| CaptainObvious said: Not really thinking about a teenager drugs like pot but the other ones like heroin, meth and crack . America is a larger population then Portugal and has a chaotic country run by drug cartel in Mexico that Portugal luckily doesn't have. 2009 statistics: drug arrest in the USA 30,567 Murdered in the USA 15,290 drug death in the USA 63,846 whole Portugal drug death is only 290 kind of makes you wonder. I think it would make it worse in the USA if you legalize it there's a domino effect to it like gambling crime goes up across the board United States culture different from that to European's culture but not as bad as Russia's or Mexico's thou. |
Just because we have a larger population doesn't mean that we wouldn't experience Portugal's meteoric decline in drug violence. Why do you think Portugal's drug deaths are only 300/yr? Portugal was seeing far more people die from drug usage prior to de-criminalization (about 600-700/yr).
Why would there be a domino effect that would increase crime due to legalization? I am looking for a sound explanation, because you've offered no factual data points to argue that, whereas I've already pointed to Portugal's significant decrease in criminal activity. When we have a few examples that say 'This works', and you argue that won't be the case here, despite lacking any evidence to point to this. You have no actual data to support your position, outside of opinion. I don't think that is a reasonable stance to take on such an important topic.
Furthermore, we can take the historical American precedent of prohibition and crime - we find that when prohibition was enacted, crime rates jumped significantly during the the active enforcement of the law. Why did they increase? Because users of alcohol had to turn to criminals to get their fix, instead of reputable establishments. The same can be said for drugs - look at marijuana dispensaries in states that have legalized it. Did they increase in crime? No. So if they didn't increase, why should we expect an increase which is directly contrary to any and all data that is available on the issue.
Back from the dead, I'm afraid.
