Our experience with alcohol, where a Constitutional amendment made it illegal and another amendment made it legal again, should give us a real good clue.
Making substance abuse illegal never works. Personally, I think we must make them legal, with some logical restrictions. Restrictions may include age limits, advertising limits, etc. Things that discourage, but not outlaw drug use.
One area that I think has failed badly is education. It seems the anti-drug programs taught in school fail to drive home the true dangers of addiction.
Some years ago, I took my teenage daughter to the hospital emergency room. Late on a Saturday night, the waiting room of the emergency room is filled with cases caused by drug abuse. Terribly battered wives with their drunk husband literally crying, "I'm so sorry"... is a common scene. Victims of automobile accidents caused by drunk drivers, as well as victims of drug overdoses are all pretty common.
One of the important things to see is how totally out of control these people who are totally stoned really are. People with blood everywhere, broken arms or legs, smashed heads, etc... and all of them saying, "Nothin' wrong wif me". That is TRUE drug education!
Another big problem is that conventional drug treatment programs lack the techniques to be highly successful. Bio-medical companies needs to focus on more effective tools to treat addicts. Medicine to stop cravings and perhaps negate the effects of addicting drugs would seem helpful. A slow release drug implant... like Norplant (formerly used for birth control), would be a possible one alternative. Either counteracting the mental effects of addicting drugs or producing some painful counter-reaction to the presence of drugs in the blood-stream are two possibilities.
In general, the problem of drug addiction needs to be given more visibility and a more dedicated tools made available to solve the problem. Obviously, good police work and serving jail time is not working.
