Mayor Pete Wants to Decriminalize ‘Meth, Coke, Ecstasy’ And Heroin

[hedrick]

Here’s an article. Pete Buttigieg Says We Should Decriminalize All the Drugs
It looks like decriminalize maybe but not legalize. He talks about diversion programs.

 

[hedrick]

Here's someone claiming the results are mixed.
Drug decriminalisation in Portugal: setting the record straight. - Transform Drug Policy Foundation

Not nirvana, but it looks good overall.

 

[Norbert L]

Not nirvana, but it looks good overall.

It looks like there could be an alternative solution however it too could be more of the same with unforeseen and different problems that are equally unpleasant. Portugal is not the USA.

 

[Norbert L]

You do realize that legal drugs like tobacco and alcohol kill far more people that illegal drugs in the US?

The criminalization of drugs is not about public safety or public health, it's about moralism.

I'm wondering what conclusion your question leads towards.

So legal drugs kill far more people. By decriminalizing the use of all other drugs it will save more people? This doesn't seem like a conclusion that is believable.

I'm skeptical about how many lives will be saved over the course of decades if something like decriminalization is legislated. I agree though that it's something that should be looked into.

 

[Speedwell]

I'm wondering what conclusion your question leads towards.

That most of the degradation and violence associated with drug us is a consequence of attempting to traffic an illegal commodity rather than on the actual use of the drug itself.

 

[hedrick]

That most of the degradation and violence associated with drug us is a consequence of attempting to traffic an illegal commodity rather than on the actual use of the drug itself.

I'm not so sure that they're proposing to provide legal sources. There are a number of consequences of drug use. Violence in distribution is one. I'm not sure decriminalizing (with diversion into treatment) will fix that. However being in prison and having a record can ruin your life and your family's. That should largely be removed. But there's still the question of whether treatment and prevention work. Several countries other than Portugal have done one version or another. But it's pretty clear that jail isn't an effective drug rehabilitation strategy, so continuing the current system doesn't seem like a good idea.

In addition to jail being an ineffective treatment, so are a lot of the drug rehab programs. There are apparently treatments that work, but they're not so commonly used.

 

[Kaon]

Pete Buttigieg is mayor of South Bend, Indiana.

The crime rate in South Bend is higher than 96% of all U.S. cities, according to city-data.com. Drugs are rampant in the city, which lies east of Chicago. The incarceration rate is also soaring in Indiana, according to prisonpolicy.org.

So, of course, it makes sense that Buttigieg, who is running for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, wants to legalize all kinds of drugs.

“Incarceration should not even be a response to drug possession,” Buttigieg told editors and reporters at the Des Moines Register.

“Is that across the board? So if it’s meth or coke or ecstasy, any drugs, if it’s possession, incarceration isn’t…” one editor asked.

“That’s right,” Buttigieg said.

Link: BRILLIANT: Mayor Pete Wants to Decriminalize 'Meth, Coke, Ecstasy' And Heroin

I agree; legalize all drugs.

 

[Desk trauma]

So legal drugs kill far more people. By decriminalizing the use of all other drugs it will save more people?

Yes, it would. It would end the violence associated with the drug trade and the deaths caused by use of drugs of unknown potency/contents.

 

[Fantine]

Too many people, especially people of color, are incarcerated for simple possession. We need to go after dealers, not users.
I think it would be good to expand ideas like drug court, where defendants are given the chance to participate in a grueling rehabilitation program, drug tested weekly, etc. and, upon completion, their record is expunged. I know a young woman who has become very successful after going through that program.
Overall, our criminal justice system needs to be more geared towards rehabilitation.
Felons should be able to have their records expunged after a certain period of time. How can they ever successfully get back into society if the only places that will ever hire them are minimum wage employers. And when they are working there, even if they have exemplary records, they cannot get promotions? Once they have successfully completed their parole their mistakes should not prevent them from becoming self-supporting forever.

 

[Norbert L]

Yes, it would. It would end the violence associated with the drug trade and the deaths caused by use of drugs of unknown potency/contents.

Considering that cannabis was recently legalized for commercial sale here in Canada. I have found some users still buy their product from sources of unknown potency/contents. So NO it would not end the violence associated with the drug trade no more than public health care will cure death.

 

[Norbert L]

That most of the degradation and violence associated with drug us is a consequence of attempting to traffic an illegal commodity rather than on the actual use of the drug itself.

I'm skeptical that it will actually stop the violence, at worst I think that's a pipe dream. Not all people are basically good. What I'm not skeptical about is it will give a much better chance for non violent users to rehabilitate their lifestyle into something productive for themselves as well as their neighbor.

 

[Chrystal-J]

Considering that cannabis was recently legalized for commercial sale here in Canada. I have found some users still buy their product from sources of unknown potency/contents. So NO it would not end the violence associated with the drug trade no more than public health care will cure death.

It's the same here. Once weed was legalized, people bought it from a "drug dealer" rather than a legal outlet. People want to get really high and the store bought stuff isn't enough.