this post was submitted on 22 Dec 2023
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[–] PrettyFlyForAFatGuy@lemmy.ml 133 points 10 months ago (6 children)

The "War on drugs" has been a colossal failure.

Legalize, regulate and tax.

At least then you can take the money out of the cartels and despotic regimes. You can then use the tax money raised to offset the harm these drugs absolutely do through social policies and rehabilitation programs that actually work

[–] nicetriangle@kbin.social 69 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Also helps ensure the drugs are clean. The US marijuana legalization process has absolutely not been perfect but the regime of testing for pesticides and mold is very effective.

If cocaine were legal and regulated you wouldn't be hearing all these stories of people dying of fentanyl overdoses from doing shitty cut coke.

[–] DharmaCurious@startrek.website 14 points 10 months ago (4 children)

It does make me wonder where they swiss government will acquire their coke. With weed, it's fairly easy to grow it wherever you need to, but with coke, you pretty much have to be in certain regions, yeah?

If that's the case, is this still going to be supporting those same cartels? If more countries legalized, we could maybe hope to see legally grown, harvested, and processed coke without all the slave labor and shit. Could be a real boon for South American countries, too, if the cartels lost power, and the cocoa plantations could be nationalized.

I just woke up, so I may be just talking out my ass, though

[–] Tja@programming.dev 14 points 10 months ago (1 children)
[–] DharmaCurious@startrek.website 6 points 10 months ago

Good catch. I genuinely don't know if that was me or autocorrect 😄

[–] nicetriangle@kbin.social 10 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

I'm honestly totally ignorant to whether they can be grown indoors at scale outside of their normal growing region, but that's a good point to bring up.

[–] theneverfox@pawb.social 6 points 10 months ago (4 children)

If you go to Peru, you can buy coca leaf tea, grown by legitimate companies, sold entirely legally. It's amazing for adjusting to high altitudes, if you ever go to the Andes, I highly recommend you drink the tea.

There's huge illegal growing operations, but there's legal ones. It's not that hard to grow - I think it likes high altitudes and moisture, but although it's not as easy to grow as "weed", I'm pretty sure it's easier than coffee

[–] boomzilla@programming.dev 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Is Peru that country where lots of people, even older ones, with physically demanding jobs chew coca leaves before going to work?

[–] theneverfox@pawb.social 3 points 10 months ago

Yeah, especially at high altitudes.

I would too... It helps blood flow and is a simulant. Gentler than caffeine too

[–] DharmaCurious@startrek.website 1 points 10 months ago

That's really cool to know! I doubt I'll ever get the opportunity, but it'll be something I try if I ever do!

[–] obbelusk@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Is there a high connected to coca tea, or does it have to be refined?

[–] theneverfox@pawb.social 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

It's all dosage and concentration, like anything really. Cocaine is just a simple extraction from it

You could get high off it, but not on accident... You'd have to put in some leg work

[–] obbelusk@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)
[–] theneverfox@pawb.social 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, drinking a large amount of liquid is what I'd call "leg work". You can't just do a bump or smoke something, you have to pace your tea intake... Much harder to overdose or go on a bender

[–] obbelusk@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago
[–] Obi@sopuli.xyz 1 points 10 months ago

Not gonna lie I would love to have access to that tea. The powder is great and all but it makes me twitchy and I really only enjoy it on a night out while also drinking. I could see myself using the tea for long work sessions etc.

[–] Mobilityfuture@lemmy.world 3 points 10 months ago

Ethically sourced sustainable cocaine

[–] Unaware7013@kbin.social 27 points 10 months ago

The “War on drugs” has been a colossal failure.

That's only true if you believe the lies that the "war on drugs" was actually about drugs. It never has been, it was always about having an excuse to incarcerate and beat down groups they didn't like; minorities, the poor, and the left.

When you look at it that way, it's obvious that the war on drugs is actually a really successful means to an end. Just try not to have a heart and think of the countless lives they ruined to keep a boot on peoples' neck.

[–] dangblingus@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 points 10 months ago

For waging a war on drugs, the US government certainly imported a lot of cocaine into the US.

[–] chitak166@lemmy.world 9 points 10 months ago (1 children)

The war on drugs has been a massive success.

It keeps people poor, desperate, and ashamed to engage in behavior rich people engage in.

[–] Crack0n7uesday@lemmy.world 3 points 10 months ago

No, we keep it illegal and go the Ollie North strategy. Invent a more addictive form of cocaine (crack), and sell it to minorities to fund secret wars for oil in South America.

[–] ahriboy@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 10 months ago

The soft legalization of medical marijuana in Thailand would affect Singapore's stance on marijuana.