lol do gooder... that's great. It's not a waste of time and money teaching people valuable lessons. Obviously the traffickers should get a longer stint but surely there should be some sort of repercussions for ILLEGAL drug use. Drugs out there now are insane, it isn't winning the war on drugs but I am certain it is having at least some impact on some people. Better than nothing.
What valuable lessons? People go out there each week and abuse the shit out of their body smashing down countless amounts of alcohol. Yet when people touch the majority of drugs it is seen as a crime in the eyes of the law, and people can and have been placed in institutions where the likes of murderers, rapists and paedophiles spend lengthy stints.
The majority of people who don't touch drugs do so because they're turned off by them thanks to whatever they hear from others, or they're worried about the dangers that can exist. I highly doubt too many worry a great deal about getting done for using them, because unless you're some big time trafficker or someone important with untrustworthy people around you, police rarely care.
If anything the failed war on drugs pushes the prices up, makes it slightly harder for people to get their fix and scares some people away from touching any sort of drugs at all (sometimes for absolutely ridiculous and ignorant reasons). It also increases the chance of health problems with the dirty shit that people put out there.
The war on drugs is a crock, and the day it ends will be a step forward for the world. People should be allowed to use what they want, and obviously if things get bad they should be forced by support networks to seek help, like friends and family do with gambling addicts and alcoholics.
The shunning of drug users does nothing to benefit society, makes it real hard for many addicts to admit they have a problem and can make drug taking extremely dangerous with the environments people use them in.
As for professional athletes, you're never going to stop them from having some sort of outlet. From what we've learned lately many use gambling, some obviously prefer partying and the drugs/drinking that can come from that. The whole role model argument is ridiculous. As Charles Barkley said "I'm not a role model, just because I dunk a basketball, doesn't mean I should raise your kids". Couldn't be more spot on really. The ridiculous amount of vanilla types that exist in the AFL today can be blamed on this whole role model argument. There's hardly a character left these days, with the AFL getting to draftees earlier and telling them exactly how they should live as an athlete. It's all garbage.