Comment by dvektor
Yes unfortunately for a long time my whole life revolved around 'drug culture', and so did of all my 'friends' and my entire social circle.
I certainly cannot act like I did not deserve to come to prison, and it's definitely the only reason I am even alive right now. Coming to prison, specifically in Maine, was the best thing that ever happened to me.
Well, yeah, selling drugs is bad, but it keeps happening and nothing we're trying is stopping it. Clearly, the fact that people end up in prison isn't disincentivizing people from choosing the 10-15k in their pocket option. Humans aren't good at understanding risk or connecting long term consequences to short term actions, in aggregate. We should design our society around this fact.
Hence why I typically argue for legalization and regulation. You have a pretty unique perspective though. I suppose in your position you're incentivized to always say you did the wrong thing, drugs are bad, etc etc, but to the extent you're able to discuss it, what's your take on arguments for legalization and regulation?