Oregon law to decriminalize all drugs goes into effect, offering addicts rehab instead of prison

[Elixir]

Drug addicts need to get cash for their habit from somewhere.

Yeah, damn those black market prices.
I alone have probably cost the cartels some $15-20k just since it became legal to grow my own pot. Haven't had to knock over a liquor store in years.
Multiply that by the hundred million or so pot smokers in the US and pretty soon you're talking about real money.
And that's just for pot - a relatively cheap black market drug.
But hey - cartels gotta eat too, right Trausti? Those Citation Vs and submarines don't grow on fucking trees!

 

[Loren Pechtel]

It's the drugs that have been legal for centuries that put a million Americans in their graves every 3 years -- nicotine as delivered by tobacco and beverage alcohol.

And let's be clear here, the mechanisms for tobacco deaths are secondary/side effects: tissue damage leading to cancer or primary organ failure.

For alcohol, it is a mix of behavioral issues and secondary damage.

The primary thing that needs to be done around this is to tax drugs to a point where those taxes cover the public/health costs of allowing the behavior, and not much further so as to prevent black markets from succeeding.

Then, the second way to address this seem to be education and habit forming around responsible use, as well building an awareness of which substances create personal health liabilities.

I suspect that for the drugs that debilitate their addicts it would be better not to tax them like that--higher prices mean more crime to support their habits.

Or perhaps a two-tier system: They're legally available in the taxed form and addicts can get a plain version without the taxes.

 

[Jarhyn]

It's the drugs that have been legal for centuries that put a million Americans in their graves every 3 years -- nicotine as delivered by tobacco and beverage alcohol.

And let's be clear here, the mechanisms for tobacco deaths are secondary/side effects: tissue damage leading to cancer or primary organ failure.

For alcohol, it is a mix of behavioral issues and secondary damage.

The primary thing that needs to be done around this is to tax drugs to a point where those taxes cover the public/health costs of allowing the behavior, and not much further so as to prevent black markets from succeeding.

Then, the second way to address this seem to be education and habit forming around responsible use, as well building an awareness of which substances create personal health liabilities.

I suspect that for the drugs that debilitate their addicts it would be better not to tax them like that--higher prices mean more crime to support their habits.

Or perhaps a two-tier system: They're legally available in the taxed form and addicts can get a plain version without the taxes.

I'd go for this. Then, the addicts can be subsidized by the system and have addiction recovery services directed their way.

Maybe even a third tier. Chronic addicts have a program where they have regular counciling and rehab available and they get it on insurance, program addicts who are provided rehabilitation and career services, and then normal users who are taxed.