It's so obvious as to not need an argument to see that it is the illegality of drugs that creates the violence. Anyone who can't see that as obvious is too ignorant too argue with, or they have some personal stake in the matter. Everything illegal that people want anyway exists in a violent market. No legal markets in anything generate the violence that an illegal market in anything will cause. The closest is alcohol, but that's not a function of the market, but of the drug's effect. In fact, alcohol is the one drug for which there is any argument for illegality, since it does make one more prone to violence after ingesting it. Yet, we tried to make it illegal, largely for that very reason - it was women's groups who led the fight against it because of domestic abuse - and it didn't work.
I don't disagree with this. The problem is that the laws need to be changed by those who enact them rather than expecting the police to ignore them. I can assure you that police discretion is not unlimited. If I decide that drug laws are bad and just let a guy go driving down the road with a flatbed truck full of marijuana, I will not be employed much longer. I would expect that lrahm, denny347, phylodog and many other good and respected officers here on INGO wouldn't be around much longer either. So once you've gotten all the officers with a conscience fired for doing what you believe was right, what kinds of officers are you left with? I'd rather have those guys out there doing their best to make a difference until you and any others who are against drug laws can get things changed.
I haven't really made up my mind where I stand on the issue of complete drug legalization. The bottom line is that it doesn't matter what I think, or phylodog, or lrahm, or kutnupe or any other officer thinks. If a change is to be made it has to be through legislation rather than saddling it on the backs of the officers to make it right for you at the risk of their livelihood.
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