This is IMHO just a harbinger of things to come.... like doubling down on the incredibly ineffective and counter-productive "War on Drugs."
I think most of you know my opinion on that one, in that it's high time (no pun intended) to stop dealing with drugs and drug addiction as a criminal justice issue and as a public health issue. There's now so much statistical information from Portugal who took that approach well over a decade now, that we can't continue to bury our heads in the sand and act like "prohibition" is the right way to combat drug addiction and drug demand.
Overdose/drug abuse death rate in the US is currently right at 15 per 100,000 population, with WV leading the nation at 35.5 deaths per 100,000 population. (Source, Center for Disease Control Morbidity and Mortality Report Jan 1, 2016)
Want to compare Portugal's overdose and death rate? (after decriminalizing nearly all drugs) They are currently suffering 3 deaths per 1,000,000 population! (Source EU European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug addiction.) You do notice that the population size for the US death rate was one hundred thousand, while Portugal's is calculated based on One MILLION population right? So, while we can expect Portugal to have 3 deaths to drugs per 1 Million, we can likewise expect West Virginia to have 350 by comparison! Similarly their drug related crime is significantly lower than the US by a long shot.
How in the F*** can someone look at those statistics, based on some 14 yrs of real world results, look at how US addiction and overdose rates have risen constantly, while Portugals dropped to some of the lowest in the world and conclude that the "War on Drugs" is the "right" approach? You would have to be absolutely farking stupid to think that our way is better than Portugal's way!
Not to mention yet another stab at personal liberties, which should also be an extremely important consideration in a country which the Constitution provides numerous protections for individual liberties and rights.
The ONLY people I see that will benefit from this revival of the neo-prohibition war on drugs are those who own private prisons. I know it gets bandied about lately, but perhaps there's no subject where the application of the "Definition of Insanity - doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results" is applicable.
Let me ask all of you something on a personal level: would you rather see a drug policy in this country which reduces the risk from your children drying from a drug overdose by 4,900% or keep on keeping up the "good fight" and continue the war on drugs? The former also assisting to lower crime rates in general, reduces the prison/jail population significantly, does not destroy people's lives by putting a conviction on their record which often prevents them from being gainfully employed, joining the military, getting loans, voting, etc.? Or should we continually pump billions upon billions of $'s in a losing effort, seeing both drug usage and overdose deaths continue to rise while not even making a dent in actual drug trafficking.
BTW, if you really thought that Trump and Sessions weren't likely to do this, I don't think you were paying attention (especially given Sessions record on this topic.)
