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John Stossel: End The Drug War


ACW

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I'm confused. When I walk around busy midtown Manhattan, I often smell marijuana. Despite the crowds, some people smoke weed in public. Usually the police leave them alone, and yet other times they act like a military force engaged in urban combat. This February, cops stormed a Columbia, Mo., home, killed the family dog and terrorized a 7-year-old boy—for what? A tiny quantity of marijuana.

Two years ago, in Prince George's County, Md., cops raided Cheye Calvo's home—all because a box of marijuana was randomly shipped to his wife as part of a smuggling operation. Only later did the police learn that Calvo was innocent—and the mayor of that town.

"When this first happened, I assumed it was just a terrible, terrible mistake," Calvo said. "But the more I looked into it, the more I realized (it was) business as usual that brought the police through our front door. This is just what they do. We just don't hear about it. The only reason people heard about my story is that I happened to be a clean-cut white mayor."

Radley Balko of Reason magazine says more than a hundred police SWAT raids are conducted every day. Does the use of illicit drugs really justify the militarization of the police, the violent disregard for our civil liberties, and the overpopulation of our prisons? It seems hard to believe.

I understand that people on drugs can do terrible harm—wreck lives and hurt people. But that's true for alcohol, too. But alcohol prohibition didn't work. It created Al Capone and organized crime. Now drug prohibition funds nasty Mexican gangs and the Taliban. Is it worth it? I don't think so.

Everything can be abused, but that doesn't mean government can stop it, or should try to stop it. Government goes astray when it tries to protect us from ourselves.

Many people fear that if drugs were legal, there would be much more use and abuse. That's possible, but there is little evidence to support that assumption. In the Netherlands, marijuana has been legal for years. Yet the Dutch are actually less likely to smoke than Americans. Thirty-eight percent of American adolescents have smoked pot, while only 20 percent of Dutch teens have. One Dutch official told me that "we've succeeded in making pot boring."

By contrast, what good has the drug war done? It's been 40 years since Richard Nixon declared war on drugs. Since then, government has spent billions and officials keep announcing their "successes." They are always holding press conferences showing off big drug busts. So it's not like authorities aren't trying.

We've locked up 2.3 million people, a higher percentage than any other country. That allows China to criticize America's human-rights record because our prisons are "packed with inmates."

Yet drugs are still everywhere. The war on drugs wrecks far more lives than drugs do!

Need more proof? Fox News runs stories about Mexican cocaine cartels and marijuana gangs that smuggle drugs into Arizona. Few stop to think that legalization would end the violence. There are no Corona beer smugglers. Beer sellers don't smuggle. They simply ship their product. Drug laws cause drug crime.

The drug trade moved to Mexico partly because our government funded narcotics police in Colombia and sprayed the growing fields with herbicides. We announced it was a success! We cut way back on the Colombian drug trade.

But so what? All we did was squeeze the balloon. The drug trade moved across the border to Peru, and now it's moved to Mexico. So the new president of Mexico is squeezing the balloon. Now the trade and the violence are spilling over the border into the United States.

That's what I call progress. It’s the kind of progress we don't need.

Economist Ludwig von Mises wrote: "(O)nce the principle is admitted that it is the duty of the government to protect the individual against his own foolishness ... (w)hy not prevent him from reading bad books and bad plays ... ? The mischief done by bad ideologies is more pernicious ... than that done by narcotic drugs."

Right on, Ludwig!

Yep. I know I'm :beatdeadhorse:, but it needs to be :deadhorse:
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John Stossel is spot on target on this situation.

Legalization would do more to help AZ than the laws currently being proposed. Marijuana, and hemp, would be almost a miracle plant for the U.S. economy, employing millions of people, and being used for a dozen and more purposes. States like CA could fill their budget shortfalls, less money would be spent by the state on imprisoning non-violent offenders, and, as this article suggests, organized crime would be hit where it hurts them: in their wallets.

We need to accept the fact that the War on Drugs has not succeeded in its goals, and a new approach is required.

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I've come around to the belief that no drugs should be made illegal. The legalization will remove the crime associated with its production and distribution, states can increase tax coffers, prison populations will go way down (also saving states tons of money), and based on that Time article posted above drug use will actually go down.

Alcohol and tobacco are way more harmful than many illegal drugs. So why do we draw the line where we do? It doesn't make any sense.

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^^ That's what I keep saying! But I get laughed out of the room when ever I even begin to say it. People are convinced that the war on drugs is working. I guess Nancy Regan did a pretty good job all those years ago. :rolleyes:

You guys want to slow down illegal immigration and organized crime? Make vice legal. If people can get their drugs, whores, and gambling fix, the mob will no longer have a reason to exist.

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Drugs will eventually be legalized in America, at least pot will be. The harder core stuff, not so sure. The problem with drugs what you could do someone else while you are on them ( at least the hard stuff). Now, the problem is what people will do to get money to get drugs. The way drugs will probably be legalized is a certain level of drugs will be legal, probable hard core drugs excluded (heroine, meth, maybe cocaine). However it will be legal on property you own or in your own home. Out in public or driving under the influence it will still be and imho, illegal.

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http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0513/ap-impact-40-years-americas-drug-war-total-failure/

And you know what, even ignoring the economic, crim. just. and other aspects, it's just not gov't's business to protect us from ourselves (of course, even if you disagree, there are all those other reasons).

I must say though, it seems to me like decrim and such is a LOT more acceptable topic to discuss now than several years ago.

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If we're going to start making meaningful steps towards full drug legalization, I think our generation's going to do it, ACW. We're far enough removed from the "Just Say No" years and we know more about narcotics and their effect on the body and mind than before. Furthermore, it seems like we're finally beginning to see the parallels between our "War on Drugs" and pohibition, both were complete failures.

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Drugs will eventually be legalized in America, at least pot will be. The harder core stuff, not so sure. The problem with drugs what you could do someone else while you are on them ( at least the hard stuff). Now, the problem is what people will do to get money to get drugs. The way drugs will probably be legalized is a certain level of drugs will be legal, probable hard core drugs excluded (heroine, meth, maybe cocaine). However it will be legal on property you own or in your own home. Out in public or driving under the influence it will still be and imho, illegal.

Based on this, why not make all drugs legal, and simply punish a person's behavior and not his or her drug use. Right now, we don't punish drinking alcohol, but we do punish behavior arising out of alcohol use that threatens third parties. There's no reason we can't do that with all drugs, including the "hard" drugs you mention.

If someone wants to smoke crack all day long in his house without impacting anyone other than himself, let them. If they assault someone while high, or steal things to support the habit, then prosecute those actions, not the drug use itself.

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One of the few times I agree with the hard-core libertarians on this board.

Me too. I usually take the progressive stance on most issues and disagree with many libertarian positions, but I'm down with legalization of all drugs. I wonder why this issue is one that can pull supporters from different corners of the political world?

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I'm all for drug users killing themselves by willing ingesting narcotics, etc as long as my tax dollars don't have to pay for their medical bills, housing, rehab or unemployment.

When society is culled of unproductive substance abusers or relocated to hippie villages it will be a beautiful place to be a part of.

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I agree that it feels like the discussion on legalization is finally come to a point where you are no longer made to feel like a loony addict for trying to broach the subject. It's just so pointless, stupid and wasteful and is so clearly against American ideals, it really is none of the government's business. A little common sense is all that's needed to realize that the war on drugs does infinitely more harm than the drugs themselves, on all levels of life and society. I'm cautiously optimistic that we'll soon be able to start moving forward on this discussion as a nation and hopefully see the light on this topic. How can choosing to use a substance in the privacy of my own home be illegal in a free country? I've never heard anyone be able to come close to rationalizing that question, there's really not a valid argument to made for that position.

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I'm all for drug users killing themselves by willing ingesting narcotics, etc as long as my tax dollars don't have to pay for their medical bills, housing, rehab or unemployment.

When society is culled of unproductive substance abusers or relocated to hippie villages it will be a beautiful place to be a part of.

So you're currently ok with doing that for alcohol and cigarette users? Because they're more traditionally acceptable in a cultural sense?

Also, the whole drug users killing themselves thing is one of the most ridiculous overstatements I hear commonly used. A large majority of drug users are productive members of society....you know, just like all the people who can drink for football Sunday and still provide for their families. Just because they've been made arbitrarily illegal doesn't mean that humans aren't just as capable of using them responsibly as the legal ones, the law doesn't change that.

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Also, the whole drug users killing themselves thing is one of the most ridiculous overstatements I hear commonly used. A large majority of drug users are productive members of society....you know, just like all the people who can drink for football Sunday and still provide for their families. Just because they've been made arbitrarily illegal doesn't mean that humans aren't just as capable of using them responsibly as the legal ones, the law doesn't change that.

Maybe.

Although most crack, cocaine, and meth users aren't so productive after a month or so of usage.

So in reality, perhaps legalizing MJ might be the threshhold that most people will want to stop at.

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I'm all for drug users killing themselves by willing ingesting narcotics, etc as long as my tax dollars don't have to pay for their medical bills, housing, rehab or unemployment.

Our tax dollars would be better spent on rehab than jails and cops, that's for sure.

And your statement re-imposes a moral judgment back into the equation, which is what legalization is meant to avoid. Why stop with drugs? How about drinkers and smokers? No medical care or unemployment for them, right? What about overweight people? That's their choice to be unhealthy, so cut them off too, right? People who speed on the highway are being dangerous, so too bad for anyone who gets into an accident while driving too fast. No surgery for you if you're on Medicare, and no disability benefits.

This is the only conclusion to be made from your statement.

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So you're currently ok with doing that for alcohol and cigarette users? Because they're more traditionally acceptable in a cultural sense?

With all of the warnings about smoking and drinking and people still over indulge yeah to the point they can die without taking others with them such a single car single person DUI accident then yeah

Also, the whole drug users killing themselves thing is one of the most ridiculous overstatements I hear commonly used. A large majority of drug users are productive members of society....you know, just like all the people who can drink for football Sunday and still provide for their families. Just because they've been made arbitrarily illegal doesn't mean that humans aren't just as capable of using them responsibly as the legal ones, the law doesn't change that.

Yeah so ridiculous that normal people pretend to not see the homeless types high on something who sometimes harass them for money to get a daily buzz.

Or my niece talks about the overdoses brought in daily

at the Ft Washington Hospital where she works. So what productive meth head, crack and cocaine user, person on Horse, Acid, weed laced with water (angeldust) do you know?

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Me too. I usually take the progressive stance on most issues and disagree with many libertarian positions, but I'm down with legalization of all drugs. I wonder why this issue is one that can pull supporters from different corners of the political world?

Its a personal freedom issue, similar to gun rights, which has broad support amongst progressives as well.

Liberty won in the 2nd amendment issues, I see no reason that it can't win in this issue

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I'm all for drug users killing themselves by willing ingesting narcotics, etc as long as my tax dollars don't have to pay for their medical bills, housing, rehab or unemployment.

When society is culled of unproductive substance abusers or relocated to hippie villages it will be a beautiful place to be a part of.

:ols: everybody wins!

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