[agentwiggles]

Let anyone who wants it buy fentanyl, and let natural selection do its work.

This is suggested semi-facetiously, but at the same time, feels like there's something to it.

Decriminalize, tax, regulate, and focus enforcement efforts on black market dealers.

The waste of human effort and life that has gone into the last 60 years of drug policy is insane to consider. We have got to try _something_ other than what we're doing now with prohibition.

[6438y44y4u]

I think the framing of "let natural selection do the work" is self sabotaging if you're really trying to make the argument persuasive. It makes your position sound on some level likes it's casually dismissing the loss of life when what is really being argued, to me when I read your post at least, is that we need to accept that in dealing with this kind of topic lives are going to be ruined/lost either way and that when we/governments take responsibility as distributors that at least allows us more control over the situation and from that position we might at least be able to diminish the risk/harm to addicts even if we can't actually convert them into non-addicts.

I'd add that I think more explanation around the black market angle could probably help the argument further since atm the state of legalization advocacy in the US tends to be "But think about the tax revenue!" which is fine for less problematic drugs like weed but which is going to stall fast when you get to things like heroine. Emphasizing legalization and government regulation/distribution as a way to take money out of the hands of gangs and street dealers would be compelling to a lot of people imo if framed in the right way.

[agentwiggles]

100% fair, and also right. I started writing that as a kind of dismissive jokey, maybe slightly trolling, thing and then ended up a little more serious as I continued thinking - probably not my most well-argued or empathetic post.

[imtringued]

If you follow that line of thought then allowing fentanyl is equivalent to the capital punishment. You can't consciously rely on this to manage society.