Drug War Hogwash »
Posted by: populist 1 month agoThe fiasco some people call the "war on drugs" is proof positive that most people learn nothing from history. What happened when the government outlawed the sale of alcohol? It created organized crime, vast organizations that smuggled booze into the country and set up wholesale and retail distribution of it.
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populist1 month ago
Re-legalizing drugs would eliminate the criminal black market -- ending the violence
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populist1 month ago
Truth is the first casualty of war. and yes, that also applies to the War on Drugs
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populist1 month ago
I'm sure someone is profiting - either the politicians directly, or those that back them...and keep them in office. I'm not sure if closing the border has anything to do with the idiocy and immorality of the drug war, though...
either way, something's pretty rotten in d.c.
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protoham1 month ago
I would not say it is Bush, this has been going on for decades. Just think, the DEA would be out of a job, much of the FBI would be out of a job, this would remove a lot of work on the Coast Guard too and last but not least, the Drug dealers would be out of a job. I am all for making all drugs legal. Let the people who feel they need them have all they want, hopefully this will get rid of a few. Tax em and spend the money on education and treatment if they want it. You should not need a prescription to get any drugs.
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populist1 month ago
that, i don't doubt at all. But, that whole situation wouldn't even have existed if it weren't for this awful war on drugs.
When drugs aren't pushed to the black market, there's no need for smugglers...and that situation wouldn't have happened.
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mntnman4441 month ago
The reason those 2 border guards are in prison is
#1-they broke the law
#2-they got caught up in the very drug laws they were responsible for enforcing.The agents failed to report the firing of their weapons,an offense that usually carries only an administrative sanction,but because they used a firearm in the commission of a drug crime they were given mandatory sentences.
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populist1 month ago
Great point, Charlson - keeping that "prison-industrial complex" fed requires arresting a lot of people every year. Non-violent criminals in jail waste police resources - and keep our streets dangerous.
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Tangent0011 month ago
Not a strong as the Prison Industrial Complex. These were the folks supporting all the recent 'three strikes' and mandatory sentencing legislation. It's a multi-billion-dollar industry.
Privatizing prisons has to be in the top five stupidest ideas list. Making a profit off of locking more and more people up for longer and longer periods of time? Who'd a' thunk the industry would lobby for harsher sentencing, greater criminalization, and less rehabilitation? The latter being the most heinous: the more recidivism, the greater the profit!
The US leads the world in per capita incarceration rates: "The United States has less than 5% of the world’s population, but we incarcerate 25% of all the prisoners in the world. We leave China, Russia, North Korea, Iran, and all the other nations we like to look down our noses at far in the dust."
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2729853
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Grrr1 month ago
The Prison Guard Unions are some of the strongest lobbyists against decriminalization.
Now lets see this show up twice, even though I waited quite awhile before re-posting it.
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PainGoddess1 month ago
How about saving the government a lot of money and just start lining up those A***holes and shooting them (on the other side of the border of course....)
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or send them and their Heroin back to Afganistan....make the crack dealers/makers take all of the drug in their possession when they catch them???-
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populist1 month ago
wait, isn't that pretty much what the government claims that it's trying to do?
"We're going to clean up this drug mess, and stop it at its source" (or whatever they "promise")
It doesn't work.
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Eagle_Eye1 month ago
"make the crack dealers/makers take all of the drug in their possession when they catch them???"
Now I like that!!!! Make them consume everything they poses and let God decide if they live or die. It would save billions of dollars in the justice system.
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Natureboy1 month ago
How about laying off the caffeine and including more fiber in your diet?
Your friends and family will thank you!
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tbkennedy531 month ago
The dollars going to all the law enforcement and prison officials will never accept legalization without a popular overthrow of the laws. I send notes to my Senators and rep. every month. It is such a waste. All it did with alcohol was make the Kennedys' a fortune when it was repealed.
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mntnman4441 month ago
Barney Frank just introduced a bill in congress to decriminalize marijuana for adults...we'll see how many republicans vote for it out of concern for the country and how many vote against it out of concern for their reelection.dems aren't much better but I can guarantee you that Ted Kennedy will support it..
When Reagan first took office ,he requested the National Academy of Sciences to do a study on the success or failure of the "drug war" and reccomend other options.The NAS released the report "An Analysis of Marijuana Policy" in 1982.The report layed out of the 3 main options...
Total prohibition (current policy)
Partial prohibition (decriminalization)
Regulation (legalization being neccessary)In the conclusion,the NAS stated that a policy of regulation would be the best option.
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Reagan had all the ammunition he needed to put a stop to the madness,but instead he did the exact opposite and created the huge mess we have now.
Just Say NO...to the drug war!
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unome21 month ago
The United States Government has been involved in the drug trade for many years and in many ways. While most were pardoned by Bush 1 let's not forget the illregal contra war on Nicaroguua which our shadow government funded with the sale of cocaine,
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Google mena airport { probably how Clinton became Pres.]
The poppy crops were all but irraticated in Afganistan by theTaliban until we invaded and now they are up and in full bloom, business as usual,
Making victimless crimes illegal breeds corruption,
Police, judges and politicions , Military ,border guards and prison guards are fall victim to corruption.
BKDTT -
cherry123Comment removed: User banned.
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moneyminds1 month ago
There is no War on Drugs, only a War on certain people the gov't wants to institutionalize. The people the majority of the people incarcerated are not the ones brining it into the country, amazingly. They don't want to stop the flood of drugs into America, this is BIG BUSINESS. They can't even find Bin Laden, one man, so to win the war on drugs---they are already winning, at least MONETARILY----Socioeconomically we are losing.
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coolrayfruge1 month ago
China had a war on drugs.
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Call the Opium wars.
Their country turned communist. -
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DoseASpinoza1 month ago
I find it astonishing that of all the beneficiaries and lobbyists mentioned here, nobody has brought up the drug companies. Make no mistake, these people don't want you to be able to grow a drug in your garden that would replace expensive prescription drugs like oxycontin.
If you want to see how much money they (or any other industry) is spending on politicians, just go to opensecrets.org.
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chevydog1 month ago
This is pretty much a standard type article for the subject. I've even said the same things myself sometimes in ages past. As a sort of devil's advocate/contrarian I'd like to pose some questions:
(1) Is it possible that most people believe that Prohibition was right, but just not with alcohol? That is, this problem is with "drugs" as "'drugs" and not with the concept of government being able to enact laws regulating behavior?
(2) Many "studies" are made, some of IMHO rather arcane and irrelevant subjects. It's an article of faith that the drug-supplying organizations would dry up if drug use were legalized. Has anyone done any studies that compare e.g. the amount of alcohol bootlegging in "state Store" states as opposed to those that are not? That would at least give some numbers to hang a hat on. Personally, I don't think the comparison with Prohibition will ever be anything but a broad talking point.
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