[Stu from NYC]

Originally Posted by ThirdOfFive

I agree that something must be done. However to attack this from the criminal angle has been fruitless. The "War on Drugs" was declared in 1972 and we've been losing ever since. If you've been losing a war for half a century the logical thing to do is to throw in the towel and accept defeat.

What to do? Decriminalize heroin. Decriminalize ALL drugs. Make them legal, freely available and cheap. And at the same time make treatment for drug addiction freely available and cheap (or free, if need be). Realistically, the only way you can get treatment for an addiction to an illegal drug is to admit to USING an illegal drug, which is tantamount to admitting to a crime--and a lot of addicts, even though they know they need treatment, will not get it because of this fact, or continue to get high just to hide from it.

Such a move would make any effort by the Taliban to flood a country will illegal drugs moot. AND it would end the criminal activity by the drug cartels from south of the border here, as well. Win win.

This idiotic war on drugs has cost the American taxpayer far more money, and American citizens far more in deaths, shattered families and ruined lives, then drugs themselves ever did. Or could.

Sad but you are correct.