Quora Answer: Why Can the US Not Have Draconian Drug Laws Like Singapore?

The following is my answer to a Quora question: “Why can the US not have draconian drug laws like Singapore?” 

Singapore is a city state.  There is only one legislative process to enact a law.  The United States is a federal republic.  There are fifty states with their own legislature, and there is a strong states’ rights movement.  Simply enacting the law would be a monumental challenge.  The United States allows lobbying, which complicates the legislative process since interest groups can adversely influence proposed legislation.  In Singapore, we would call that corruption. 

Singapore and the United States have different policing policies.  In Singapore, the police are deliberately not militarised, and there is an emphasis on community policing.  Due to the baggage of race relations, most police forces in the United States do not have that level of credibility with minority groups to engage in that level of community policing.  This complicates the investigative and prosecution process.  As it is, there are many capital cases that have been proven to be miscarriages of justice. 

Enacting a law is one thing.  Prosecuting cases with credibility is another.  At a federal level, the judges are of that required high standard.  At a state level, it varies greatly.  Also, we must consider that the United States still employs juries, meaning that every capital case is a circus of monkeys throwing faeces at each other.  This means the chances of mistrial are very high. 

Finally, we have to consider the Constitution.  Unless there is a comprehensive anti-narcotics policy uniformly implemented in terms of policing and prosecution standards, with sentencing guidelines, it will likely be challenged on the basis of human rights, and likely, states’ rights. 

All that aside, we must also consider the nature of the electorate, and their historical experience.  No political party has the political capital to risk pushing through such a series of laws, whether via the executive or the legislative branches of government.