The Drug Trade & Penal Systems..
The Drug Trade..
From the Wall Street Jnl..
In the 40 years since U.S. President Richard Nixon declared a "war on drugs," the supply and use of drugs has not changed in any fundamental way. The only difference.. a taxpayer bill of more than $1 trillion.
Drug-related violence in Mexico has claimed around 15,000 lives in the past three years. (Wall Street Jnl.)
We can't seriously address the SUPPLY of drugs without seriously addressing the DEMAND!
Every drug 'fix' purchased in the western world provides Drug Lords or Terrorists with another box of explosives!
We can't continue to accept massive drug consumption as an unavoidable part of 'freedom of choice'. Our own sons in Afghanistan are being blown apart by explosives we have funded! We should see our national appetite for drugs as a sickening horror rather than a "less than perfect, lifestyle choice".
There is no real hope of convincing a million hard-drug users to instantly go 'cold turkey' or to change over to a government methadone program - no matter how badly they feel about funding explosive devices in Afghanistan. There is only one way to defeat the drug lords and that is to attack their source of revenue..
If you could lower the consumption by 50%, the majority of supply chains would collapse. Many of the remaining ones would attack and destroy each other.
We must implement some bold initiatives to seriously reduce the appetite for these drugs.
The penalties for consumption or possession need to be cleverly re-designed.
It is impractical and unaffordable to lock-up a hundred thousand recreational drug users. However, that many volunteers are needed in soup-kitchens! They would be really useful in work gangs maintaining the yards of a million elderly folk!
The "recreational use" concept would disappear if the real drug sellers were outnumbered by undercover police sellers! And if you faced 100 nights of chopping veggies every time you get caught.
We don't need to hunt down and out-gun the sellers. We just need to halve their income, give them a 'financial crisis'. They will soon be selling their guns to the pawn-shops and looking for real jobs.
We could also create a generous reward system to encourage 'bounty hunters'.
With the latest advances in miniature gas-chromatographs, we could discretely place thousands of them in the toilets of clubs. A silent alarm would alert an officer armed with a hand held unit to isolate the offender. There wouldn't need to be many of these, the mere possibility of their presence would decimate consumption.
The "Trillion dollar" cost of simply trying to attack the Supply is insane and is costing too many lives. For a fraction of that money, with the above policies, we could reduce the Demand by 80%.
Naltrexone..
The current methadone programs will be upgraded to include Naltrexone. Medical GPs will be given training in Naltrexone use to allow them to assist those who want to overcome an addiction on their own.
A new Penal System (see below) will greatly assist this 'Drug War'. Eg. Purchasing a single Ecstasy pill might grant you the life changing, uplifting experience of serving 10 hours a week for 6 months in a Salvos Soup Kitchen! Or, if you are unemployed, you might serve 6 months picking crops or learn a trade while building refugee facilities.
(Our policy is that all low-security inmates will serve time making the world a better place, and will be greatly enriched by the experience.)
New Prison/Penal Systems..
The penal category of "Community Service" will be upgraded to be of considerable benefit to the felon and to our economy.
"Community Service" will take on the following traits..
• The 'penalties' will be better described as compulsory inductions into a new trade or skill-set. It will be more like a second job as a Tradesman or Apprentice. If the felon doesn't have a useful skill set, they will learn one.
• The imposed hours per week will be 48 less their normal work hours - but not less than 15 hours. This matches the hours applicable to the "Work for the Dole" participants and matches the hours worked by the average taxpayer.
• The total hours served for a particular felony will be greatly extended to reflect the minimum time needed to gain a certain skill set. These "penalties" are actually opportunities to enhance their lives! Many will wish to continue on after serving their time.
The typical "25 hours of community service" will become 200 hours learning a trade.
• Our policy is that all low-security inmates will serve time making the world a better place, and will be greatly enriched by the experience.
Note.. Our 90+ policy articles are all in the 'peer review' stage.. [more..]