When America declared a war on drugs back in the day, WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?
It's nothing, but the same mindless, reckless, and fruitless government repetition that perpetuates America's war on drugs. Since beginning the war on drugs in the 1970s, the effort has done absolutely nothing to reduce drug use and has in fact created more issues. Writes Ethan Nadelmann in The Wall Street Journal, "Consider the consequences of drug prohibition today: 500,000 people incarcerated in U.S. prisons and jails for nonviolent drug-law violations; 1.8 million drug arrests last year; tens of billions of taxpayer dollars expended annually to fund a drug war that 76 percent of Americans say has failed; millions now marked for life as former drug felons."
Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, concludes, "All this, and much more, are the consequences not of drugs per se but of prohibitionist policies that have failed for too long and that can never succeed in an open society."
In the case of marijuana use, it is hard to imagine how the benefits, if there are any, of punishing pot smokers outweigh the cost of doing so. In my own experience, I don't think I've ever had a conversation with a police officer who actually believes the war on drugs is sensible or successful on any level. It's a waste of time for law enforcement, a waste of money for the taxpayer, and a waste of dignity, reputation, and possibly freedom by those who choose to use a drug that arguably is no worse than alcohol.
And what about the current Salvia craze? Are you we really going to ban SAGE? What's next, nutmeg? Yes, it's true, consuming nutmeg in high quantities can and will create hallucinations. So what are we waiting for? When do we get on the war on nutmeg! WAKE UP, America!
"Just the other day," Mark S. from Las Vegas says, "in the small town of Pahrump, an hour outside of Las Vegas, they sent the SWAT team with tanks, machine guns, snipers, etc to raid a tiny smoke because the day earlier they set the clerk up, by asking him they need to buy a "marijuana pipe" and he sold them one (just a regular tobacco pipe, 100% legal, but referring to it as "marijuana pipe" is illegal.. makes a lot of sense, right!). They confiscated everything in the store including legal salvia divinorum. Really, do they REALLY have nothing better to do? How do we set up a committee to put in prison morons like those who authorized this atrocity, for ROBBING tax payers of their hard earned money?!? How much a useless raid like this costs??? Is there ANY one in this country who is OK with his tax money being spent for this nonsense. Millions of people are out of work and starving in this country, the morons are spending our money on THIS!" And I think most of us would agree with him.
As with our wars on poverty and terrorism, instead of looking at the tragic results of the drug war, we praise the good intentions. Do I honestly believe that
Those who believe the war on drugs is counterproductive are no more anti-sobriety than welfare critics are anti-poor or war critics are anti-American. The war on drugs is a bust – an abysmal failure that does nothing to solve the problem and does much to create others. The war on drugs is impossible to win, not because America hasn't fought it hard enough or needs to fight harder, but because good intentions are no match for the immutable realities of human nature.
Or as Nadelmann writes, "The Americans who voted in 1933 to repeal prohibition differed greatly in their reasons for overturning the system. But almost all agreed that the evils of failed suppression far outweighed the evils of alcohol consumption."
Hopefully – finally – Americans can now agree that our many, endless wars against common sense will give us common cause to find more uncommon solutions.
News Hawk- Ganjarden 420 MAGAZINE ® - Medical Marijuana Publication & Social Networking
Source: Live-PR
Author: Em Erickson
Contact: Live-PR
Copyright: 2009 Live-PR
Website:The War on Drugs - Is It Worth It?
It's nothing, but the same mindless, reckless, and fruitless government repetition that perpetuates America's war on drugs. Since beginning the war on drugs in the 1970s, the effort has done absolutely nothing to reduce drug use and has in fact created more issues. Writes Ethan Nadelmann in The Wall Street Journal, "Consider the consequences of drug prohibition today: 500,000 people incarcerated in U.S. prisons and jails for nonviolent drug-law violations; 1.8 million drug arrests last year; tens of billions of taxpayer dollars expended annually to fund a drug war that 76 percent of Americans say has failed; millions now marked for life as former drug felons."
Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, concludes, "All this, and much more, are the consequences not of drugs per se but of prohibitionist policies that have failed for too long and that can never succeed in an open society."
In the case of marijuana use, it is hard to imagine how the benefits, if there are any, of punishing pot smokers outweigh the cost of doing so. In my own experience, I don't think I've ever had a conversation with a police officer who actually believes the war on drugs is sensible or successful on any level. It's a waste of time for law enforcement, a waste of money for the taxpayer, and a waste of dignity, reputation, and possibly freedom by those who choose to use a drug that arguably is no worse than alcohol.
And what about the current Salvia craze? Are you we really going to ban SAGE? What's next, nutmeg? Yes, it's true, consuming nutmeg in high quantities can and will create hallucinations. So what are we waiting for? When do we get on the war on nutmeg! WAKE UP, America!
"Just the other day," Mark S. from Las Vegas says, "in the small town of Pahrump, an hour outside of Las Vegas, they sent the SWAT team with tanks, machine guns, snipers, etc to raid a tiny smoke because the day earlier they set the clerk up, by asking him they need to buy a "marijuana pipe" and he sold them one (just a regular tobacco pipe, 100% legal, but referring to it as "marijuana pipe" is illegal.. makes a lot of sense, right!). They confiscated everything in the store including legal salvia divinorum. Really, do they REALLY have nothing better to do? How do we set up a committee to put in prison morons like those who authorized this atrocity, for ROBBING tax payers of their hard earned money?!? How much a useless raid like this costs??? Is there ANY one in this country who is OK with his tax money being spent for this nonsense. Millions of people are out of work and starving in this country, the morons are spending our money on THIS!" And I think most of us would agree with him.
As with our wars on poverty and terrorism, instead of looking at the tragic results of the drug war, we praise the good intentions. Do I honestly believe that
Those who believe the war on drugs is counterproductive are no more anti-sobriety than welfare critics are anti-poor or war critics are anti-American. The war on drugs is a bust – an abysmal failure that does nothing to solve the problem and does much to create others. The war on drugs is impossible to win, not because America hasn't fought it hard enough or needs to fight harder, but because good intentions are no match for the immutable realities of human nature.
Or as Nadelmann writes, "The Americans who voted in 1933 to repeal prohibition differed greatly in their reasons for overturning the system. But almost all agreed that the evils of failed suppression far outweighed the evils of alcohol consumption."
Hopefully – finally – Americans can now agree that our many, endless wars against common sense will give us common cause to find more uncommon solutions.
News Hawk- Ganjarden 420 MAGAZINE ® - Medical Marijuana Publication & Social Networking
Source: Live-PR
Author: Em Erickson
Contact: Live-PR
Copyright: 2009 Live-PR
Website:The War on Drugs - Is It Worth It?
