Solution #6: End the Drug Wars
The 50+ year War on Drugs is an abject failure. It has created far more problems than it has solved, and should end immediately.
Our experience with Prohibition in the 1920s and 30s should have taught us that we cannot effectively legislate morality. Just as during Prohibition, the Drug War has created a massively profitable landscape for violent criminal enterprise.
At the Federal level, we should:
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Decriminalize the possession and distribution of marijuana and similar herbal recreational substances as soon as possible.
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Decriminalize the non-prescribed possession of commonly prescribed drugs (examples: Adderall, Ambien, Methadone, Valium, Xanax, etc.). Make them easier to get in small quantities at the pharmacy where the chances they will be tainted with fentanyl are near zero.
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Encourage states to do the same thing. Prison cells not filled with drug possession convicts are prison cells that can be used to incarcerate violent criminals for lengthier sentences.
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Continue to enforce laws against the illegal smuggling and distribution of truly harmful/addictive nasty drugs (cocaine, heroin, meth, etc.).
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Treat fentanyl in a wholly different category. Fentanyl deaths are almost entirely the result of unintentional ingestion, and thus are more akin to poisoning than the intentional use of a recreational drug. Distributors of fentanyl-tainted drugs should be charged with murder for any deaths of their users.
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Reduce incarceration costs by commuting drug possession sentences to time served.
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Cease the practice of negotiating with defendants to accept guilty pleas on personal use drug charges rather than face trial for violent crimes. Doing so blurs the line between victimless drug crimes and violent crimes against others. It also creates the argument that mass releases of drug felons would be a de facto release of violent criminals.
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Treat drug abuse as an educational and health care problem, not a criminal problem.
