The idea
The good guys have lost the 'war on drugs'. The winners are international criminal syndicates which are making billions out of smuggled heroin, crack etc and their local sub-contractors.
The losers are:-
- the poor types who take up these substances and so ruin their lives;
- the ordinary citizens who are robbed and assaulted in the addicts' quest to service their habit;
- the prisons whose resources are overwhelmed by huge numbers of addicts;
- the taxpayers, who fund this entire, futile exercise.
My proposal is that these drugs ought to be sold via pharmacies and bear a tax similar to those on tobacco and alcohol, thus raising millions for the exchequer whilst driving the drugs barons out of business in the UK. Just like tobacco and alcohol they should be available on demand to anyone over 18. I choose pharmacies because, unlike other retailers, they already have secure storage for dangerous drugs.
Those who applaud the nanny state will protest, insisting that unformed young minds would want to try these things out and would be hooked. Certainly that would happen in some cases – but it happens now, so that is no argument.
Einstein defined lunacy as continuing to do the same thing and expecting a different outcome. In those terms we've been lunatics for a generation. Let's try sanity for once.
Why is it important?
It saves money and improves society.