Victimless crimes involving drugs.

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

 How much money would be saved if, as Ron suggested, police in Somerville (or MA) stopped pursuing victimless crimes involving drugs? Does anyone know if  such a proposal is being discussed seriously anywhere? Excuse my ignorance...

Comments

[ron_newman]

I don't know if there is a proposal, but I'd like there to be. I put it on the table for discussion last week when people were talking about Somerville city budget cuts and their effect on the Library.

I don't see anything positive that comes from enforcing these criminal laws. Giving young people a criminal record makes it hard for them to later attend college or get good jobs. Because this business operates illegally, disputes between distributors (or between consumers and distributors, or producers and distributors) frequently lead to violence and sometimes to death.

The systems we now have for controlling and regulating alcohol and tobacco may be flawed, but they work a lot better than the drug enforcement system, and I bet they don't cost nearly as much to administer. And if the Sam Adams distributor gets into a business dispute with his counterpart from Anheuser-Busch or Harpoon, they can settle this in the civil court system rather than resorting to violence.