Quote:
Originally posted by Rudey
If you really want to talk about money why don't you analyze the entire situation under an economic lens?
-What gets covered under insurance costs?
-Will insurance costs change?
-Who would cover these costs?
-Are taxpayers going to want to cover treatment, recovery, emergency expenses, etc. of people who made the decision to choose drugs? If you think the government shouldn't cover it, then who would?
-If people are willing to steal for items costing a few bucks, would this really change things?
-What is a drug? How are these drugs different from painkiller prescription medications?
-What are the costs involved with literally destroying the pharmaceutical industry by disolving their intellectual property rights?
-What would the strain be on the FDA?
-What are the costs of developing an entirely new system to provide checks and balances similar to pharma's?
-Who pays when things go wrong? Would the government be liable?
-What kind of countries would develop these "drug" economies?
-What kind of trouble do you run into when an economic system becomes one product (think banana countries)?
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This may seem like a gross oversimplification of the issue... But wouldn't we have literally BILLIONS of dollars saved on law enforcement and prisons and such? I think those dollars (or probably just a small fraction of them) could easily be reallocated.
Another thing I wanted to add... As far as those Banana Republics.. It is the US and its demand for illegal drugs that has kept these countries down. Our drug trafficing industry keeps these warlords in power and kills thousands of innocents. It is wrong and it needs to stop. Legitimize the business and companies like ADM would be cultivating the stuff putting these warlords either out of business or forcing them to become legitimate.