(or are they? have I been disinfo'd?)

I am of the opinion that the drug war is evil: cops and jails ruining someone's life because of a recreational activity. And the evidence shows it does more harm than good, not stuff I have to go over again.

But DPRK and China are harsh on drugs, not sure about Cuba.

What's up with that?

First counterargument that comes to my mind is a lot of capitalist countries are very harsh on drugs as well, like the very capitalist Singapore, so you couldn't draw a correlation. What other counterarguments should a comrade consider?

  • Tankiedesantski [he/him]
    ·
    2 years ago

    Ehhhh, I have a feeling that this comes from salty English teachers who got deported after being caught with pot.

    Drug users are not subject to the prison system and are given treatment rather than criminal penalties. Drug use of most types is considered an administrative offense rather than a crime, so closer to a traffic ticket than murder.

    Unfortunately the best most recent source I could find in English is infected with liberal brainworms, but it does point out:

    Individuals entering the [Drug Control] system because of illicit drug use may be punished by up to five days in detention or a fine of up to 500 yuan. More serious offenses may require up to 15 days detention or a fine of up to 2,000 yuan.

    Like okay being held (in a treatment facility, not prison) for 5 days and having to pay an $80 fine is not pleasant, nor is being held for 2 weeks and paying a $260 fine, but thats pretty light for something that'll ruin your life forever and land you jail time in most Western countries.

    And yeah, there'll be ongoing monitoring for drug users and they'll have to attend regular counseling and drug tests until they've been clean for 3 years, but again, compare that to the prison time you'd get in many places in the West (especially if you're PoC) and that's much better.

    I'll be the first to say that the system can improve and more resources should be devoted to rehabilitating drug users but idk if you can consider anything in that link "very harsh" compared to the West, never mind globally.