Originally Posted By: HippieKiller
Drug laws only lead to higher incarceration rates and higher death rates.

The drug related death rate per 100,000 citizens for the US of A is 6.96. (That puts us at #3 globally). Compare that to other countries with strict drug laws: Iran @ 6.28 (#4 globally) and Cambodia @ 4.84 (#11 globally).

Now, contrast those results with Portugal who decriminalized ALL drugs... their death rate is 0.60 which puts them at #114.

100% decriminalization would cause a spike in deaths on the short haul (while all the idiots weeded themselves out) and would be much lower & cheaper on society over the long haul.


It would also lead to increased usage from the increased ease of access. More broken marriages and homes. More Grandparents raising grandchildren. More tools stolen from work trucks and taken to pawn shops to buy heroine with. Got a friend going through all this with his daughter right now.

Seeing what it is putting him and his wife through is enough for me to take a pretty hard stance against it.

"The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him."
-G. K. Chesterton