An elephant in the room about just letting people go out and buy drugs is their behavior while under the influence.
The potential for great harm exists, no doubt about it.
Drunk driving is exactly the same thing. People who are unsafe because their skills and perceptions are compromised by the influence of a chemical substance.
We've developed a system that's been relatively effective at reducing the number of people driving drunk by making getting caught prohibitively expensive to a rational person.
The problem is there are plenty of people who are irrational before they take that first drink. The drunk driving laws at present don't affect their behavior in the slightest.
I have a potential solution!
"JUST" driving impaired is a massive fine and loss of license (just like now). Add in a "parole" effect that if you get caught again in, say, five years; we go to criminal proceedings. By the way, the car has to be moving or at least in the roadway. Someone who realizes they're too messed up to drive and decides to sleep it off in the parking lot or on the shoulder and leaves the car running to keep the climate control (like the heat in Minnesota) isn't dangerous.
The above is for when you're spotted bobbing and weaving on the road and get pulled over because you appear to be impaired. Fail the field sobriety reaction test and you get the fine and lose your license. This test will be different than that imposed today, it will test for impairment, not drunkenness. AARP is going to have kittens.
You smash into something, stab someone, shoot someone... Commit any crime and we take a vial of blood on the spot. The blood is tested for drugs in the system at the time. If you're above the legal limit you are charged with the first degree premeditated version of the crime.
Get drunk and kill someone with your car? First degree murder, not manslaughter. Yes, you could get the chair for two drinks; IF YOU KILL SOMEONE ON THE WAY HOME FROM THE BAR.
I think my idea will create incentives for safe drug and alcohol use.
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Not a bad idea. I have almost never driven after even one drink (bad experiences with my parents at a formative age) but I have driven when I was much too tired to drive----as in "having hallucinations." If this had been in force I'd have pulled off at a rest stop and taken a nap for at least a couple of hours. That's often all it takes to set me back up at least well enough to get where I'm going.
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