Where I live, homeless people are everywhere. Many of them are drug addicts. I’ve talked to some of them. The ones who are capable of holding a conversation tell me they wish they could stop, but there aren’t enough people to help. They could go to shelters, but they’re afraid of being robbed or hurt there. So they live on the streets and try to look out for each other. There are food banks that provide at least one meal a day, and the lines are long. They can’t possibly serve everyone. I don’t know how this gets fixed in any system, under fiat or bitcoin.
Discussion
In Britain, between about 1920 and 1971, #heroin was available on prescription. It is CHEAP to manufacture, $1 / hit. The junkies held down jobs, lived at least to middle age, and didn't bother anyone.
Make illegal drugs a prescription drug problem. Expand who can prescribe. Overdose deaths will still be sad, but they won't cause second- and third-order problems like the WoD does...
I’ve heard good things about how Portugal handled their drug addiction problems. I agree with decriminalizing this stuff, but even with that there would still be a lack of housing, employment, and decent healthcare for anyone trying to find a way back.
True. But an imperfect solution is far better than the status quo. (Except for those benefiting from the dysfunction, but f--- those guys)
It’s also different when you live in a country where the government was responsible for getting its poorest urban black citizens addicted to crack and then punishing them for possession at a much higher rate and more severely than affluent white citizens for powdered cocaine.
That means you have two problems (well, many more than two).
Here our law enforcement "greenlight" drug dealers who also happen to be informers. These stay in business as long as they provide a steady stream of warm bodies to the prison system (smaller, junior dealers), and until they get rich enough for law enforcement to rob.
That's not quite the same as Crack-For-Contras, but its a lot closer than most ppl admit.