Small-town cops face a big problem

Easy answer: legalize drugs. Prohibition never has worked, never will work. Violent gangs will erode away since they no longer have a very public transactional black market to feed off of. Violent crime will decrease as well, since there will no longer be needs for turf battles. The state will save untold billions on wasteful enforcement. Non-violent offenders will no longer be mixed with violent criminals in prison. Dedicate a fraction of that money to expanding rehab programs for those trying to quit and clean up their lives. Tax and regulate the drugs highly (same as we do for other "socially acceptable" drugs like alcohol and tobacco), and use it to plug budget gaps. Overdoses will plummet, since users will no longer have to worry about the purity or strength of a given dose.

People need to get off their moral high horses and realize its impossible to stop people from doing whatever they want to their own bodies. If they commit a crime while under the influence, then charge them with that crime. Otherwise, let people do whatever they want in the privacy of their own home.

Of course, thats not a politically popular idea, so we will keep on with the same failed policies we've wasted untold trillions on in the past century. And nothing will change.

According to some, if people aren't obeying the law, we should just change the law. That would solve all problems. Thus, here are the answers to all sticky legal questions: legalize drugs, legalize traffic violations, legalize fraud, legalize robbery, legalize violent assaults and legalize murder. There you have it! All society's problems solved in a simple and painless manner. That was easy, wasn't it?

Thought Patrol wrote:

According to some, if people aren't obeying the law, we should just change the law. That would solve all problems. Thus, here are the answers to all sticky legal questions: legalize drugs, legalize traffic violations, legalize fraud, legalize robbery, legalize violent assaults and legalize murder. There you have it! All society's problems solved in a simple and painless manner. That was easy, wasn't it?

So what's your idea? Keep fighting a war that can't be won?