. It is all that justifies the unjustifiable.
This is actually funny. You deal with pot smokers every day...and you don't even know it!
Also note: far and away the best auto body man I have ever seen is a pothead. He's a stoner...but hand him a piece of flat sheetmetal, and he can turn it into a perfectly-formed fender! I found out about him from a dude with a street rod pickup. He needed a bed side he couldn't find...this dude used his other one as a template and literally MADE one from scratch; it is perfect in every detail. I have seen him repair panels others had said were not repairable. He repaired a dent in a very-difficult spot (just behind the driver's door, right at the body line) on my de Ville...and did a good enough job that he didn't need any filler. It looks like it was never touched...and the car is painted Tuxedo Black, which shows every tiny flaw!
Pro pots come up with dozens of studies that prove marijuana is a miracle "drug" that should be taken by all people at all times, like vitamins. I've known enough drug addicts to know that they ALL think that their drug of choice is the best thing to ever happen to them.
Except, these cures aren't really used! Nothing is really cutting lung cancer tumor growth. At best, the very best that legitimate studies come up with is that if someone is sufficiently high, their symptoms will be masked by drug use. At the same time, the medical findings that pot causes strokes, heart attacks, cannabis psychosis and permanently damage the developing brains of children are all dismissed as phony, flawed, and the result of anti pot reefer madness.
The reality is pot use is growing, spreading. Our doctors and technical workers are coming from India, our chemists, scientists, nuclear physicists and engineers are coming from China. Growth in drug use is companioned by a downgrade in education. We used to be first. A few more years of drugs and we'll be joining Portugal.
I really don't care that America is rapidly developing an international reputation as a nation made up of lazy drug users. I do mind sharing space with these zombies who have turned pot infested neighborhoods into a Walking Dead set.
All pot addicts can say is "it's not true". Keep saying it. You need to say it. It is all that justifies the unjustifiable.
This is actually funny. You deal with pot smokers every day...and you don't even know it!
Also note: far and away the best auto body man I have ever seen is a pothead. He's a stoner...but hand him a piece of flat sheetmetal, and he can turn it into a perfectly-formed fender! I found out about him from a dude with a street rod pickup. He needed a bed side he couldn't find...this dude used his other one as a template and literally MADE one from scratch; it is perfect in every detail. I have seen him repair panels others had said were not repairable. He repaired a dent in a very-difficult spot (just behind the driver's door, right at the body line) on my de Ville...and did a good enough job that he didn't need any filler. It looks like it was never touched...and the car is painted Tuxedo Black, which shows every tiny flaw!
I wonder how much of the music that she listens to was created on pot.
Marijuana is, without a doubt, the most popular illicit drug in use in America. It has retained its popularity through decades, although its use is declining overall. Marijuana is so popular (39.8 percent of the U.S. population has tried marijuana at least once) in part because it is regarded as a relatively "safe" drug. However, efforts to educate youth about marijuana substance abuse may be contributing to its slight decline.
This is actually funny. You deal with pot smokers every day...and you don't even know it!
Also note: far and away the best auto body man I have ever seen is a pothead. He's a stoner...but hand him a piece of flat sheetmetal, and he can turn it into a perfectly-formed fender! I found out about him from a dude with a street rod pickup. He needed a bed side he couldn't find...this dude used his other one as a template and literally MADE one from scratch; it is perfect in every detail. I have seen him repair panels others had said were not repairable. He repaired a dent in a very-difficult spot (just behind the driver's door, right at the body line) on my de Ville...and did a good enough job that he didn't need any filler. It looks like it was never touched...and the car is painted Tuxedo Black, which shows every tiny flaw!
I wonder how much of the music that she listens to was created on pot.
I don't understand her.
Marijuana is, without a doubt, the most popular illicit drug in use in America. It has retained its popularity through decades, although its use is declining overall. Marijuana is so popular (39.8 percent of the U.S. population has tried marijuana at least once) in part because it is regarded as a relatively "safe" drug. However, efforts to educate youth about marijuana substance abuse may be contributing to its slight decline.
Source: Marijuana Use Facts - Marijuana Statistics on Addiction and Abuse
The US ranks third in marijuana use and Mexico is 24th. The top countries are European and former British colonies.
Cannabis use statistics - countries compared worldwide - NationMaster
I wonder how much of the music that she listens to was created on pot.
I don't understand her.
Marijuana is, without a doubt, the most popular illicit drug in use in America. It has retained its popularity through decades, although its use is declining overall. Marijuana is so popular (39.8 percent of the U.S. population has tried marijuana at least once) in part because it is regarded as a relatively "safe" drug. However, efforts to educate youth about marijuana substance abuse may be contributing to its slight decline.
Source: Marijuana Use Facts - Marijuana Statistics on Addiction and Abuse
The US ranks third in marijuana use and Mexico is 24th. The top countries are European and former British colonies.
Cannabis use statistics - countries compared worldwide - NationMaster
Perhaps this is because the education of American youth regarding marijuana has gotten away from the Reefer Madness 'facts'.
While I believe sweeping legalization of all presently banned drugs would be a bad idea because it would occur as a traumatic transition and if the effect were severely negative it would be difficult to regain control. A much better approach to weaning away from the existing brute force drug war would be to decriminalize marijuana. Then, when the public becomes accustomed to that level of relaxation, establish regulations for production and distribution to adults according to the existing liquor distribution model.So you legalize drugs and believe it will get better! What happens when violent crime quadruples in the country, because you legalized meth? What happens when organized crime and the drug cartels continue to supply America and the world with crack and heroin? All you have done is assist them to do it. What makes you think doing stupid things can't make a bad situation much worse? Pot won't be a problem, because people will just grow their own, but those other drugs will be a problem and the freedom to use them can become your problem. Gangs will continue to supply neighborhoods and shoot it out for control, as their empire expands. It takes more than just saying as long as you don't hurt people. Even a normal law abiding citizen is made prone for violence by taking meth. Your solution is stupid and appears to be driven by mindless ideology.
Legalize pot, except for export. If you want to wipe out the Mexican drug cartels and most of our country's violence, go to country's like Bolivia and stop the problem at the source. There won't be any crack on our streets for drug gangs to war over. That will free up the resources to go after meth labs.
The next step could be registered addict access to inexpensive, clinically pure and measured doses of heroin along with sterile needles and syringes. This step would immediately produce a substantial reduction in existing levels of crime typically associated with heroin junkies (burglary, shoplifting, auto theft, street level prostitution, etc). Make treatment and gradual withdrawal programs available to addicts who are interested.
Beyond that I won't speculate on further steps where other, more dangerous and destructive, drugs are concerned. But having managed to break away from the wholly counterproductive brute force approach to dealing with marijuana and heroin use the acquired experience might suggest a potentially useful approach to such really hard drugs as freebase cocaine and amphetamines.
One thing I will suggest is the same approach which has been eminently successful in dealing with cigarette smoking, which is realistic and motivated public education. That method is what encouraged me to quit smoking cigarettes after my 35 year addiction to them and there is no question that cigarette smoking has substantially decreased.
As for those who simply cannot, or will not, break away from compulsive use or the really hard drugs, your suggestion of voluntary isolation with unlimited access to one's choice of poison is the best idea I can think of. Because I strongly believe degenerate hard core drug use is slow-motion suicide.
I don't think a particular political ideology or philosophical approach can deal with all drugs, because they all have their unique properties and ways of affecting society.
Starting off with legal drugs, I've had the opinion that cigarette smoking and tobacco use is so physically addicting that the best approach would be removing purchasing it from the general public. What gave me the concept was noticing how hard liquor was dealt with in Onslow County, North Carolina, when I was stationed at Camp Lejeune. We could buy beer and wine in a Mom and Pop store, but the beer was only 3.2% alcohol, which is good for that hot climate. To buy anything stronger than wine, you had to go to the ABC store, which stands for Alcohol Beverage Commission. These stores weren't allowed to have advertisement and were only allowed to have an ABC sign outside. I'm fairly sure there was also a law that they had to be a separated from other shopping areas, so what I remember was a plain brick building with only an ABC sign above the door. They didn't even have advertisement inside the store to suggest a product. You definitely had the feeling going there that you were a social outcast from the citizens of that county, tolerated, but not appreciated. I figured the best thing to do with cigarettes was to phase quickly out the machines and do a similar phase out for other places that sold cigarettes and tobacco products. I figured around a two year phase out period and placing future sales in tobacco or liquor stores where strict ID applied, meaning anyone even looking close to being underage is carded, with stiff penalties up to losing your license for serving a minor. I'm not saying the businesses have to be like those ABC stores, but concept is to remove advertising and restrict the product to special locations for sales, just like all alcohol is restricted to only liquor stores in my state. My hope was such a system would prevent a new generation of smokers or drastically cut their numbers down. Other common sense measures like warning of the dangers of smoking in schools a couple of times a year starting at a fairly young age was also part of my concept. I never considered taxing and raising the price of an addicting substance to be a just idea considering many started smoking before the harmful effects were known and it was encouraged.
I'd suggest a similar approach to marijuana, but I don't like these stores in cities taking advantage of the high cost of pot and governments gaming the system. Pot could be put in liquor and tobacco stores, just like cigarettes. Pot is so harmless, I say legalize it except for exports, which is a treaty violation. I'd like to see it kept so cheap that there is no black market interest in it, just like there wouldn't be black market interest in cigarettes without the taxes. My state doesn't have a sales tax, but the only tax on pot should be the normal sales tax in states that raise revenue that way. Most people would just grow and freeze their own supply of pot, so all that money saved would be able to be spent on more productive products in our society. Obviously, I firmly support progressive taxation to the point of removing all excise taxes, except on a short list of luxury goods. I don't even believe in highway tolls or other hidden taxes.
I have a similar approach to you about heroin and other truly harmful drugs. I don't want users thrown in jail, but I want mandatory involvement in a program to deal with their drug problems, whether Methadone or whatever is the answer. The solution is to allow them to quickly plead guilty and get involved in dealing with their drug problems. They should be treated like sick people, but placed on probation with lose of liberty, so they can be checked in their homes. They should be required to surrender firearms. Care should be taken in devising any type of counseling or treatment program, because patronage and graft are often the rule and not the exception. The politicians will hand programs over to a fat cat, who will jack up the costs for their own profit. The rule of thumb should be find the cheapest way to effectively accomplish it and use existing government facilities that are owned and not rented, whenever possible. It's important to keep the costs low, because the people possessing the drugs are going to pay for it, which is a great incentive to get other heroin users and addicts involved to help pay the costs. A drug user without income should be a sure sign of other criminal behavior and alert immediate concern. I would make reporting for treatment or counseling a daily or every other day requirement, even if it's only a brief visit and stress frequent random drug testing.
With heroin and other harmful drugs on the user and dealer level, I'd suggest rewards for turning in the dealer or other dealers would work. Care should be taken that the award isn't used up in drugs, even with the person in a program, so the reward can be mostly or totally kept on the books for their treatment. The first step in dealing with a dealer is to lock them up to determine if they are a dealer or a user dealer and their behavior will usually allow that to be known, even if they are quickly out on bail, instead of pleading guilty. The solution really becomes carrot and stick police work at that level, if the person will not cooperate and get treatment. User dealers should be allowed to enter treatment whether incarcerated or not, but that has to be done with care to make sure they aren't dealing heroin or any drug for a living. I think it would be smart for Judges to require personal background checks as a condition of bail for anyone found in possession of drugs. The system should be interested in how the person lives and makes their money at that point and not later. Since a citizen has the right to a speedy trial, I'd give people caught with drugs every benefit of that right, even if I had to hold night court. Think about it, you get caught with a small amount of drugs, arrested and given a chance to plead guilty, when bail is set at a magistrate arraignment level, which can send you to a program. If the person chooses to plead not guilty or is caught with larger quantities of drug, they are quickly arraigned at the next court level, even if it's night court. If they continue to plead not guilty and want a jury trial, they're going to quickly get that wish, even if it's night court. Along the way the person can be sent to the prosecutor's office to review a possible deal. I personally think dealing with these drug cases quickly will eventually save a lot of court time, but some initial overtime may be required. The same quick path to justice and dealing with authorities like the prosecutor cutting a deal for a guilty plea could reduce a backlog of other cases and allow more concentation on important cases. The cops could even start the process by showing the person arrested what lies ahead with more specific and realistic details prepared by the prosecution, after giving them their rights and questioning them on video.
I still think the best way to deal with /cocaine/crack/coca is to destroy the plantations growing it before the March harvest, every two years if need be. Opium poppies are a different matter. Let's face it we are in Afghanistan and nothing has been done, but to increase production. I would think meth labs would have a unique chemical signature that could be traced. Doctors should be required to report the prescription drugs they prescribe and the pharmacy should check to see if the prescription has been reported. The doctor's ID, prescription number, date and the amount and type of drug is all the information required to identify a pill mill and the data can be checked by simple computer programs to locate criminal activity.
