Yet Another Study Proves The War On Drugs Is Failing

[marmar]

It’s one of the signal images of the global drug war: a team of triumphant law-enforcement officers posing for the TV cameras with a pile of the illegal drugs they’ve just seized from the bad guys.

To judge from the pervasiveness of these photos, you might think that the world’s supply of drugs is waning.

But illegal drugs are more widely available than ever. A new study from the International Centre for Science in Drug Policy, a research group based in Vancouver, British Columbia, shows that substances are getting more concentrated and cheaper, which suggests the world's drug supply is increasing.

“Those images on our TV screens are really just evidence of the success of the market,” said Dr. Evan Wood, scientific chair of the International Centre for Science in Drug Policy and one of the authors of the study. “The notion is that we have done something that is protecting our communities. Unfortunately, that snapshot really doesn’t capture the reality of what’s happening in those markets.” ................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/01/study-drug-war_n_4025500.html?ncid=txtlnkushpmg00000037

[Uncle Joe]

1. These guys remind me of McNamara and the Generals touting the body count during the war with Vietnam

as a sign our "success."

?6

For every body there were countless numbers of disaffected and alienated family and friends sympathetic to the bodies.

Of course drugs don't have family and friends in the truest sense of the word but they most assuredly have users both recreational and addicted, those users; many of them filling our for profit and otherwise prisons, do have family and friends.

The only difference between the "War on Drugs" and the Vietnam War is that the casualty rate with the former is higher than the latter by an order of magnitude.

Thanks for the thread, marmar.

[Warpy]

2. And when they do make a dent in the supply

amateur chemists come up with a bathtub drug replacement that is usually a million times worse than the original could ever be.

Consider meth for coke

Bath salts for pot

Krokodil for heroin.

I dare you to look at pictures of users and tell me that stopping their drug of choice and driving the black market prices into the stratosphere was a good idea.

Also remember the illegal drug pipeline is wide open to kids. With legalized and regulated drugs, it would be shut nearly closed.

Kids are also likelier to buy the cheaper substitutes. Allowance and all that.

[chill_wind]

3. Krokodil? I had to google it.

All I can say is oh my god

[Warpy]

4. Exactly, and people will use it

It's been found in AZ. We're next door with a huge heroin usage rate in the north central part of the state.

[chill_wind]

9. I'm located in a medium sized city with a major heroin/other opiates of all kinds

epidemic, which is more than tragic enough already, to those afflicted and affected. This new formula WILL undoubtedly spread. Its potential is terrifying.

[eppur_se_muova]

6. Ah, the miracle of the free market !

Maybe this is why Repugs support the WOD -- it stimulates R&D

[Uncle Joe]

7. It's capitalism, Blackmarket Capitalism, but capitalism nevertheless. n/t

[eppur_se_muova]

10. And conspicuously absent from screeds by members of the Chicago School ! nt

[Uncle Joe]

11. Which is kind of ironic, didn't Al Capone graduate from that school? n/t

[JoeyT]

8. Or they switch to something that's virtually impossible to outlaw,

but terribly dangerous when used recreationally. Snorting caffeine powder is only a thing because it's dirt cheap and because law enforcement acts like Ecstasy is weapons grade plutonium.

[KG]

5. the war on drug is just one of many myths americans believe in.