The drug war is a major contributor to overdose deaths, by leading to highly variable potencies.
Seal Team 6 and a moonless Friday evening and the drug war could by over by Sunday.
Precisely. An unknown powder bought in the street can contain 5% heroin to 90% heroin. People often overdose when they unexpectedly get stronger drugs. Not only that, but the illegal drugs are cut with random powders and other drugs. Interactions from contaminants injure more people than overdoses.
Most damage and death from illegal drugs are for these reasons. 100 years ago, the hardest drugs were sold in drug stores with the exact standardized dosage so no accidental overdoses. They were also pure so no damage from contaminants.
Yes, addiction is a danger in some drugs. But when drugs were legal, the treatment for addiction was to keep taking the drug and slowly wean the body off of them. Even if someone was addicted, the drugs were cheap enough for nearly everyone to keep functioning. You would be surprised how many wealthy people use drugs every day without anyone else knowing it. However, their drugs are pure and they can afford them.
Today, the drug war has made many drugs more valuable than gold. A cocaine addiction that a housewife could afford in 1900 would cost 6 figures today. So today, instead of taking their cheap pill from the drug store and getting their fix (like many people with coffee or cigarettes), they go steal a $10,000 air conditioner, fence it for $500 and then give all that cash to criminals for a dangerous product that lasts one day.
The WOD is a ludicrous failure on every single front