so I tried replying to this before, but without any basic computer skills (my next endeavor) its hard to do without retyping the whole article.
just to make sure I wasn't totally off base I did some looking around. interestingly enough I found your article linked from other articles. i also found this one which was linked as well.
http://economist.com/news/leaders/21605908-decriminalising-drugs-leaves-crooks-cash-legalise-drugs-instead-half-smoked-joint
"but decriminalizing drugs is only half the answer. as long as supplying drugs remains illegal the business will remain a criminal monopoly. jamaican gangsters will continue to enjoy total control of the ganja market. they will go on corrupting police, murdering their rivals, and pushing their products to children. people who buy cocaine in portugal (where drugs are "decriminalized") face no criminal consequence, but their euros still end up paying the wages of the thugs who saw off heads in latin america (this actually happens). for the producer countries, going easy on drug-users while insisting that the product remain illegal is the worst of all worlds."
illegal drugs and those who control it are also a big problem just south of the border, aka mexico. there has also been ties to terrorist organizations and "rogue" nations like north korea. but u.s. government has also been tied to illegal drug activity and I don't trust them either.
I think drugs should be legalized, but I don't have all the answers to the "mares nest of logistical and pragmatic questions" (quoted from your article) and I don't think anyone else does either. but i think its going in the wrong direction. new drug laws have been passed, or have been proposed, to further clap down on the "evil" that is drugs not realizing that the emergence of new "designer drugs" is a direct result of said drug laws. if anything, like "prohormones", and for sake of harm reduction, if anyone is actually interested, some drug should be favored over others. any war on performance enhancing drugs makes no sense. that's what drugs are supposed to do, and some drugs are called medicine. but "doping" is now a jailable offense in some countries and groups like wada are working with drug companies to make sure their products arent abused. of course drug abuse is not cool, and drug dependence/addiction is a real problem, I get it. but the problem of abuse and addiction is a lot bigger than just certain chemicals.
and just for the record. I don't really "do" drugs. im not on drugs. although ive tried a lot of different drugs. including but not limited to heroin and other opiates, crack cocaine and powder, methamphetamines, bath salts and synthetic cannabinoids. ive never had a drug habit. I don't have a sobriety date. I have other drugs Id like to try. my main interest in drugs is the 5 s's, steroids, stimulants, psychedelics
, smart drugs, and sexual enhancement drugs. all of which id consider performance enhancing drugs, or as I might like to call them, personal enhancement drugs. of all the drugs ive ever done, the only one I had a real problem with was... alcohol. the most toxic and dangerous drug of all. and I didn't start that until I was in my early 30's. it started innocently enough. a glass of wine with dinner.
I don't live a "party" lifestyle and never really have. sure ive partied, but drugs never make or break a party. people and experiences do. I don't advocate drug use and I don't judge it. I try to take drugs for what they are and nothing more. tools, to help you get from here to there. whether it be bigger, faster, stronger or better.