Makes you wonder?

What's to wonder about. It's pretty clear that decriminalization and treatment would reduce deaths.

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Civilize the mind, but make savage the body.

- Chinese proverb

It's pretty clear that decriminalization and treatment would reduce deaths.

How so?

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"People think it must be fun to be a super genius, but they don't realize how hard it is to put up with all the idiots in the world."

Who's going to pay for treatment?

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TEAM HD
Each day is what you make of it so make it the best day possible.

Your mom.

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Civilize the mind, but make savage the body.

- Chinese proverb

Having dealt with addiction and witness a few drug addicts in my life. A few died to. I can honestly say nobody should ever feel sorry for an addict that self destructs. But I do feel bad for the families who give all they can take and get nothing in return.

With that said, I still can't think of a legitimate reason why hard drug use is illegal. I guess in theory it is punishment for perpetuating the illegal drug trade and the death and destruction that results from the transactions. But why should I care if some people want to poison themselves and destroy their lives. Have laws ever prevented somebody from doing that?

And if we think the societal cost of drug use and addiction is too great to allow than wouldn't decriminalization and paying for treatment offset that?

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"In the world I see you are stalking elk through the damp canyon forests around the ruins of Rockefeller Center. You'll wear leather clothes that will last you the rest of your life. You'll climb the wrist-thick kudzu vines that wrap the Sears Towers. And when you look down, you'll see tiny figures pounding corn, laying stripes of venison on the empty car pool lane of some abandoned superhighway." T Durden

My mom's not alive so what else you got.

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TEAM HD
Each day is what you make of it so make it the best day possible.

And unless things have changed substantially in recent years about 10 times as many people will have died from alcohol as all illicit drugs combined (I would assume the bulk of these are opioid related) and about 100 times as many will have died from smoking tobacco.

Just to put things into some perspective.

I'd wager smoking is even higher still, albeit lowering

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The secret of a long life is you try not to shorten it.
-Nobody

look at areas where they have programs and safe shoot up clinics for evidence they absolutely reduce fatalities.

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who's smarter than you're? i'm!

Or Portugal where they've decriminalized all drugs now for a number of years. IIRC, HIV infection rates have dropped significantly. It's not like IV drug users don't spread diseases like hepatitis and HIV to non-drug using partners and from there into the wider population that may have nothing to do with drug use at all.

Also, at least the last thing I saw on it, there has been no increase in drug use rates in Portugal.

Actually they are the largest spreaders of HIV and perhaps hepatitis. But they usually spread it to other IV drug users. As have been proved on several occasions here, if you aren't an IV drug user or gay, your chances of getting the HIV are extremely low. That includes people who have sex with prostitutes in the western world. So I'm with you, we could easily offset the cost of implementing much more effective prevention, rehabilitation and even needle share programs with the money we blow on AIDS research. I'm glad you reminded me of that.

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"In the world I see you are stalking elk through the damp canyon forests around the ruins of Rockefeller Center. You'll wear leather clothes that will last you the rest of your life. You'll climb the wrist-thick kudzu vines that wrap the Sears Towers. And when you look down, you'll see tiny figures pounding corn, laying stripes of venison on the empty car pool lane of some abandoned superhighway." T Durden

Not according to the American Society of Addiction Medicine.

National Opioid Overdose Epidemic
• Drug overdose is the leading cause of accidental death in the US, with 52,404 lethal drug overdoses in 2015. Opioid addiction is driving this epidemic, with 20,101 overdose deaths related to prescription pain relievers, and 12,990 overdose deaths related to heroin in 2015.

http://www.asam.org/docs/default-source/advocacy/opioid-addiction-disease-facts-figures.pdf


In my home state of Colorado opioid deaths have risen dramatically and are expected to continue to climb. Of course we have also seen an increase in homelessness and suicides post legalization.


That said, I'll give you the tobacco related deaths.

I scanned the link but didn't see anything about alcohol or tobacco related deaths to put into perspective?

I know the opioid death rate has increased dramatically in recent years so maybe the 10x and 100x stats have changed but I would think both alcohol and smoking related still dwarf illicit drugs.

Edit, quick google search says it's about 90k a year dying from alcohol, so getting close. Also looked up smoking deaths, it's about 10 times now not 100. Testament to how significant the opioid problem has become.