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Ayesha Sayed

Student, UAEU

TEDCRED 500+
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If you could influence this issue, what would you do to drug addicts?

I have a brother who was plagued by addiction for almost 8 years, it was a battle for everyone in the family. I saw him suffering through the addiction, being deported, depressed and our family being ripped apart. If you could influence the destiny of these addicts, what would you do? would you allow them to suffer in jails or would you help rehabilitate them and become better humans? I know how dangerous addicts can be but don't they deserve a chance at life?

Topics: drugs help
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    David Hamilton 50+

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    Jan 5 2012: Legallize all narcotics, and salary cap distributors and growers at minimum wage. Make selling drugs, the worst way our of poverty, with zero incentive to advertise. Use the tax money to properly label, and force all distributors to provide phone numbers and addresses, for treatment and rehab facilities paid for by drug taxes. Make the addicts pay for their addiction, financially, not physically, and you will have given them powerful incentives to change. That's all you can do, life is a choice, so is death. Giant letters "THIS MIGHT KILL YOU"... if that doesn't stop you... nothing will.
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      Ayesha Sayed 500+

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      TED AttendeeTEDx Organizer
      Jan 5 2012: But governments around the world fine drug addicts and THEN jail them. I don't understand what is to be gained from this. Instead, we can turn those jails into rehabilitation centers and help them get back on their feet?

    • M@ Dunlap

      • 0
      Jan 6 2012: Lol, force distributors to provide phone numbers and addresses? How are you going to do that? Call them criminals and lock them up if they fail to comply? Somehow I doubt that will dissuade them... Same thing with salary caps, if they're already making more than that selling drugs illegally, why take the pay hit?
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        David Hamilton 50+

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        Jan 6 2012: They won't, poor people, and convicted felons will. Quality will drop at first. There are people out there who would happily take a full time minimum wage pay check to give drug addicts safer access to their addiction. If 7-11 wants to sell drugs, it can't profit more than minimum wage an hour for the sale, but they could use that small profit to make labor cheaper. Wherever you sell legally you have to post your local poster, which has the number and address of treatment clinics, send someone round to check.

        It's really not that complicated. It's legal not for profit, with a salary cap, any other way, it's not... Slowly legal will replace illegal. Won't happen over night, but it's not exactly prohibition level difficulty. Incorporate the DEA into the IRS as forensic accountants going after the big boys.

        Don't collect numbers and addresses from customers... Everyone has dark patches in their life. Replace jail with rehab, replace fines with taxes, give poor people a really crappy, but legal way out of poverty, which shows them the dangers of drug addiction. This will never happen though, because drugs being illegal is just another form of control and public embarassment in the war chest of the politicians.

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