re: Why are drugs and prostitution illegal?

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How would meth being legal lessen the $300,000,000 cost that one hospital faces yearly from treating dug addicts?

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Well it's already been covered but a quick recap: a regulated market results in less health risk for the public, better manufacturing results in fewer lab explosions and legal distribution results in less violence.

The same way doctors don't treat moonshine blindness with the same frequency they did a hundred years ago.

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Well it's already been covered but a quick recap: a regulated market results in less health risk for the public, better manufacturing results in fewer lab explosions and legal distribution results in less violence.

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Using meth in and of itself causes huge health problems. That's what you're not understanding. There is no safe way to use meth without risking serious medical side effects. That's just as true for the local "shake-n-bake" meth as the high grade stuff made in professional grade Mexican meth labs.

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Well i don't agree with that, all things are safe in moderation but we'll agree to disagree. Even if it was straight poison putting the user in an immediate comma, it would still be worth legalizing to curb the violence.

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Setting aside the absurd "war on drugs", I don't think the biggest problem with Meth is violence from the illegal trade. Rather I think the biggest problem it's causing for society is the massive cost of treating those addicted to it.


Here's a good read on the cost of meth...

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Usually when we hear the word "cost," we think in terms of money. Although there are significant monetary costs associated with methamphetamine abuse, there are also human costs to consider. The physical effects (brain damage, kidney and lung disorders, liver damage, and even death) as well as psychological damage (severe depression and at times paranoid psychosis) to meth users were discussed last week and are obvious personal costs. But what about the lost potential of those persons with their families, at school or work? Additionally, the violent behavior, frequently associated with methamphetamine abuse hurts others. Family and close friends are often targets of the meth-user's violence. Police in Contra Costa County, California, report that nearly 90 % of the domestic violence calls they investigate are methamphetamine related. Law enforcement officers and jail personnel may also be subjected to the meth abuser's physical aggression. Then, of course, there is the violence and killing among the methamphetamine distributors, directed toward others for the purpose of intimidation, retaliation, or discipline.

And what about communication in the family? Who's raising the meth abuser's children? Many have neglected their dependents's welfare and need for guidance, opting instead for a relationship with methamphetamine. In adolescence, communication with family members is difficult enough. This is a time when the adolescent is caught between desire for independence and adult privilege, but has not fully developed the necessary capacity to effectively assume adult responsibilities and leave childhood behind. Meth use further complicates family communication and stifles social development. Symptoms such as irritability, false sense of power and confidence, aggression, confusion, anxiety, and depression make it even more difficult for teens to effectively accomplish the developmental tasks of the adolescent phase of life. Meth users often become promiscuous and are at increased risk for contracting and spreading sexually transmitted diseases. Unwanted pregnancies may also result, and the physical and emotional damage can be devastating.

Diseases such as HIV and hepatitis-C (which incidentally progresses to chronic hepatitis in more than 50% of those infected) are also readily transmitted by intravenous (I.V.) drug use, and statistics show that 29 % of all methamphetamine users in the state of Wyoming are using injection as their preferred primary route of administration for this drug. Automobile accidents are another hazard to which meth use contributes and innocent people may be affected. Increased crime is also associated with meth abuse.

Because profit from manufacture and sale of methamphetamine is high and the drug is relatively easy to synthesize, home labs are set up readily in local communities. This is problematic because the volatile and toxic nature of some of the chemicals needed to make meth pose a high risk of explosion and fire. Additionally, although the used chemicals constitute hazardous wastes, they are typically disposed of by dumping on the ground nearby the "lab" where inadvertent contact by children or pets may cause harm.

There are also monetary costs to society associated with methamphetamine abuse. Although these costs are difficult to estimate, two landmark studies are cited when comparing the expense of interdiction, enforcement, and prosecution to effective treatment. The RAND Corporation, at the behest of the U.S. Army and the Office of National Drug Control Policy, conducted a study and determined that every dollar spent on treatment resulted in a $7.46 reduction in lost productivity and crime-related spending. Another California study frequently cited in the substance-abuse literature found that taxpayers saved $7.00 for every dollar spent on treatment. These estimates do not include the costs of providing medical care. Furthermore, the cost of incarceration ranges from $16,000 to $37,00 across the U.S. and averages $18,330 based on 1996 figures. The cost to build a prison cell is between $80,000 to $90,000. Contrastingly, residential substance abuse treatment programs cost an average of $14,600 per year and outpatient programs cost about $2,300 on average, nationwide.

Finally, there are other costs we must consider and difficult questions to ask. How do you put a price on the human suffering such as a mother leaving her husband and children, a father threatening and beating terrified family members, or disruption of the child or adolescent's education and normal social and physical development due to meth use? What is the cost of premature senility associated with prolonged methamphetamine abuse? And, how much would we determine an arresting officer's or jailer's exposure to HIV or hepatitis-C while in contact with a violent meth-user was worth?

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LINK

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Why are drugs and prostitution illegal?

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The better question is why is alcohol legal?

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And who is going to pay for those "better" treatments?

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The same people that pay for the shitty treatments now. There's better ways to spend our resources than locking people up and making druglords rich. Darth I like you, but I have to say you're being willfully ignorant here.

Who foots the bill for the DEA and the narcotics departments of local police forces?

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you can not post in it if you want.

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...or whoever wants to post on this topic can do a search and find the dozens of threads about this subject that are already on this forum.

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I also question this as a general principle. Any drugs you want are pretty damn accessible if you really want them. There is data out there that shows pretty conclusively that law enforcement is completely inneffective at stopping or even appreciably slowing the supply of drugs.

There was a data set I used while still in school that showed despite an increase in government spending over the course of the 80's in drug law enforcement, the price of cocaine steadily decreased. This suggests a steady increase in supply. Maybe later I'll find a link for some data. Maybe not.

The conclusion you can take from this is that even if you think that all drugs are evil, the method of prohibition is a wholly ineffective way of combating them. The government should find a better way to waste our money.

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I agree wholehearted that the "war on drugs" has been an abysmal failure. And one of the biggest reasons for this is we waste so much time, effort, and money on combating drugs that have no business being illegal, chiefly pot.

But to just go an legalize all drugs would be a huge mistake. Making things like meth and heroin legal would only make them even easier to get and more accessible to more people. The cost these drugs put on society, and I'm talking cost that have nothing to do with the so-called "war on drugs", would be even higher then than they are now.

I guess what I'm trying to say is the government should reevaluate it's whole drug policy and stop wasting resources going after harmless drugs like pot and instead focus those resources on stopping the manufacture and distribution of drugs like meth, crack, and heroin. Cut off the supply of these drugs on the one hand and help those who are addicted to them on the other.

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See that is the EASIEST answer of them all.

The drugs themselves will pay for the "better" treatments.
Taxes on the drugs. Look at Colorado, our litmus test for pot legalization.

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There's only one problem. Your average person who consumes pot can also be a fully functioning and self sustaining member of society. You're average meth head, or crack addict cannot.

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You're average meth head, or crack addict cannot.

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I'll reiterate what I have said previously. I truly believe that with broad legalization, the use of manufactured drugs like heroine and meth would diminish.
They could get controlled Morphine or Amphetamine, but again a lot of people who turn to meth do so because of lack of options. In places where meth is overboard, you don't see cocaine. Look at those shows about dealers and junkies and such. They mention that lack every time. The rise of meth is a direct result of the difficulties of cocaine to produce in some areas. Meth can just be made. Then meth has the highest ROI for manufacturers so of course it's pushed. I just think with other options those two would become fringe drugs.