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Eighteen states and the District of Columbia now have laws legalizing marijuana in some form, mostly for medical use. The Illinois Legislature recently enacted a medical marijuana law that has been sitting unsigned on Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn's desk since May 17.
Legalizing marijuana, which is already widely used and more harmless than alcohol, is a great step forward toward ending the preposterous so-called "war on drugs." Just as the end of Prohibition was inevitable, so is the end of the drug war folly.
An estimated $1 trillion has been spent on this "war" since President Richard Nixon launched it in 1971. The campaign has not only failed to reduce drug use in the United States, but it has also given rise to a brutal wave of international crime that's destroyed our inner cities, strained our relations with other nations, murdered hundreds of thousands of innocent citizens, corrupted law-enforcement officials and ruined millions of lives.
Drug offenses are responsible for nearly half of the 2.2 million people currently residing in the nation's prisons and jails. They are the reason why the United States has the largest reported incarceration rate in the world.
Young people sent to jail on drug-related charges begin life with two strikes against them. Saddling them with prison records and exposing them to hardened criminals at an impressionable age help train the next generation of criminals.
The drug war disproportionately targets African Americans. A report issued by the ACLU on June 4 showed that blacks were arrested for marijuana possession at six times the rate of whites in Wisconsin in 2010, despite having usage rates comparable with whites.
Wisconsin ranked fifth in the nation for racial disparities in marijuana possession arrests in 2010, according to the report. It also found that between 2001 and 2010, the disparity between the races for marijuana arrests increased by 150 percent, the third highest such increase in the nation.
As a result of all this incarceration, Wisconsin now spends three times as much on the prison system as it does on students. Since students who don't graduate from high school are eight times more likely to be incarcerated throughout their lifetimes than those who do, this ridiculous prioritizing of taxpayer money will lead to even less money for schools in the future.
Clearly someone is benefiting from the drug war or this insanity would not be allowed to continue. From police officers on the take to politicians exploiting anti-drug demagoguery to "smaller government" officials who dole out lucrative prison contracts to the security companies that support them, there will be some sore losers when the war on drugs ends.
And end it must. Our government's addiction to the drug war is too costly to society in too many ways. In 2010, Wisconsin spent at least $15.63 million and as much as $73.1 million enforcing marijuana laws alone. And marijuana is only one of the many illegal and controlled substances.
We hope the marijuana legalization laws gaining traction across the country are the beginning of the end of reefer madness along with the entire black-market drug industry.
News Hawk- Truth Seeker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Source: wisconsingazette.com
Author: wisconsingazette.com
Contact: Contact information | Wisconsin Gazette - Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) News
Website: Time to end reefer madness and legalize pot | Editorial | Wisconsin Gazette - Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) News
Legalizing marijuana, which is already widely used and more harmless than alcohol, is a great step forward toward ending the preposterous so-called "war on drugs." Just as the end of Prohibition was inevitable, so is the end of the drug war folly.
An estimated $1 trillion has been spent on this "war" since President Richard Nixon launched it in 1971. The campaign has not only failed to reduce drug use in the United States, but it has also given rise to a brutal wave of international crime that's destroyed our inner cities, strained our relations with other nations, murdered hundreds of thousands of innocent citizens, corrupted law-enforcement officials and ruined millions of lives.
Drug offenses are responsible for nearly half of the 2.2 million people currently residing in the nation's prisons and jails. They are the reason why the United States has the largest reported incarceration rate in the world.
Young people sent to jail on drug-related charges begin life with two strikes against them. Saddling them with prison records and exposing them to hardened criminals at an impressionable age help train the next generation of criminals.
The drug war disproportionately targets African Americans. A report issued by the ACLU on June 4 showed that blacks were arrested for marijuana possession at six times the rate of whites in Wisconsin in 2010, despite having usage rates comparable with whites.
Wisconsin ranked fifth in the nation for racial disparities in marijuana possession arrests in 2010, according to the report. It also found that between 2001 and 2010, the disparity between the races for marijuana arrests increased by 150 percent, the third highest such increase in the nation.
As a result of all this incarceration, Wisconsin now spends three times as much on the prison system as it does on students. Since students who don't graduate from high school are eight times more likely to be incarcerated throughout their lifetimes than those who do, this ridiculous prioritizing of taxpayer money will lead to even less money for schools in the future.
Clearly someone is benefiting from the drug war or this insanity would not be allowed to continue. From police officers on the take to politicians exploiting anti-drug demagoguery to "smaller government" officials who dole out lucrative prison contracts to the security companies that support them, there will be some sore losers when the war on drugs ends.
And end it must. Our government's addiction to the drug war is too costly to society in too many ways. In 2010, Wisconsin spent at least $15.63 million and as much as $73.1 million enforcing marijuana laws alone. And marijuana is only one of the many illegal and controlled substances.
We hope the marijuana legalization laws gaining traction across the country are the beginning of the end of reefer madness along with the entire black-market drug industry.
News Hawk- Truth Seeker 420 MAGAZINE ®
Source: wisconsingazette.com
Author: wisconsingazette.com
Contact: Contact information | Wisconsin Gazette - Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) News
Website: Time to end reefer madness and legalize pot | Editorial | Wisconsin Gazette - Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) News
