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I don't think the laws are the way they are because people don't have common sense. Think of all the lawyers, drug testing lab techs, court clerks, judges, and probation officers that would lose their jobs if the war on drugs was lifted.

If you ever watched police shows like "cops" they seem to spend 2/3 of their time arresting people for drugs. It's hard solve home burglaries, it's easy to bust people with petty amounts of drugs in their cars.

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This. Exactly this. People seem to forget that whole industries and careers in the tens if not hundreds of thousands would be overturned at the stroke of a pen, even if it is a good idea for lots of reasons. And the people with a vested stake in the status quo are going to fight like hell to keep it. Ending the war on drugs needs to be practically unwound in a manner that doesn't trigger a huge special interest outcry that will thwart any and all progress.

Just because those jobs exist is not a reason for them to continue existing. They can find work in fields such as helping addicts instead of oppressing them.

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