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I feel like this question is based on a lack of understanding of what people mean when they say legalizing drugs reduces crime.
Legalizing drugs reduces the crime of drug possession simply because it is not a crime anymore. In exactly the same way, legalizing carrying a gun without a license reduces the crimes associated with carrying. That said, it does not necessarily reduce crime overall, especially without an increase in support for rehab and addiction services.
Portland, Oregon reduced the severity of possession crimes from a felony to a misdemeanor for schedule 1 and 2 drugs, and the result was a decrease in felonies, but an increase in misdemeanors proportional to the felony decrease, suggesting that overall arrests remained the same. While there was not a significant increase in crime overall, the growing popularity of fentanyl during that time did lead to an increase in deaths, and public opinion seemed to indicate that there was a change in the perception of public safety during that time even though the crime rate remained mostly stable. In my opinion, I think it probably had to do with an increase in the visible public consumption of drugs and the unpleasant realities that can come with that.
https://www.pdx.edu/news/psu-researchers-release-final-report-landmark-project-exploring-impacts-measure-110
A primary difference between drugs and guns is that drugs more often lead to the death or injury of the user while guns are more likely than drugs to lead to the death or injury of someone else. Furthermore, a gun enables the commission of a crime in that you can’t rob a liquor store with a joint, but you definitely can with a firearm.
That said, I live in an extremely gun friendly area and have carried both openly and concealed, yet the perception of “how safe is my neighborhood” seems to be swayed much more by the growing homeless/drug using population than the sight of a person with a gun on their hip does. I have never seen someone avert their gaze and pick up their pace for an open carrying person around here, but I see it all the time when they encounter a drug using homeless person. I know that is mostly anecdotal, but when paired with the data from Portland, I think it can be safely suggested that the perception of public safety has more to do with sights that make people uncomfortable over actual statistical crime data.
It is very possible to live in a place that is statistically safer, yet feels more dangerous, entirely due to the discomfort caused by witnessing human suffering, which is less of a factor when witnessing someone carrying a gun. Furthermore, decriminalizing drugs in one particular area can lead to an increase in drug users inhabiting that area, thus reducing the perception of public safety regardless of crime statistics.
Legalization of carrying a gun primarily leads to an increase in concealed carry, thus hiding the increased presence of guns from public view, and therefore leaving the perception of public safety unaltered. Concealed carry is more popular than open carry because it increases the tactical effectiveness of the firearm by not making you an obvious target of a criminal, so it is the preferred choice for most gun carriers, both legal and illegal. Contrastingly, it seems pretty hard to hide the fact that you’re totally zooted on fentanyl or methamphetamine.
Overall, I’d say that simple decriminalization does not have a significant effect on crime. Most drug users are not homeless or violent criminals, so they simply fly under the radar just like a concealed firearm carrier does. However, an increase in public intoxication or public discharge of a firearm does decrease the public perception of safety, regardless of actual statistical consequences, and politicians create a narrative based on that public opinion rather than using the true data about public harm.
I agree with almost all of your post but I have to say this about open carry.
I live in Texas . I occasionally see people open carry. If I see someone open carrying, I tend to avoid them.
It's as stupid as seeing someone walking around with a sword or a big knife. You call yourself out and make yourself a target.
Everyone around you suddenly knows you have the power of life and death over them but have no idea what kind of person you are. That can produce fear, and at the very least, make some uncomfortable.
It's also not a statement of strength. It is a statement of fear. I fear that those around me may do me harm, so I want to be able to protect myself from them and show them I have the power to do so.
It separates you from the people around you.
Conceal carry, great, no one gives a shit, but as soon as you open carry, you may as well have a flashing neon sign saying, "Look at me, look at me!"
It attracts all the wrong kind of attention.
I am not saying you fall in that group, I do not know you at all, but that has been my anecdotal experience in Texas
Hi fellow Texan!
You are totally right—my example was only based on the part of Texas I live in. The reaction in Austin or Dallas would be different than it is in more rural areas.
I honestly think there are very few reasons people should open carry. I’ve done so when I’ve been mostly in the wilderness and occasionally for a short stop at a business where it’s tolerated on the way, so the context in that moment is different than it would be in the middle of the city.
Concealed can be done comfortably pretty easily, and is much safer for many reasons. If you choose to carry, safety, legality, and context are of paramount importance.
That's not what's meant when it's said that legalization reduces crime. Legalization reduces violent crimes like robbery, theft, and gang violence. It typically has the effect of reducing overall problematic drug use as well. When weed was legalized in Colorado (iirc) opioid abuse dropped.
Plus, if drugs are legalized fewer people die from laced drugs or dirty needles, taxes can be used to fund rehab and education programs, etc.
Prohibition only ever leads to a thriving black market and violent criminal behavior.
I think it depends a little on what you mean by legalization.
Decriminalization, as far as I’m aware, is all that has been seriously tried for hard drugs. That leaves the illegal industry in tact, and continues all the issues that can come with it. I am 100% behind the legalization of drugs, I just think that the real societal improvement comes with increased healthcare availability for addicts, such as needle exchanges, purity testing, and addiction recovery services.
Fully legalizing hard drugs comes with its own minefield, too. Cigarettes are powerfully addictive, and companies have exploited their legal status to make them ubiquitous. They intentionally market them to children and use product placement to ensure that smoking is seen as “cool”. I can only imagine how things would go if companies like that were in the methamphetamine business.
And to an extent, they are. I am part of the generation that was pumped full of Ritalin to “fix” attention issues in children, and many of those kids have experienced a continuation of the addictive behavior that was introduced to them in a doctors office. The intersection of capitalism and biochemical addiction is a gross industry of exploitation.
I am a recovering heroin addict (17 years clean), so I am no stranger to the problems of addiction, enforcement, and healthcare. I definitely believe that removing the prohibition on drugs is the first place to start if we want to improve the problem. I just also know how fundamentally powerful hard drugs can be, and without an accessible off ramp for addiction as well as available materials to stay safe while you’re addicted, the life problems that come with drug abuse are likely to continue in one form or another.
And where are legalized cigarettes now? And this isn't happening with marijuana with all the "it's not bad, you can't OD from it, it's not addictive" talking points? Take it from someone who it adversely affects and who knows people who have been addicted. It can ruin your life and the withdrawals are a whole different ballgame as they're more mental than physical and can last for months or even years.
One of the biggest reasons for the decline in ciggarette use, and what is often paired with calls for legalization, is education and treatment. Using taxes from the legalized product, taxed similarly, to invest in education and treatment as well as regulating production so that dosages are consistent and it avoids diluted product that can be cut with other, more dangerous dosed drugs like fentanyl. In so doing, creating a safer market and driving people towards safer practices and understanding, it reduces drug related crimes as a black market no longer needs to exist.
You have the same answer here
Drug addiction is almost always a symptom of something else. People take the shortcut of placing all the problems caused by the drug, but if it weren't one, it would be another. Systemic abuse, undiagnosed mental illness, etc. The off ramp needs to be education and assistance programs, treating people with empathy, using the funding from decriminalization (and the funds clawed back from the wasted efforts on "the war on drugs.")
But, we live under capitalism. Better to drip feed expensive medications, expensive rehab, and criminalize drug use so that for-profit prisons can have a steady supply of slave labor. We can't even regulate our food right now, and supposedly we'd regulate recreational drugs? Lol. Lack of education and support also ties well to reoffense. The point of prisons we weretold is reformation and the indivudual would return to society. Naaahh, private prisons need that slave labor, let's criminalize homelessness as we push to replace labor with AI!