Reviving the War on Drugs
By 
I am hardly going to dismiss the terrible effects of fentanyl. But going full War on Drugs is not going to help. Not surprisingly however, that’s exactly what a lot of states are going to do and that includes blue states as much as red states.
His view is part of an emotional debate unfolding in state legislatures across the country, as lawmakers move to crack down on drug crimes in response to growing anger and fear over the toll of a drug crisis killing thousands every month. In North Carolina, one of at least a dozen states this year that have considered tougher drug penalties, the Senate recently passed a measure that would expand prosecutors’ ability to bring felony charges against anyone who gives a lethal dose of fentanyl.
Prosecutors often support such measures, saying they are deterrents and hold to account people who sell illegal drugs, particularly fentanyl, the synthetic opioid that can be 50 times as strong as heroin and kills one person in the United States every seven minutes, on average.
Critics such as Abbott argue that the harsh penalties don’t deter drug use, and unfairly punish people struggling with addiction who are often low-level dealers — harking back to the failed drug sentencing laws of the crack-cocaine era of the 1980s and 1990s.
Still, the proposals are politically popular, including with some Democratic legislators who in recent years rolled back punitive state drug laws but are under pressure on rising crime and the unprecedented overdose epidemic.Many families who have lost loved ones to overdoses also support measures to increase penalties for crimes related to fentanyl.
What possible positive comes from this?