@ PPT North Carolina Yankee: Cocaine use by individuals over the age of 18 was decriminalized by the law I am trying to repeal. If something is legal than it is permitted by law, whereas decriminalization means eliminating all criminal penalties for it. I also object to your motion, nice try
I might be alright with this motion later on though if the debate starts going in circles after a bit.
@ Everyone (but also partly a response to Senator Shua): I am not advocating a return to the failed era of the old War on Drugs where our jails were clogged with drug addicts and where drug policies were little more than a tool for dog whistle politics. In my opinion, any responsible drug policies must balance treatment and rehabilitation with punishment. I think the Rehabilitation and Reasonable Penalties Act of 2014, which is a vital part of my drug reform package, is proof of that (as well as my willingness to try to find a compromise on this since the penalties I proposed were already more lenient than I'd have liked). As I've said before, I'd be happy to hear any suggestions from my colleagues about how these bills could be improved. History has proven won't solve this problem with a purely punitive approach. That being said, I think the pendulum has swung too far in the other direction. At the very least, there should be criminal penalties for the use of the worst hard drugs such as cocaine, methamphetamine, and heroine.
While the politically popular position might be that we should just leave people to their own devices where drugs like cocaine, heroine, and methamphetamine are concerned, the reality is that these are extremely dangerous and addictive substances that cannot be used safely, regardless of the dose or form. We aren't talking about marijuana (which sounds like it is relatively harmless, compared to most drugs) or alcohol (which is fine as long as you are responsible about how much and how often you drink it). Cocaine causes nothing except pain and suffering (both for addicts and those around them) and causes both physical and emotional death. Even if one believes things like LSD should be decriminalized, as far as drugs go, cocaine is among the worst of the worst.
While treatment and rehabilitation are important and need to be a part of our nation's drug policies, criminal penalties (at least for drugs like cocaine) should be on the table as well. I'm not advocating a return to the dark days of three strikes laws and private prisons lobbying for laws that will put more people in jail. However, I do believe that just as criminal penalties alone are not the answer, neither is complete decriminalization. There is a balance between the two extremes and it is that balance that we should be looking for.
