The Wall

[CoccoBill]

I feel like the Portugal situation is somewhat misleading. First of all, they didn't legalize drugs. They decriminalized possession and use. Kind of a big difference. They still enforce the border, and if someone tries to drive over it with 10 kilos of coke in the trunk, they're seriously fucked. It also mentioned in the article that somewhere along the way they implemented a mandatory minimum income. It's silly to think that's not one of, if not THE, major driver here. Decrease poverty, decrease crime. Sociology 101.

I would say that legalization and decriminalization are exactly the same thing. You're of course completely right in saying that the legalization only applies to possession and personal use, not distribution. The minimum income program most likely has also had an impact, but I see no reason to think it would be the only or even the biggest reason for the change in stats.

Addicts don't seek out less intense highs.

Maybe not, but I think even addicts would prefer a safer or less addictive high. Or maybe just that there's not too much rat poison in their meth.

Ok. If the pilot makes an error, pretty much any error, he'll be immediately tested for traces of illicit substances in his system...including alcohol. So I'm not seeing your point.

Are pilots regularly tested for alcohol metabolites in their system? After the error it's kinda late, at least from a passenger's point of view.

Again, you're confusing legalization, and decriminalization. If drug use is decriminalized, we still have to do things to prevent drugs from coming in to this country. We'll still have to police and prosecute the producers, traffickers, and distributors of drugs. The "massive prison population" you refer to is a myth.

Again, no I didn't. How many drug traffickers do you think would be interested in the business if anyone could buy meth legally?

In America's federal prison, there are 247 people incarcerated for drug use/possession. Yes, just 247, out of a country of 320 million!!! Drug users in state prisons are a larger population, 46,000. But that's still just 3.5% of the total inmates in the state prison systems. Hardly an epidemic.

How the hell is drug use even a felony? Anyway, 51.8% of federal prison inmates and 15.7% of state inmates are there for drug offenses. I would call that an epidemic, and one that can be mitigated.