Lots of interesting and diverse answers here.
If you want to get a really interesting overview of the history of the war on drugs, along with a bunch of very enlightening personal stories from the trenches, read this book: Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs by Johann Hari
There's a ton of insight there about how the drug war became what it is today.
Aksel Braanen Sterri har referert til Johann Haris bok "Chasing the scream" ganske ofte på facebook-profilen sin. Denne artikkelen er helt åpenbart inspirert av konklusjonene i den boka.
The logic of prohibition is fucked. "Drugs (by which we mean recreational drugs other than alcohol and tobacco) are bad because they can harm people. But people use them anyway, presumably because they think that the benefits outweigh the risks. And sure, one of the primary benefits of recreational drug use is a subjective experience that one might reasonably think the user is in the best position to evaluate ... but no, fuck it. They're wrong and we know better. Therefore to prevent people from harming themselves through drug use we're going to make drug use more harmful by piling on the entirely artificial harms of criminal punishment. Then people will make the right decision and stop using drugs, thereby reducing harm." What actually results from that idiocy? Well, you fuel black-market violence, you empower and enrich organized crime, you promote official corruption, you make the drugs themselves more dangerous thanks to the uncertain potency and purity of the black market (the "bathtub gin" effect), you criminalize millions of ordinary Americans and undermine respect for the law, you put a huge strain on the judicial and criminal justice system, you divert scarce law enforcement resources away from solving real crimes, you drive a huge wedge between police and the communities they're supposed to serve and protect, you erode civil liberties, you waste trillions of dollars, and you destroy millions of lives. Using violence to address what is really a medical and health issue (as well as a matter of personal choice) is a bizarre and massively counterproductive category error.
edit: strongly recommended reading - Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs
Hello! I just finished Chasing the Scream by Johann Hari and it was excellent! The author did a great job molding facts with real life stories and it kept me entertained the entire time. Quite the task for someone who doesn't like to read that much haha.
Anyway welcome. I haven't been here long but I like it so far.
I strongly recommend Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs by Johann Hari. It goes to great lengths on that the environment you are surrounded and not the substances you take have more incidense on whether you'll become an addict or not.
I'm currently reading Chasing The Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs, and it discusses things like this. So far, it's a really great read and really puts the spotlight on what happened with the war on drugs. I recommend it for anyone interested in the topic.
According to the book Chasing the Scream a lot of the reasons for the success of the drug war was because of who people perceived were using the drugs.
Black and Hispanic were the ones assumed to smoke weed = "they are raping our women" thus they banned it.
Chinese people used opium = "the crazed opium fiends are raping our women" thus they banned it.
What is funny with opium, is that the drug dealers were in on the ban, because it improved their profits to have it banned. The drug dealers had a hard time making it a profit if people could bring in their own opium on the boats from china.
There are a lot of other reason for the drug war and I really think the book does a good job of explaining reason behind the drug war and its effects on society. It is a great read for anyone who is interested.
It's sort of timely because a book about this change in drug addiction science/drug policy literally just came out. http://www.amazon.com/Chasing-Scream-First-Last-Drugs/dp/1620408902/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1417498563&sr=8-1&keywords=chasing+the+scream
I think you need to do some more research into addiction. Dr. Hart's own book deals with it pretty well. You absolutely can compare addiction of different drugs, including alcohol and what you call "hardcore" drugs. For example, the addiction rate for tobacco users is way above heroin, so does that make tobacco "hardcore"?
You are also incorrect claiming that drugs will be more expensive when legalized due to taxes. The reason this is not true has to do with the prohibition premium: things are more expensive when illegal because the cost to produce/transport/sell, etc. are higher because there is greater risk involved.
Here are some good books that will help elucidate how the drug war exacerbates drug abuse as well as the economic realities of drug legalization:
https://www.amazon.com/Chasing-Scream-First-Last-Drugs/dp/1620408902
I'm guessing that book would have a lot more info.
Happy Holidays :D
There is a book if you are interested, I just bought it:
I strongly suggest that you check out a book called Chasing the Scream by Johann Hari. Here's a good 15-minute Ted talk of his with a few highlights, but there's so much more in the book.
We've been fighting this drug war, in the US, since 1914. That's over 100 years. We've killed countless drug dealers and to what end? Bali has had a death sentence on its books for years and it didn't stop the Bali 9 from trying to smuggle drugs into the country. From 2006-2012 in Mexico there were over 60,000 deaths from the drug war.
If you want to win this war, look to Portugal and Uruguay for new approaches to this war.
Read Chasing the Scream by Johann Hari
The drug war has failed. Prohibition has failed. Just look at the prohibition against alcohol in the US to see what a 13 mini-war looks like.
Meth is sometimes prescribed to kids for ADHD under the trade name Desoxyn, and is categorized as as a "substitute amphetamine," which, curiously enough, so is amphetamine. Also, arguing that drugs such as Adderall are different and "safer" than methamphetamine is like apples and oranges - misuse of and addiction to Adderall is a major, but little talked about, public health issue.
The following can be found on any number of websites about drugs, in this case drugs.com:
> Desoxyn tablets are indicated as an integral part of a total treatment program which typically includes other remedial measures (psychological, educational, social) for a stabilizing effect in children over 6 years of age with a behavioral syndrome characterized by the following group of developmentally inappropriate symptoms: moderate to severe distractibility, short attention span, hyperactivity, emotional lability, and impulsivity.
Edit: Those of you who are downvoting this really should do some objective research. Most people have no idea the extent to which they've been influenced by 101 years of drug prohibition propaganda, even people who have extensively used drugs and been addicted. It's important to separate what drugs actually are and what they do from the hyperbole. Yes, methamphetamine is a dangerous drug, if misused. But this is true for all amphetamines and other stimulants, even caffeine, which - as I know from personal experience - in large doses can produce symptoms which are similar to having a heart attack, and can even kill. We're taught that the street addict on crack or meth is at best a loser, at worst a dangerous criminal, but not the Adderall addicted college student or Wall Street executive who is hoovering up lines of cocaine.
An excellent read on the subject is <em>Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs</em>
^That's ^why ^I'm ^here, ^I ^don't ^judge ^you. ^PM ^/u/xl0 ^if ^I'm ^causing ^any ^trouble. ^WUT?
If you are interested in the drug war, I recommend you read Chasing the Scream.
Chasing the Scream is a new book about addiction and it's very good: http://www.amazon.com/Chasing-Scream-First-Last-Drugs/dp/1620408902/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
I keep seeing posts about drugs this week. I'm reading Chasing the Scream right now and it has shown me a lot of stuff about the drug war that I never knew. I've read a lot of articles and research about drugs, and this book has still blown me away with shit that is going on that I never knew about. If you are at all interested in drugs or the drug war, I highly recommend reading this book.