[Cincinnatus]

"Did repealing Prohibition reduce the number of alcoholics or alcohol related crimes? "

Maybe not the number of alcoholics, but certainly the number of alcohol related crimes, if only by virtue of the fact that simply consuming alcohol was no longer illegal. I would hazard a guess, though admittedly it's only a guess, that other alcohol related crimes went down as well. Oh, I've no doubt that the stupid shit that drunks do was largely unaffected, but the violence between gangs of bootleggers almost certainly dropped off, and the bribery and corruption had to take a hit.

"I am not dissatisfied with the number of Americans incarcerated."

Really? I'm not baiting you, but I'm surprised if you really mean this. If I have it correctly, the US has a greater percentage of its population incarcerated than any other developed nation. I find it troubling that the land of the free should have so many locked up. Not that the goal should necessarily be to have the lowest incarceration rate, but rather to have the most just society.

There are certainly SF guys who retire, grow their hair, buy a Harley, and start smoking dope. I don't know how widespread this is, but it would apply to at least one or two of my accquaintance and I suspect that you probably know a few who meet this description. Should they be jailed?

Again, I'm not baiting you or trying to score rhetorical points off you, just get you to look at things a little differently.

"I think there are many more who should be off the streets."

There are certainly people walking around who should be in prison. I'd like to see mandatory minimum sentences for armed robbers, not dope smokers. Nor am I deluding myself that some of those who use drugs aren't thoroughly despicable creatures. If a mother smokes crack and neglects her kids, I don't have a problem with child services taking the kids and the mother getting locked up for endangering them. Some tweaker loses it and attacks someone, I hope they get shot and if they survive, get tried, convicted, and locked up.

I just believe that drug use is an attempt to self medicate and that this should not be a crime, in and of, itself. Further, I think something along the lines of what I'm recommending is more just and far less expensive.