"Australia seems to consume more cocaine per person than any other country."
Yep, when ever I meantion cocaine as a joke half the office lights up like I was about to offer it to them. It is wild to see how prevelant under the surface it is.
All I think about is that in a few hundred year there will be the myths/stories of the excessive fools that were so blitzed that they boiled the planet. Incorrect but partially based on fact.
It's funny how we keep using the propaganda phrases the govt has fed us, like "War on Drugs". There has never been a war on drugs. The USG was instrumental in creating and proliferating the drug trade from the 1980s up to our exit from Afghanistan, and is likely still doing so.
The US state uses drug money to fund covert operations, so we're never "winning" the war. See reporting by Gary Webb in the 1980s (Dark Alliance, later admitted by the CIA years after his suicide) or the amazing conversion of Afghanistan into the #1 opium hub under U.S. occupation (with pretty photos of U.S. soldiers guarding poppy fields).
The purpose of a system is what it does: in 50-plus years, the war on drugs has never decreased the supply of drugs, but it has locked up lots of dark-skinned people and given police forces money and excuses to arm themselves like warlords. I doubt anyone even really wants to win the war on drugs— winning it would be completely counterproductive to its actual goal— so it should come as no surprise that we’re not.
> Divers weld “parasite” pods of cocaine onto the hulls of ships so often that in Cartagena port watchmen are paid to sit in a tiny boat about 50 metres offshore all day and night to look for telltale bubbles. (To keep this lonely job they must pass a polygraph test every six months.)
Good to know only the really good liars keep their jobs.
The problem with the "war on drugs" is that it treats "supply" as the problem.
It's always been about blaming drug cartels, smugglers, distributors etc. Drug possession is the crime, drug use is the crime, drug supply is the crime.
The theory seems to be that if only drugs were not available, people would not use them.
All evidence points the other way. Drugs satisfy, but do not create [1] the need. In the absence of illicit drugs alcohol, prescription meds etc flourish.
It seems to me that there's a missing understanding of why people want to take drugs. Is it just addiction? (If so, why not spend those billions on addiction relief?) Is it boredom? Desperation? Something else?
To win the "war on drugs" its important to understand "demand" not just supply. Without demand supply is meaningless. Whereas Cutting supply means nothing. All you do is promote other suppliers, other ways to achieve the same effect.
I'm not against policing the borders for drugs. But watching "border patrol", and seeing endless (justifiably) self-satisfied officers finding drugs, wondering "so what?". Clearly drugs are freely available (despite this bust). Clearly demand is unabated.
To me the key question at the heart of yhe war seems completely unmentioned;
"Why are people using drugs?"
[1] yes, I'm aware not all drugs are the same. Once hooked on heroin you need more heroin. This doesn't negate my root point.
I used drugs recreationally. I don't like to talk about it. I especially don't like to talk about it online on a profile that's very heavily linked to my identity. Over many years of regular use of all kinds of different drugs, I have identified the war on drugs -- not drugs themselves -- to be the persistent threat to my safety, health, psyche and existence. Merely talking about this like I'm doing right now is a gigantic risk I am taking. And this means honest communication between the sides is non-existent. If you are a rational and a thinking person, you should eschew the persistent harassment and demonization of an entire societal layer that is the war on drugs.
What that means practically? Don't call the police on that one person smoking weed in a park or smoking fentanyl or injecting heroin on your bus if they are not bothering you. Don't make that joke about how crackheads are making this town dirty. Be humane. Be kind. Don't get dragged as a combatant into the war you know nothing about and that doesn't matter to you personally.
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[ 17.5 ms ] story [ 1145 ms ] threadYep, when ever I meantion cocaine as a joke half the office lights up like I was about to offer it to them. It is wild to see how prevelant under the surface it is.
All I think about is that in a few hundred year there will be the myths/stories of the excessive fools that were so blitzed that they boiled the planet. Incorrect but partially based on fact.
Good to know only the really good liars keep their jobs.
It's always been about blaming drug cartels, smugglers, distributors etc. Drug possession is the crime, drug use is the crime, drug supply is the crime.
The theory seems to be that if only drugs were not available, people would not use them.
All evidence points the other way. Drugs satisfy, but do not create [1] the need. In the absence of illicit drugs alcohol, prescription meds etc flourish.
It seems to me that there's a missing understanding of why people want to take drugs. Is it just addiction? (If so, why not spend those billions on addiction relief?) Is it boredom? Desperation? Something else?
To win the "war on drugs" its important to understand "demand" not just supply. Without demand supply is meaningless. Whereas Cutting supply means nothing. All you do is promote other suppliers, other ways to achieve the same effect.
I'm not against policing the borders for drugs. But watching "border patrol", and seeing endless (justifiably) self-satisfied officers finding drugs, wondering "so what?". Clearly drugs are freely available (despite this bust). Clearly demand is unabated.
To me the key question at the heart of yhe war seems completely unmentioned;
"Why are people using drugs?"
[1] yes, I'm aware not all drugs are the same. Once hooked on heroin you need more heroin. This doesn't negate my root point.
What that means practically? Don't call the police on that one person smoking weed in a park or smoking fentanyl or injecting heroin on your bus if they are not bothering you. Don't make that joke about how crackheads are making this town dirty. Be humane. Be kind. Don't get dragged as a combatant into the war you know nothing about and that doesn't matter to you personally.