"The death rate from fentanyl increased 10-fold from 2015 to 2019. The rate of prescription opioid deaths fell 30% from 2011 to 2019."
"The number of amphetamine-related emergency department visits increased nearly 50% between 2018 and 2020. The number of non-heroin-related opioid ED visits more than doubled in the same period."
Doesn't look like minor changes to me.
My original point was more about policing. Lack of Draconian policing of drugs is not the cause of the increase in hospitalizations and deaths from fentanyl, amphetamine, and opioids.
A nice graph here:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/14/Op...
Edit: https://abcnews.go.com/Health/fentanyl-deadly-drug-dealers-l...
https://www.history.com/news/americas-war-on-drugs-was-desig...
https://www.cato.org/policy-analysis/four-decades-counting-c...
https://www.npr.org/2021/06/17/1006495476/after-50-years-of-...
https://www.history.com/news/americas-war-on-drugs-was-desig...
https://www.cato.org/policy-analysis/four-decades-counting-c...
https://www.npr.org/2021/06/17/1006495476/after-50-years-of-...
See Japan and Singapore. Also note those two places have the lowest incidence of drug use and homelessness.
It could be because of the viciousness of the punishment. In the US the punishment matches the degree of the crime in the sense that if you sell drugs you get a punishment that you deserve.
In Singapore if you get caught selling over 500mg of weed you are executed via death penalty. The punishment does not match the crime, but rather the punishment is designed to be as effective as possible in eliminating the crime all together via deterrence and Darwinian artificial selection.
Policing DOES work, it's just most people, you included, are drug users. So you want to end homelessness, you want to stop people from over-abusing drugs, but as a casual user yourself you don't want to be put to death either or anything like that so you have to find some middle ground that works. The problem is there is no middle ground. The US drug war was middle ground and as you and your articles pointed out, it was largely NOT effective.
From a personal standpoint I don't use drugs. Morally I'm more of a middle ground type of a person. I think moderation isn't a big deal. Objectively though, since I have no skin in the game, I would support Singaporean measures to stop drugs and homelessness all together.
Would you put your Grandma to death? Grandma needs help not a lethal injection.
If grandma decides to purchase opioids illegally rather then get treatment that's 10 years in prison in Singapore. The law is effective in this case of making grandma pursue the correct treatment.
This is not all. Executions will occur: namely the parties responsible for the opioid epidemic will be put to death without regard to corporate shielding. Courts will determine on an individual basis who was responsible and hang them.
I believe this last point is something I wish would happen and would largely be an effective deterrent. It is entirely a matter of how much power a DA will have in pursuing such "policing" policies. The former point however is true and is the outlined procedure enforced by the government in Singapore.
Either way even without the last point I think I have shown you that "policing" can be effective. It really depends on how much policing and how severe it is.
There is the obvious side effect of possibly creating a police state by giving the police/government too much power. But while the phrase "police state" has bad connotations it is arguably not always a bad thing as exemplified by Singapore.
I don't know whether such policies will be effective in the states. But it is patently false to say that policing cannot be effective.
It is easy for a person to hold loyalty to an idealized concept that "policing" doesn't work when it comes to drugs. The reality is, like almost everything in life, much more nuanced. Ask questions. What kind of policing? How severe? Being open minded means that you need to ask those questions rather then deliberately constructing logical scaffolding to support your preconceived/popular conclusion about the US drug war.
The War on Drugs did not slow the number of deaths from drug overdoses in 50 years. It is clear that policing alone is not the solution to drug problems.
You've called me a drug user. You've claimed I said that all policing does not work. You are taking very extreme views of me here, I never said any of that. What I'm saying, and I've backed up with lots of info from 3rd parties, is that policing drugs does not slow drug production or drug use. Policing is not the solution to drug problems. Putting drug sellers and users to death does not solve anything.
Read for yourself what the National Institute of Justice says about deterrence: https://nij.ojp.gov/topics/articles/five-things-about-deterr...
You are free to go live in Singapore.
Look, there is enforcement. But that does not impact overdose deaths, because law enforcement does not prevent or drive drug use.