This story is quite a detailed account of how literally every aspect of the drug war has not only failed, but made things worse while looting our coffers and turning cops, the military and the judiciary into thugs and in some cases, accomplices.
How America Lost the War on Drugs
All told, the United States has spent an estimated $500 billion to fight drugs – with very little to show for it. Cocaine is now as cheap as it was when Escobar died and more heavily used. Methamphetamine, barely a presence in 1993, is now used by 1.5 million Americans and may be more addictive than crack. We have nearly 500,000 people behind bars for drug crimes – a twelvefold increase since 1980 – with no discernible effect on the drug traffic. Virtually the only success the government can claim is the decline in the number of Americans who smoke marijuana – and even on that count, it is not clear that federal prevention programs are responsible. In the course of fighting this war, we have allowed our military to become pawns in a civil war in Colombia and our drug agents to be used by the cartels for their own ends. Those we are paying to wage the drug war have been accused of human-rights abuses in Peru, Bolivia and Colombia. In Mexico, we are now repeating many of the same mistakes we have made in the Andes.
63. OFTLO. Agreed about alcohol. The advantage there, at least, is that it is easily detectable in roadside tests, especially for forensic purposes, unlike pot.
Legalize pot? That’s all we need is one more type of encouraged psychotropic drivers/workers.
Banning mj is purely easy right now. Let’s see how easy it would be to ban alcohol or cars – without a revolution, that is.
RBG
#64 – I couldn’t illustrate my point better about lowlife responsible for sucking kids into the world of addictive drugs.
Yes you could. You could use an illustration that included 1) a lowlife of some sort actually being present in the illustration, and 2) there actually being kids in the illustration being “sucked” into anything.
Geez, wish I could also choose whichever laws I might want to obey and which I don’t.
Who is stopping you?
66 OFTLO. Low life are by definition those who suck kids into situations dangerous to their well-being.
It’s fantastically naive to believe kids are not influenced to try “the cool, good life” championed by some popular culture and Tallwookie.
Re choosing laws: No, “what” is stopping me: my sense of responsibility and social commitment. I can’t expect you or Tallwookie to understand or care about such things.
RBG
#65 – that’s all we need is one more type of encouraged psychotropic
Marijuana is not a psychotropic.
And the argument that legalizing it will result in a sudden rash of stoned drivers that weren’t there before is specious and dubious.
So… Develop a roadside test. I’m all for it.
#67 – It’s fantastically naive to believe kids are not influenced to try “the cool, good life” championed by some popular culture and Tallwookie.
No it isn’t, and it is fantastically stupid to suggest that Tallwookie is somehow responsible for influencing kids from the privacy of his home. Theres nothing cool or uncool about marijuana. There is just what it is, and to me, as a diabetic, its an alternative to alcohol which I cannot drink. And the racist William Hearst for pushing through his bullshit laws to criminalize it, and fuck any modern wank who makes a judgment about my character because I, like everyone else, might occasionally enjoy a nice buzz while relaxing on a Saturday night.
Re choosing laws: No, “what” is stopping me: my sense of responsibility and social commitment. I can’t expect you or Tallwookie to understand or care about such things.
Your character judgments are bullshit and ignorant. You nothing about Tall or myself’s sense of responsibility or social commitment.
And on social commitment, I will not be lectured to by the right wing whose social philosophy is “I got mine, fuck you”.
It is not my responsibility to adhere to every dumbass rule in the book. I made no agreements upon my birth to be an obedient serf to the powers that be. My commitment to society is to treat everyone with respect and dignity. Beyond that, I’m doing my own thing.
Marijuana is illegal because some racist prick (Hearst) knew that Mexicans and blacks were using it. The state that dictates law to me needs to have compelling reason to outlaw something. The state has no compelling reason. Thus I do not recognize the state’s authority in this matter.
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Question: Who was the person close to you who was killed by an intoxicated driver?
I lost someone too. She was 19 when it happened. She was creamed on a freeway by a drunk who switched lanes and plowed her into a truck. She died almost instantly. The casket was closed. I’m not sure what happened to the driver who murdered Pamela (her name) but I’m sure he’s out there today, living his life.
I’m livid when I think about drinking and driving or those who get high and drive. As far as I am concerned, operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs or alcohol is the same thing as attempted murder and should come with a very stiff prison term and very expensive, crippling fine… no exceptions. Being arrested for DUI should be a profoundly life changing event. And a DUI that is connected to an actual traffic fatality, to me, is a murder rap.
But its the “and driving” part that is the real crime. Millions of Americans enjoy a joint or a few cocktails or beers or whatever, and never get in a car. It’s part of responsible use, and its what we should expect of anyone.
Getting high everyday or excessive drinking is immature and irresponsible. Occasional, moderated usage is not. And it isn’t a character flaw. And it doesn’t hurt you. But the moment a car is involved, I turn medieval.
So… I get it. And if you can’t get around the idea that some substances can be used safely, well, we’ll just have to disagree. But if you want to win friends and influence people, attack the problem, which is drugs or alcohol mixed with automobiles. On that score, I solidly support your opinion.
Here’s a couple facts for you:
Fact 1: Everybody, and by that I mean everybody breaks some law every single day. No one knows all of the laws, paricularly the old, obscure ‘blue laws’ which are still on the books all over this land. You cannot possibly avoid breaking the law, no matter how noble your intentions.
Fact 2: Police are not, and have never been, under any obligation to enforce all the laws. Cops pick and choose which laws they will enforce. Every single ay on duty, cops witness continual violations of law, and they overlook the vast majority of them. And no less than the Supremes have ruled that they are not expected to do otherwise, but to use their professional discretion regarding which violations should merit their intervention.
One reason so many cops love the laws against simple possession is that the usual “offender” presents no threat to their safety. Busting someone for a trivial amount of weed and suchlike keeps them off the road for a couple of hours and gets them that much closer to theiir pension without having to risk getting shot at by bad guys.
Open-minded persons amenable to reason (sorry, RBG, but that includes you out) are commended to examine this Website. Learn a little something from honest, ethical people who have been there and done that – and say unequivocally that the War on Drugs is a socially destructive, evil crock of shit.
Okay… You know… sometimes I’m just typing, you know?
I apologize for writing posts that appear to be only vaguely shorter than an average novella.
#69 – Something wrong with your URL. Since the correction is short, I’ll forgo TinyURL
http://www.leap.cc
69 THC. Explain fact 1 & 2 to a judge as your defence.
RBG
>>No one has any idea about Hearst and any
>>connection he has to banning drugs. He is
>>irrelevant to the current debate.
Of course he’s not. Ask any person with a double-digit IQ why deadly demon rum is legal and the much less harmful weed is not. They’re either mumble some shit about pinko hippie fags, feed you a crock of shit from the Nancy Reagan Bible, or say “well, they just are. beer is legal, pot is not”.
And the reason it’s not is no reason that would ever stand the light of day; it’s because some fucking asshole didn’t like the niggers, spics, and beaners getting high. So it became illegal. And that experiment with prohibition has turned out just about as well as the one on liquor. A complete abortion.
Yeah, and how’s the war on Drinking & Driving, speeding, drugs sold to kids, white collar crime, child prostitution and a multitude of other sins going? Been there.
While you’re at it, why don’t you do something about all these white guys invading America with Christopher Columbus? Get over it already.
RBG
Well I think the best thing we can do right now is to learn from mistakes, we can’t afford to loose the second time, this would have even more terrible consequences. We have to defeat drugs and we don’t really have other options.
I think that this war is complete imsanity we should have never started it anyway. The government should have started to put a sales tax on it allowing it to be leagal to people of a cretain age. Thanks what I think about this DRUG WAR problem!!