their getting messed up the first place? And they call *me* hardboiled.

And you want the government involved in all this? Build special prisons with free hop for the junkies? And yes, you're talking prisons. That what "getting them out of the way" amounts to in practise. Either that, or lock them up in the attic like they did with senile grandmothers and retarded kids in the old days. I'm no fan of detox, but this is worse.

Good grief, Chanster. Everything you propose as a replacement is worse than what you decry. Is it any wonder you made such a big deal of America's sins when non-Americans had just slaughtered thousands of civilians in cold blood? Your problem is you have no sense of proportion. None.

Oh, and we already tried banning booze. It was too late. Plus booze is way easier to make than heroin. And those are the only things that were wrong with the idea. So that's a false analogy right there. We stuck with the booze problem, but we're not stuck with pandemic heroin addiction. Not yet, anyway. but if you have your way, we will be.

(Maybe we should inject Antabuse into potatoes sold in certain inner city neighborhoods. Even drunks gotta eat sometimes. Yes, it's got some side effects, and it's not known what it'll do to the few non-alcoholics to be found in such places, but that's the lesser evil.)

Another false analogy of yours: nicotine. I've seen what cigarettes do to people, and it's not pretty, but it's a cakewalk compared to heroin. Or even alcohol, for that matter.

Heroin dealers are scum. This is true whether they're legal or not. If they're legal, that's a problem with the law. This is a malum in se. Shoot them like rabid dogs.

Bottom line: No, you haven't though this through.