[adnam]

There hasn't been a serious "war on drugs" for over 30 years in the UK. Most drugs are de-facto legal since the laws are simply not enforced. To say "prohibition of drugs is a counterproductive failure" is a straw-man, because there is no enforcement. The laws would probably have been dropped many years ago were it not for international treaty obligations.

[jaymzcampbell]

> Most drugs are de-facto legal since the laws are simply not enforced

Sorry, but I just can't agree with this. The laws are there, the government says they still apply and have zero interest in any sort of repeal or reduction of illegality. Every attempt to push forward a more sensible policy say on Cannabis, in particular, is shot down. Eg the recent response on [1].

The police might be turning a blind eye (in some regions more so than others) to some possession but it is still illegal and you still run the risk of someone deciding to charge or fine you. If you're caught in possession multiple times you will end up in some sort of trouble, however minimal [2]. Actually getting hold of the these drugs involves interacting with actual criminals and I doubt they're submitting tax returns on the profits.

If anything this unclear muddy state is in my opinion much worse - it's a complete mess purporting to be the moral highground.

[1] https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/200021

[2] https://www.met.police.uk/globalassets/foi-media/policies/de...

[raducu]

Nobody is doing prison time in UK for posessing or selling drugs? Pharmaceutically pure drugs can be brought by any adult? People are not dying because they thought they bought heroin when in fact the bought Fentanyl?

[chillydawg]

The black market economy underpinned by money laundering and violence very much exists, though, and causes huge amounts of harm across the board.

[martinald]

Sort of agree for possession but not for supply. People are still getting longer prison sentences for drug supply than murder.

[adnam]

Agreed, but if you don't address the demand problem you can't beat the supply problem. And that's where we are now.

[krylon]

But if you decriminalize it, you can a) save a lot of money in the law enforcement sector, b) tax it, so you make even more money, both of which frees up cash to c) spend a lot more on prevention of rehabilitation.

Plus, as long as drug trade remains illegal, you have secondary problems such as bribery of officials, gang violence.

[MrFantastic]

I think prohibition is a money maker for law enforcement due to asset seizure. The prisons make bank from drug laws.

[krylon]

Maybe in the USA, in Europe (and probably other parts of the world, too) it is a different story.

AFAIK, we do not have anything like asset seizure in Germany. And the prison system over here is much less privatized / industrialized, so is not exactly a profit center.

A well-staffed, well-trained law enforcement apparatus is fairly expensive, too.

And consider that without proper treatment, widespread drug use incurs costs that do not show up on government budgets as such. Drug-related crime (theft, burglaries, etc.) comes to mind.

[gm-conspiracy]

What is the "supply problem"? Can you elaborate?

[adnam]

The selling of illicit drugs.