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Some drugs are probably worth fighting about, others are not. We have to change the focus because right now our net has been cast so wide that we can't do anything. With focus taken off recreational drugs we could probably be much more successfull keeping the Big Bad's off the street.
We can't even keep drugs out of prisons, do you really think there's a way to keep them off the streets???
Legalize them, tax them, let legitimate businesses control distribution (as opposed to violent criminal empires) and you will solve a plethora of problems.
"Cracking down" in an effective manner by the US security services is probably impossible anyway.
It amazes me that some of the same people who complain about the incompetence of government will then turn around and make-believe that this same incompetent government could somehow eliminate the trade in illegal drugs. How? Do they have a special Competence Cloak they will give to government agents, but only for that particular purpose?
No. Think of it this way - illegal drugs are still around to an extent even in Singapore. Singapore is an island city-state with a government that is far more respected locally than ours, and is far more effective in terms of social control.
If an effective government can't even keep drugs out of its little island, how do you propose that the less-effective government of the United States do the same thing, except more effectively, and across a vastly larger area?
Drugs will find their way in. Right now, a lot of drugs come in via "official" means - eg, corruption and "overlooked" smuggling. How is it that a container full of drugs can get inspected, but not intercepted? It's because there is enough money involved to buy off the watchmen who are supposed to investigate that kind of stuff.
What do you make off the "War on Drugs"... Not Successful?
the problems start with the terminology...
and extend to the deliberate misrepresentation:
equating natural state agricultural products with pharmaceutical products
(re)-legalize fully and completely all natural state agricultural product.
(re)-medicalize pharmaceutical product
doctors and pharmacists can monitor cocaine and heroin use
county extension agents can monitor agricultural production
after the dust settles from this...
have the cops and court types limit their focus to the meth and pcp and oxy problem
and keep the Fed's out of any aspect of any of it.
Yes. And more proof that legalization doesn't remove the problem.
Just like an absurd number of children are being drugged on ritalin-like drugs. And xanax and all the others. Totally legal. And legal alcohol is obviously very available to kids.
Letting people die and cutting all drug users off Medicaid, food stamps, WIC and all the rest might be the best solution, don't you think?
Wake up and smell the curb already. They just drug tested welfare recipients in Florida and found that only 2% tested positive. The national average for positive results is between 4-6%. I'd be willing to bet the farm that if they drug tested small business owners, you would see those numbers double, perhaps triple as they don't have to take a pre-employment drug test to begin with.
"They" don't want to win the war, they want it to go on. Its a profitable industry.
Yes. I agree.
The war on drugs is profitable to federal, state, and municipal governments. If anyone doesn't believe this fact, then go hang out at your local municipal criminal court system on Tuesday and I betcha from the time they open until the time they close it'll be nothing but a string of perps pleading "no lo contendre" to simple possession of a controlled substance or something like that in front of a judge. The judge then in turn will hand out their fines, usually in excess of $1,200, or in the case of multiple offenders, he/she will hand out some county or city jail time as well.
That's money, cold hard cash and the system is going to get it. In jail, county and city penal systems put inmates to work in public service type projects, usually cleaning up around your fair city.
Not only that, but many of these perps will have a lawyer and it's how they can plead out of it, and this lawyer is paid too.
Then look at the army of cops running around on your municipal streets with one goal in mind -- catch druggies so they can be run through the system. Everyone makes money and municipal and state cops are given special funds from city, state, and federal coffers to round up people who will be charged with nothing more than simple possession. Congress earmarks monies specifically to combat drugs.
Why is this the case? Money is the biggest reason. In many parts of the country, I think the drug war remains strong because of racism. Many people still believe that certain racial groups are prone to specific types of drug abuse --and it's a pretext by which the authorities can beef up enforcement in ghettos and housing projects where people oftentimes turn to drug dealing (and drug use) because their only hope in life is working at the Golden Arches.
The drug war is here to stay. I could live another 50 years and the drug war will still be in full force. If it ended tomorrow (for the sake of argument), what will those cops do? What will the legal system do all day? If it ended, people would be out of work--whole careers would be ended and the politicians wouldn't have anything to scare the hell out of old people on election day.
I'm brushing with broad strokes for the sake of brevity, but I'm sure my board enemies will latch on to this and wail and moan until the cows come home. So be it! If you all disagree with my brief analysis, that's fine, then just tell me how I'm wrong rather than insulting me!
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