Brazil's deadliest ever police operation - 120 dead after Rio de Janeiro drug raid

I have posted this because I am interested in how do governments stop the deadly trade in drugs?
Nothing seems to work. Remove a few to prison, no dent in the supply lines.
Remember the Philippine war on Drugs instigated by President Rodrigo Duterte?
By 2022, the number of drug suspects killed since 2016 was officially tallied by the government as totaling 6,252.
Taken from the International Drug Policy Consortium;
The current punitive, prohibitionist drug policies implemented in ASEAN countries have not achieved their ‘drug-free’ goals nor achieved any substantial progress in reducing supply and preventing drug-related harms

President Trump has begun his own war on drugs when the military started missle strikes on Venezuela boats purported to be carrying drugs to the US
The assaults bring the total number of airstrikes on boats to 13 ‒ and total deaths to at least 57.

So how can the drug trade be stopped?

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FreddieUK · 70-79, M

Others have put it more eloquently, but the demand always drives the supply. The rich and middle class consumers of cocaine at their dinner parties are as much to blame as the poorest farmers exploited by ruthless gangs. Addiction is a health issue not a crime. The trade needs to be disrupted at all stages and the value of the product reduced.

whowasthatmaskedman · 70-79, M

@FreddieUK And until you supply the demand in a non criminal manner you will always have the problem. Thats what addiction is all about.😷

FreddieUK · 70-79, M

@whowasthatmaskedman I've worked with recovering addicts for 30+ years and although I understand the argument about denying the sellers their market, I'm not convinced that making it easier to access drugs is the answer.

ArishMell · 70-79, M

@FreddieUK Thoughtful analysis by you and Ninalanlyon.

All the attempts to stop drugs being made and sold, and the attempts to call for making them legal, ignore the basic question: why do so many people want to poison themselves, and what can be done to educate people that that is what these substances do?

FreddieUK · 70-79, M

@ArishMell When you've discovered the answer to why people fall into addiction you'll be able to make a fortune. They're all sorts of theories about it being an illness, which the WHO favour, to the very unhelpful idea that is only weak-willed people who can fall prey to it. I've seen people with a strong recovery who suddenly relapse despite the fact that they got everything they ever wanted and seemed to be happy, and I've seen people get by one day at a time for years and years and that's how they survive. Of course, not all illegal drugs are addictive, and some people can get away with it for years and function perfectly well in every day life. Others can't. That's the conundrum: who is it who will be driven mad by cannabis and who will manage very well? It will be a gamble for each person as they try to find out if it's them.

ArishMell · 70-79, M

@FreddieUK There will be a strong individual element, but I am not sure if addiction is an illness until the substance tried, induces the addiction. One addicted, really, it's hard to see it as any other than an illness of some sort.

Perhaps the onlyl real cure is to try to teach people not even to take the risk, but I cannot say how. Merely preaching won't work because that can induce curiosity, the "forbidden fruit" principle.

FreddieUK · 70-79, M

@ArishMell You're right on all counts. Mostly I worked with those who were ready to stop and even they have no straightforward answers.

Roundandroundwego · 61-69

@FreddieUK you pretend its about drugs with each other,! Pure evil.