I suspect that Jared and I actually have pretty similar views when it comes to society's treatment of drugs and alcohol, especially the harmful effects of legal action against drug users and drug distributors. The war on drugs has definitely not done what it set out to do, and there's a frightening amount of institutional racism at play. That being said, the answer is not to completely stop prosecuting drug use.
I'm well aware of the dangers of logical fallacies. Namely, I know that many arguments about drug legalization and decriminalization involve the slippery slope argument - that decriminalization will lead to legalization, and so on. I'm not going to argue that.
Yes, there needs to be better education about the effects of drugs. Yes, zero tolerance policies are potentially very damaging to an individual's reputation. Yes, recovering drug users should be treated with respect and should have ample resources. But we need to draw the line somewhere, and I don't think that that line should allow for every citizen to be able to use every drug under the sun with no consequences.
Children absolutely need to be educated more thoroughly about drugs, aside from just the usual "drugs are bad" approach that some schools take. They should emerge from our education system knowing about the mental and physical effects of all the major drugs, why individuals choose to use these drugs and the resources they can use if drug use becomes a problem. I don't think that continuing to criminalize drugs will necessarily hinder this new education system. Instead, it will keep it away from children. It is a myth to think that decriminalizing all drugs will suddenly fix a multidimensional problem.
Actually, we should continue to work to improve neighborhoods where poor citizens are drawn to the drug trade as a source of revenue. This does not need to be coupled with drug decriminalization to be a viable strategy for tackling drug-abuse.
I agree wholeheartedly that the current tactics are not working, but I don't think the situation calls for such a drastic step.
