I wanted to expand a bit on this point. Since the United States began to attempt prohibition of drugs early in the last century, drug use has been basically flat. Throughout the escalation and militarization called the "War on Drugs," our children have reported that half of them try illicit drugs before they leave high school. What we would see happen is the same thing that happened after alcohol prohibition, namely that there was an initial spike in useage rates (easily explained by people being honest when surveyed rather than lying to cover illegal behavior) followed by several years of lower usage and then a flat line. We would see people being honest about their drug use, which would inflate the numbers we have already, but at least we would have an accurate count and a baseline from which to base our new numbers. We need to attack this problem scientifically, not idealogically. I have had enough of the "messages" the drug warriors claim to want to give our kids. I am ready for results.
And this has to be the first time that my views on drug use have been described as either heavy handed or authoritarian. LOL
Nicely written, good plan and well thought out. It's a brilliant piece of work really... I'm sure you (and others) will recognize that such a system (although logical) could only really work under ideal conditions. The truth is there is no such world - this plan looks like it would cost more to implement that what is already being wasted in the "war" on drugs. I won't go into all of the areas that would be open to criticism and abuse in trying to implement such a system but I will say there are those who would claim that this plan smacks of big brother. So even though I agree with you about many things, I can not see this plan happening in our lifetime. It seems much more feasible to start out with something basic - let's say for example the regulation and taxation of hemp as a cash crop. It could be fairly easily implemented and taxed using the same systems already in place for tobacco. Pot is one of the more successful cash crops in the country (in the world) and the immediate benefits would be: 1. Save the asses of some farmers who are going broke. 2. Create a base for funding for further drug education programs, and maybe even the beginnings for some of the systems you wrote about. 3. Alow our law enforcement to focus on actual criminals, and stop chasing and jailing "harmless hippies". 4. Release of imprisoned potsmoking offenders to reduce the strain on our overcrowded prisons. I'm sure there are dozens of great arguements... In my opinion, the bottom line is that our government just isn't capable of implementing systems like you propose because of rampant corruption and abuse of power within the political system. I wish it were not so - but keep pushing!! There's always hope. Things do change over time. This issue will have to be approached in little steps, and hopefully something similar to what you have proposed can eventually emerge
Great thread. Only comment: RFID is useless since containers can be discarded or kept separately from the substances. You can empty a bottle of alcohol and give the contents to a kid. I think might as well just do random sample substance testing at schools if you are Ok with trackable chips.
I agree to an extent RE RFID. However, just having that as a feature of recreational drug packaging will help to reduce the incidences of people purchasing for minors, which is a major goal of any drug control system I would design.
