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DEA National Drug Threat Assessment 2024 [pdf]

dea.gov

21–28 of 28 posts

Re: DEA National Drug Threat Assessment 2024 [pdf]

#21
post #2

> The 2024 NDTA highlights the dangerous shift from plant-based drugs to synthetic drugs It's almost as if it was a mistake to spend decades throwing people in jail for using the plant-based drugs... But perusing the document, I see no such admission. In fact, in their section on marijuana they use scare-quotes around "legalize" and "legal", showing they absolutely haven't learned their lesson. The DEA's War on Ameri…

I think we need to stop making an argument about personal rights with the drug war and make it about what most of this document is about. The drug war is empowering the most dangerous organized crime gangs ever created. They could be destroyed overnight by law makers with a pen. At some point we are going to have to make the decision that dealing with kid's coke and heroin addictions is easier than dealing with thous…

>The drug war is empowering the most dangerous organized crime gangs ever created.

Are you talking about the feds or cartel?

Re: DEA National Drug Threat Assessment 2024 [pdf]

#22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a bit frustrating to observe the US on this issue go from draconic prohibition to laissez faire commercialization when probably the solution lies in a legalized but regulated approach.

Where has US drug law changed from draconic to laissez faire? The only laws I'm aware that have changed are at the state level with the Marijuana legalization and every one of those states adopted a regulated approach.

Capitalism + ever more powerful cannabinoid drugs => problems. Many states (including the one I live in) are struggling to limit advertising, in particular.

Re: DEA National Drug Threat Assessment 2024 [pdf]

#24
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Plant-based in this context means traditional heroin (which is harvested from Poppies) not Weed.

Heroin isn't harvested from poppies, opium is. A lot of the problems of the heroin trade could be solved by letting people grow and smoke their own poppies, like they did for thousands of years before prohibition. A similar thing could be said for cocaine and the coca leaf.

Heroin is derived from poppies. It is simply the product of acetylating the morphine isolated from the poppy plant. Also, the person you replied to was right, the DEA is referring to heroin and cocaine, not cannabis. This is spelled out in the second paragraph of the executive summary in the pdf: "traditional plant-based drugs like cocaine and heroin".

Re: DEA National Drug Threat Assessment 2024 [pdf]

#25
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you're both overthinking things. There are more drugs, that are more powerful, and they are more easily available than ever before. Fentanyl is easy to make (thank you biochemical advances), easy to distribute (thank you massive e-commerce market for the camouflage), easy to buy (thank you crypto), and a rice grain's worth will kill. This isn't because of DEA policy, or a slippery slope, this is human progres…

Yeah, that's why session beers don't exist and everyone only drinks everclear nowadays. /s

You jest, but this actually happened during the era of alcohol prohibition: hard liquor went from around 40% of US alcohol sales to 75%. Bootleggers preferred liquor because the profit margin was higher and because it was easier to conceal. After prohibition ended, the proportion of hard liquor dropped, as people returned to wine and beer.

In current times, drinking rates among young people are dropping now that they have access to legal marijuana, which is a good thing from a public-health perspective.

Re: DEA National Drug Threat Assessment 2024 [pdf]

#26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where has US drug law changed from draconic to laissez faire? The only laws I'm aware that have changed are at the state level with the Marijuana legalization and every one of those states adopted a regulated approach.

Capitalism + ever more powerful cannabinoid drugs => problems. Many states (including the one I live in) are struggling to limit advertising, in particular.

> Capitalism + ever more powerful cannabinoid drugs => problems.

This is even more true of the black market. Legalization will reduce these problems, even with no regulations (which is not the case).

Re: DEA National Drug Threat Assessment 2024 [pdf]

#27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think we need to stop making an argument about personal rights with the drug war and make it about what most of this document is about. The drug war is empowering the most dangerous organized crime gangs ever created. They could be destroyed overnight by law makers with a pen. At some point we are going to have to make the decision that dealing with kid's coke and heroin addictions is easier than dealing with thous…

>The drug war is empowering the most dangerous organized crime gangs ever created. Are you talking about the feds or cartel?

It's the same picture.
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