According to current and former DEA agents and records reviewed by The Associated Press, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration allowed hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills to hit the streets of New Mexico from 2023 to 2025.
Well, it’s incontrovertible that things can go much more badly wrong with some drugs than others.
Drugs aren’t evil. They are often dangerous though.
Hmm, that’s kind of a “guns don’t shoot people, people shoot people (wuth guns)” argument. I take a fairly extreme decriminalization position on all drugs, but even so, part of harm reduction is being able to exercise sensible triage. There can definitely be “riskier” and “less risky” rankings, and policy should address the risker category more intensively.
Risky ≠ evil though. Yeah, some are easier to OD, and some are more addictive. People should be educated on the effects and dangers before using them. However, “hard drug” is used not as a term for danger, but a term for morality.
As for the gun thing, it’s not really the same. The thing with guns is it posses a danger to others. Drugs (usually) only pose a danger to yourself. We evolved to use drugs. Using them in the proper way in the proper context should not be stigmatized or illegal. Obviously using them in a way that does put others at risk should be though, and heavily.
Well, it’s incontrovertible that things can go much more badly wrong with some drugs than others.
Hmm, that’s kind of a “guns don’t shoot people, people shoot people (wuth guns)” argument. I take a fairly extreme decriminalization position on all drugs, but even so, part of harm reduction is being able to exercise sensible triage. There can definitely be “riskier” and “less risky” rankings, and policy should address the risker category more intensively.
Risky ≠ evil though. Yeah, some are easier to OD, and some are more addictive. People should be educated on the effects and dangers before using them. However, “hard drug” is used not as a term for danger, but a term for morality.
As for the gun thing, it’s not really the same. The thing with guns is it posses a danger to others. Drugs (usually) only pose a danger to yourself. We evolved to use drugs. Using them in the proper way in the proper context should not be stigmatized or illegal. Obviously using them in a way that does put others at risk should be though, and heavily.