this post was submitted on 13 Apr 2025
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If the revolution doesnt come with ending the drug war, what was the point?
This is a good example where context matters. China's policy comes in part out of the Century of Humiliation and manipulation through Opium. In the US, the "war on drugs" was used in part to target black revolutionaries, along with mass incarcerating minorities in general. So any new state in the Turtle Island region that said "we're going to be socialist but still be repressive about drugs" would be justifiably concerning.
That said, I don't know how all China handles it in the particulars, but I believe there has been at least one country in the world where they tried decriminalizing drugs (not to be confused with legalizing the sale of) and creating programs to help people rehabilitate, and that seems like a sensible path forward for a place with history like the US.
Portugal
Ah, thank you!
Yeah the distinction between the two shouldn't be forgotten, the Wests notion of the drug war however prevents other countries from not adhering too it through soft power.
Similarly the Chinese approach while successful, still bares the obvious scars of their colonized past and cant have been said to be a policy that was informed by sociological principles, but a defensive mechanism against the repetition of mass destabilization that can happen when a foreign power floods your populace with highly addictive and deadly drugs, and you lack the means to properly educate the working class on the mechanisms of drug addiction.
Regardless I do think that moving towards a policy of at least, principled scientific reform of drug policy to adhere to informed practices around recreational use.