The Drug War........

[OwnedByFerrets]

NPR is running a series on the 40 year old drug war. My question is: What would happen if we just called it off? Instead of the Drug Enforcement Agency, we had the Drug Education Agency. Instead of the millions/billions we put into seemingly useless enforcement, we put those millions into education of the dangers of dangerous drug use (no, I don't put MJ into that group). Instead of incarcerating drug users, we send them to educational facilities.
I realized this isn't a novel concept, but its the first time I have actually given it much thought.
The "government" seems to believe that if there is no war on drugs, all of our 300 million citizens will be drug addled junkies and that our lifestyles would change for the worse. I am so tired of "government" knowing that I cant think for myself or that I cant teach my children what drugs are bad for them.
The drug war hasn't worked. It isn't working. Its time for a new direction and more enforcement isn't the answer. Education is.

[madokie]

1. Yes education is the answer

I say this as I'm having a 'toke'

[Marnieworld]

2. What would happen?

A lot of people that have gotten rich off of the WOD will stop profitting. All of the law enforcement. All of the corrections officers. All of the prison owners. All of the contracts that build the prisons and all they employ.

Locking people up, especially people ingesting a lovely plant which effect's wear off after a cookie it's so dangerous, is a tremendous billion dollar industry. You don't think your logic compassion and common sense could get in the way of that do you?


:patriot:

[raccoon]

12. Add to that, it's a way of disenfranchising people who would probably

not vote conservatively.

The drug war, like the Vietnam War and the Iraq War and probably any war ever fought anywhere, is not fought for the official reasons given for it.

[spanone]

3. The drug war is a joke. White collar criminals are making too much money on drugs.

money laundering.

[eShirl]

4. we might have the money to treat every addict that wants treatment

unlike now

[EST]

5. Many of us have been fighting in this "drug war" since before

the government declared it a war. Even before Nixon adopted the name, it wasn't unusual to hear, especially in Texas, of some poor soul's being sentenced to twenty years hard time for nothing more than a roach. Planted evidence was common and the only real difference was that the expenses were not tracked as closely.

I have given up on there ever actually being a solution in my lifetime, and would settle for even an amelioration of the ignorant attitudes surrounding substance consumption and abuse.
Attempting to force people to conform to a particular standard is strictly a republican authoritarian attitude, duplicated in democrats in accordance with how much of the puke paradigm they share.

John Edwards has publicly stated that he sees nothing wrong with the drug war as it is, forgoing my support, and casting in doubt the other stances he takes as a champion of people.
It makes him look fake, assuming the mantle of common cause merely to be acceptable as a candidate, rather than coming to those conclusions as a natural growth.

There's going to have to be a new direction, but I'm damned if I know what it is.

[Done]

6. If plan A doesn't work...

keep trying it for 40, 50, 100 years before you final fall back on plan B.

:think:

[DCKit]

13. A RepubliCon plan is there ever was one.

[unpossibles]

7. I agree. You'd think we would have learned from the alcohol prohibition

that all it did was make otherwise good people into criminals and the real criminals into rich people.

I just finished reading Eric Schlosser's Reefer Madness by the way - it's about underground economies in general; the drug war, migrant labor, and porn specifically. Great book. Really pissed me off though too, and I already had known some of it.

There are so many people profiting not only directly - through government seizure, prison contracts, etc. - but also indirectly, by building a political base on something that they feel will win them more public support. And again, just like with the prohibition, there is such hypocrisy that it makes me sick. Several of the proponents of mandatory life sentences, and sometimes even the DEATH sentence for selling any amount of anything, had children who were busted with hard drugs and who got off with a slap on the wrist.

This is such a waste of money, lives, and American freedom that it's disgusting. They hide behind bullshit moral platitudes, but ignore other abuses such as with prescription drugs, alcohol, and tobacco.

[potisok]

8. DARE to think ???

Is it not easier to control a population that has a marginal critical thinking process. Hell, if the sheeple were given decent educations (and educators paid a judges salary w/benefits) they might aaahhhh not want to eat cake.

Possibly cause a war, a war on ignorance

[devilgrrl]

9. But but but if we end the drug war what will happen to the private prison industry?

Why do you hate blowing money on incarceration for marijuana users? :sarcasm:

[Bruce McAuley]

10. Just say NO to war...

ALL the stupid wars we're involved in.
The War on Poverty was the only one worth a sh!t, but it fell by the wayside pretty quickly.
The rest are scams for making money for the already rich.
Screw 'em.

Bruce

[DCKit]

11. Think of the Children!!!!!! The Children!!!!

I don't know what would happen to the children, but that's why I said it.

It's the retort of last resort.

[Time for change]

14. Not only has it not worked

I believe that it has several purposes, all of which are misguided at best, and virulently malicious at worst:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1283288

[Gregorian]

15. Well, we'd still have 1200 tobacco related deaths PER DAY.

So I guess we might not even notice the effects of something that is background noise.

But then where would the state get the kind of financial benefits they get without a drug war? Like Iraq contractors, the prison system is big business. And not much more.

And we'd get a happier society. With less crime.

[Lilith Velkor]

16. Drug money is used to rig elections

...and train brutal corporate sponsored dictatorships around the world.

Prison labor contracts save corporations money so they can depress wages even more.

Drug treatment usually means getting brainwashed into a cult where you embrace powerlessness and then try to hear God's voice in your head like crazy people do.

The Drug War is a source of much evil, and fascist to it's very core.

[FatDave]

17. Anybody needing evidence that the war on drugs is an utter failure...

...need look no farther than the meth epidemic that swept the midwest in the early 90's. What did the war on drugs do to prevent that?

[hootinholler]

18. Why, that would cut the octopus out of a major revenue stream!

Can't have that now, can we? Better to let the addicts waste their bodies.

-Hoot

[endarkenment]

19. smugglers, thugs, prison guards narcs: out of work.

Oh the suffering.

Taxes: funds free up for education, healthcare, sustainable infrastructure development, and even a break for middle class tax payers! New revenue sources as licit drug trade can now be taxed like booze or butts are.

Drug abusers: they will continue to abuse drugs, perhaps there will be a bump in the number of abusers of formerlly illegal drugs. There will be a corresponding decrease in medical problems associated with impurities, unknown dosage levels, incarceration, and drug-crime related violence.

Users can make sane educated choices to get high on their drug of choice.

I keep looking for the downside.

[Jonathan50]

20. The War On (some) Drugs should be more properly known as:

The Law Enforcement Officer's Employment and Wage Support Act.

Because that is exactly what it does.

I include judges, lawyers, politicians, prison guards, drug testing labs and various bureaucrats in the category of LEOs.

The WOsD is a vast profit center for a great many people.

Ending the WOsD would cut violent crime in the USA by a considerable percentage. It would definitely do a lot to help end the plague of criminal gangs roaming the streets.

Drug cartels would be put out of business.

Notice in the two graphs below how violence directly correlates with the amount of money spent on eliminating drugs, including alcohol.








http://www.daviddfriedman.com/Academic/drugs_and_violence/Drugs_and_violence.html