re: Would drug legalization increase the frequency of overdoses?

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You see a lot fewer ODs in a population that use Oxycodone than you do in a population that uses Heroin.

People OD on alcohol as well but it's still a hell of a lot safer to drink Makers Mark than it is to sip a jar of shine that Cletus made

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My point.

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Possession - Illegal
Distribution - illegal

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I think you missed what's being discussed in here.

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Would drug legalization increase the frequency of overdoses?

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I'm calling bullshite.

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Same here. I know several addicts in prison right now.

possession/sale/intent to distribute

It's the ol' "Drugs will ruin your life, so if we catch you, we're going to ruin your life."

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Convicted of what; being an addict?

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yes.

Possession is pretty much the same charge.

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Same here. I know several addicts in prison right now.

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The number of people doing time solely for possession is infantisamly small. Ifvthey are in jail for possession they most likely have other charges as well.

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The number of people doing time solely for possession is infantisamly small

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Depends who you believe and how you define infantismal.

I'm tired of arguing with people who've made up their minds despite evidence that says our drug wars are more harmful to society than the actual use of drugs. I'll post this, nothing else has penetrated the minds of those who will never change.

LINK

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In my Reason column this month, I look at the number of people in jail in the United States, as part of their incarceration-themed July issue (other topics covered include the wrongly convicted and the impact of allowing more library access to prisoners). I should say that when I started my research, I didn’t know very much about the topic. What I found is that our prisons are packed with nonviolent offenders who are incarcerated for victimless crimes as a product of a war on drugs that has failed. It is really a tragic story.

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There are over 2 million people incarcerated in local, state, and federal prisons in the United States, an incarceration rate of 743 per 100,000 people, which is high for a democracy (the incarceration rate is 325 in Israel, 217 in Poland, 154 in England and Wales, 96 in France, 71 in Denmark, and 32 in India). The number of people in jail has increased dramatically since the 1980s. According to the Center for Economic and Policy Research, incarceration rates between 1880 and 1970 ranged from about 100 to 200 prisoners per 100,000 people. After 1980, the inmate population began to grow much more rapidly than the overall population and the rate climbed from about 220 in 1980 to 458 in 1990, 683 in 2000, and 753 in 2008

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This increase didn’t have anything to do with a rise in crime. It mainly reflected changes in the correctional policies that determine who goes to prison and for how long. In particular, it had very much to do with the war on drugs.

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Nonviolent drug offenders now account for about one-fourth of all inmates in the United States, up from less than 10 percent in 1980. The costs, of course, are staggering: State correctional spending now totals $52 billion a year, consuming one out of 14 general fund dollars; spending on corrections is the second fastest growth area of state budgets, following Medicaid.

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The real tragedy is that so many children’s lives are destroyed along with those of their incarcerated parents. Over 50 percent of inmates are parents with minor children, including more than 120,000 mothers and 1.1 million fathers. One in every 28 children has a parent incarcerated, up from 1 in 125 just 25 years ago. Two-thirds of these children’s parents were incarcerated for nonviolent offenses.

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We are joined in our judgment by Ethan A. Nadelmann, a scholar and researcher; Kurt Schmoke, a mayor and former prosecutor; Joseph D. McNamara, a former police chief; Robert W. Sweet, a federal judge and former prosecutor; Thomas Szasz, a psychiatrist; and Steven B. Duke, a law professor. Each has his own emphases, as one might expect. All agree that the celebrated war has failed, and that it is time to go home, and to mobilize fresh thought on the drug problem in the context of a free society. This symposium is our contribution to such thought.

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For those thinking this is a liberal/conservative thing, go frick yourself. There are many conservatives who now admit the war on drugs is a social and financial failure, and the time has come for it to end.

I used to be wholly in favor of the drug warriors until I let reason sink into my mind, and realized prohibition has always been a failure and our policies are causing human tragedy.

I don't see how any conservative could be in favor of continued prohibition because of the loss of liberty and the financial burden it places on governments, and ultimately the taxpayer. Republicans could change their course of history in one fell swoop by reversing their advocacy of the war on drugs, both domestic and foreign.

But big gov. types unite, continue wasting tax dollars and fighting liberty.

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RogerTheShrubbe

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Well done.

The policies will come to an end one day, regardless of the propaganda reinforced to those who don't want to discuss it or dig into the mounds of evidence that show our criminal justice system to be the most flawed in the entire world.

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People that abuse drugs more than likely wouldn't suddenly start increasing the dosage of the drug/s they've been abusing and people who haven't been abusing them aren't going to suddenly say to themselves, "hey, I sure am glad the price of heroin dropped and the quality improved after they had that vote. I'm now legal to lock and load, so pass me that rig and spoon".

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Those who believe in free markets (apparently few here) would argue that competition would drop the price, and innovation driven by competition would lead eventually to safer alternatives.