> I think the right approach to drugs is to regulate use by neighborhood. And with monetary fines only.
So, if you have the money to pay the fine without breaking a sweat, you just ignore the rule.
> Regulating it by neighborhood will allow people to keep drug abuse away from their kids
No, it won't. For much the same reason local fireworks bans don't, except drug use is a lot easier to conceal.
> Neighborhoods that do allow drug use will pick which drugs to allow and be able to tax the activity
No, they won't, for the same reason neighborhood bans don't work. It's impossible to police effectively.
Maybe areas that allow drug sales will be able to tax (some of) it (but any tax in the “legal” area directly reduces the impact of fines in the “illegal” area, and even people who go wholly legal will shift activity to the lowest tax areas available; you might also look into what a big business cigarette smuggling to avoid taxes is.)
> So, if you have the money to pay the fine without breaking a sweat, you just ignore the rule.
Not just that, but if you can't or won't pay the fine, what happens? You end up imprisoned just as if the penalty had been to throw you in jail all along.
I'm not worried about activity that people successfully conceal or do in private. That isn't what upsets people who want to criminalize things.
It is also possible to have penalties that scale with the value of your property or income.
And I don't think we need to worry about policing either. Neighbors in such neighborhoods are perfectly capable of recording video. It is public activity that is the issue, not private, so no need for undercover stings.
Activity goes where taxes are low and where it is convenient. Taxes are very high in Manhattan but it is more popular for many activities than rural New Hampshire.
And there are other considerations too, like safety. A place where there is no tax and perhaps no order might have lower appeal than a well-policed area with a moderate tax.
So, if you have the money to pay the fine without breaking a sweat, you just ignore the rule.
> Regulating it by neighborhood will allow people to keep drug abuse away from their kids
No, it won't. For much the same reason local fireworks bans don't, except drug use is a lot easier to conceal.
> Neighborhoods that do allow drug use will pick which drugs to allow and be able to tax the activity
No, they won't, for the same reason neighborhood bans don't work. It's impossible to police effectively.
Maybe areas that allow drug sales will be able to tax (some of) it (but any tax in the “legal” area directly reduces the impact of fines in the “illegal” area, and even people who go wholly legal will shift activity to the lowest tax areas available; you might also look into what a big business cigarette smuggling to avoid taxes is.)