After reading EG's post on unpopular ideas that would change things for the better, here the first one of my own suggestions.
Legalise all drugs:
This one is definately not a vote winner, and yet it's bound to happen one day. I'm referring to drugs like cocaine, cannabis, ecstasy, etc... What we call recreational drugs.
The (illegal) drug industry is the biggest in the world after the arms trade. It is an industry worth hundreds of billions of dollars. And it's all in the hands of criminals. It fuels wars, conflicts and terrorism. It is the cause of so much instability in the world, and funds guerrila groups and private armies from Afghanistan, to Columbia, to the block of some run-down street.
The "war on drugs" costs billions/year, and yet produces no result whatsoever. These drugs are ever-more available, and their cost is ever-decreasing.
The fact it is such an illegal industry means that the drugs are of poor quality, often cut with rat poison or washing powder, leading to the death of many addicts.
The fact it is in the hands of criminals also pushes them to try to sell harder stuff. Why have a client on cannabis when you could tempt him with cocaine?
The drug laws are also a sham. Sending drug users to prison is ridiculous. All it does is turn them into proper, professional criminals.
Drug-addiction is a health problem, not a crimimnal one. If the addict commits a crime (mugging, burglary, etc...) then its a different story, and a criminal one. But an addict that funds his addiction legally (through a job), should not be a criminal. He should not go to jail, but to a rehab center. Some will say it is incredibly expensive to fund health clinics for alld rug-addicts. And it's true.
This is another reason why drugs should be legalised, and their production and distribution nationalised.
Now, I'm not advocating selling cocaine over the counter in supermarkets. Obvisusly,. There has to be strict regulations, and different regimes for different dfrugs.
Cocaine and heroin should be sold by the local doctor, who would keep a health record of his patient. The patient should be sent to compulsory rehab clinics, and if unemployed, made to particiapte in community projects (cleaning up the parks, repainting the neighbourhood, whatever..) to help his integration in society. The patient wont want illegal heroin, since it will be much more expensive, and much less clean than the legal one. And since he willbe monitored, it will be much easier to rehabilitate him.
Cannabis and ecstasy should be sold in special shops, with limited amounts to be kept in and sold, and with stict ID checks. In the same way, records of who buys what/when should be kept. The THC is skunk should be kept under 15%. Users wont buy illegal drugs for the same reason: poor quality, poor price, and dangerous.
All this would enable the governemnt to make loads of money that can be reinvested in mental health care to rehabilitate those people.
The criminals involved would go broke extremely quickly, thereby reducing their overall power.
Countries like Morocco and Columbia could have a legal coca/cannabis prodcution, improving their gdp.
The prisons would empty. Crime would go down.
All this of course, has to be done with heavy and comprehensive education from a young age, with strong and effective rehabilitations programs, and with heavier prison sentences for illegal dealers.
It is not a vote-winner. It is not "moralistic".
And yet, it is time we wake up to the fact that people take recreational drugs. That no amount of prison will stop them from it. That the only ones benefiting from this are the criminal gangs. And that the current strategy is completely inefficient and incredibly expensive.