End The War On Drugs

End The War On Drugs

I'm confused. When I walk around busy midtown Manhattan, I often smell marijuana. Despite the crowds, some people smoke weed in public. Usually the police leave them alone, and yet other times they act like a military force engaged in urban combat. This February, cops stormed a Columbia, Mo., home, killed the family dog and terrorized a 7-year-old boy—for what? A tiny quantity of marijuana.

Two years ago, in Prince George's County, Md., cops raided Cheye Calvo's home—all because a box of marijuana was randomly shipped to his wife as part of a smuggling operation. Only later did the police learn that Calvo was innocent—and the mayor of that town.

"When this first happened, I assumed it was just a terrible, terrible mistake," Calvo said. "But the more I looked into it, the more I realized (it was) business as usual that brought the police through our front door. This is just what they do. We just don't hear about it. The only reason people heard about my story is that I happened to be a clean-cut white mayor."

Radley Balko of Reason magazine says more than a hundred police SWAT raids are conducted every day. Does the use of illicit drugs really justify the militarization of the police, the violent disregard for our civil liberties, and the overpopulation of our prisons? It seems hard to believe.

I understand that people on drugs can do terrible harm—wreck lives and hurt people. But that's true for alcohol, too. But alcohol prohibition didn't work. It created Al Capone and organized crime. Now drug prohibition funds nasty Mexican gangs and the Taliban. Is it worth it? I don't think so.

Everything can be abused, but that doesn't mean government can stop it, or should try to stop it. Government goes astray when it tries to protect us from ourselves.

Many people fear that if drugs were legal, there would be much more use and abuse. That's possible, but there is little evidence to support that assumption. In the Netherlands, marijuana has been legal for years. Yet the Dutch are actually less likely to smoke than Americans. Thirty-eight percent of American adolescents have smoked pot, while only 20 percent of Dutch teens have. One Dutch official told me that "we've succeeded in making pot boring."

By contrast, what good has the drug war done? It's been 40 years since Richard Nixon declared war on drugs. Since then, government has spent billions and officials keep announcing their "successes." They are always holding press conferences showing off big drug busts. So it's not like authorities aren't trying.

We've locked up 2.3 million people, a higher percentage than any other country. That allows China to criticize America's human-rights record because our prisons are "packed with inmates."

Yet drugs are still everywhere. The war on drugs wrecks far more lives than drugs do!

Need more proof? Fox News runs stories about Mexican coc aine cartels and marijuana gangs that smuggle drugs into Arizona. Few stop to think that legalization would end the violence. There are no Corona beer smugglers. Beer sellers don't smuggle. They simply ship their product. Drug laws cause drug crime.

The drug trade moved to Mexico partly because our government funded narcotics police in Colombia and sprayed the growing fields with herbicides. We announced it was a success! We cut way back on the Colombian drug trade.

But so what? All we did was squeeze the balloon. The drug trade moved across the border to Peru, and now it's moved to Mexico. So the new president of Mexico is squeezing the balloon. Now the trade and the violence are spilling over the border into the United States.

That's what I call progress. It’s the kind of progress we don't need.

Economist Ludwig von Mises wrote: "(O)nce the principle is admitted that it is the duty of the government to protect the individual against his own foolishness ... (w)hy not prevent him from reading bad books and bad plays ... ? The mischief done by bad ideologies is more pernicious ... than that done by narcotic drugs."

Stossel knocks one out of the park yet again. Even if you despise drugs you have to admit that the products of prohibition are far more damaging than the effects of personal drug use.

I think personally it is high time they legalized cannabis, both herbal and solid the world over, if anything it keeps the nutters quiete here in the uk and normally aggro folk are quite placid under the influence, its a 100 times less harmful than alcohol and that kills thousands each year, whilst cannabis killed no one. It is a social lubricant that is better than alcohol in my opinion, i suggest taking a look at the dutch model and seeing the reduced crime rates for drug related problems, mainly because the police are free to concentrate on the harder and more dangerous substances. FREE THE WEED NOW!!!!

I agree with all of you. Legalizing drugs would decrease the murder rate, and take a big bite out of gangs. This would save millions of dollars, and save even more by taking otherwise good people out of prisons. That would be a great monetary savings right there. Legalize it, tax it, and everybody would be happy, and the underground system of supply would end. IMO, there should be significant penalties for selling to minors.

sorry, but the cia is making far too much untracable money in the illegal drug bussiness

the 'war on drugs' will not end anytime soon

I think Cannabis, MDMA, Mushrooms, '___', and Peyote should all be legal. They are truly groundbreaking tools for spiritual enlightenment and coping with diseases like aids and cancer. It is a crime and a tragedy that people are forced to suffer for months, sometimes years with diseases; and every once in awhile -- they end their lives either physically or mentally and in-turn produce even more suffering for the family. Some of these people, may have not killed themselves, not have given up all hope... They might have kept on fighting! There is no question, thousands if not millions of people have indirectly been killed by the prohibition of spiritually enlightening substances.

I also think society has a lot to learn about drugs. The only reason the drugs I listed are illegal, is because of the reaction the human race has to anything new. We tend to make things illegal out of ignorance and fear. Eventually, the truth comes out, and we all figure out just how irrational we were. It's an endless cycle, and can get quite annoying at times, but on the other hand, is quite essential to our survival as a whole imo.




[edit on 20-6-2010 by sliceNodice]

I'm all for legalizing drugs to the point of if people need them let them buy what they need without a presciption as they could prior to the 1900
If you needed it you could buy coc aine, laudinum or whatever known cure was available without a prescription. Drugs are actually very cheap if the laws are taken out of the picture. This was hammered home to me 15 years ago when my horsews vet gave me the option of injectable coc aine for a 1000 # horse and back then weeks worth twice a day was under 10$)

I'm tired of paying for Nancy reagans war that is never 'meant' to be won but only meant to bleed the taxpayers while extending the problem.


Legalize all (There are enough independant labs to let people test for purity and) and let the weak willed of the herd thin themselves.

I don't want a health care and food source in place to keep people just healthy enough to work as mindless drones but too sick/drugged to enjoy life or see the truth

Posted at the top of each page..

Personal use, advocacy of legalization, and related non-conspiratorial topics are not allowed. Members posting about personal recreational use of drugs and related mind-altering substances may be banned without warning.This forum is not intended for discussion of legalization advocacy or speculation of enlightenment or spiritual possibilities related to drug use.

Closing

Thank you

Semper