5 Shocking Reasons to End the Drug War (And Consider Legalization and Regulation)

5 Shocking Reasons to End the Drug War

Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, a group of law enforcement officials opposed to the war on drugs, created this list to show why the War on Drugs has been one of the most disastrous policies in American history. From mass incarceration and tremendous loss of life to billions of dollars seized from citizens every year, drug prohibition is a colossal failure.

1. Mass Incarceration

The U.S. currently has less than 5% of the world’s population, but nearly 25% of its incarcerated population. We imprison more people than any other nation in the world. Our high levels of imprisonment are largely due to current drug policies – drug arrests account for more than 50% of people in federal prison, and more than 16% of people in state prison. Nowadays, about 500,000 Americans are behind bars on any given night for a drug law violation, 10 times the amount in 1980.

2. Racial Bias in Arrests

According to Human Rights Watch, as of 2009, black people were arrested on drug charges at more than three times the rates of whites and sent to state prisons with drug convictions at ten times the rate of whites. All this despite the fact, the Washington Post informs us, that whites and blacks use drugs at about the same rates and white people are more likely to sell drugs.

3. Asset Forfiture

Several U.S. laws passed in the 1970s and 1980s have enabled the government to seize and forfeit private property even if no one is ever charged with a crime. In seizures, 81% of folks are never indicted. Police departments generally get to keep much of the profit from what they take, creating an incentive for police to support the drug war. In 2012, the Justice Department took in nearly $4.2 billion in forfeitures.

4. America's Heroin Epidemic

From 2006 to 2010, heroin overdose deaths in the U.S. increased by 45%, and the numbers continue to climb. As the nation has cracked down on prescription opioid abuse, people suffering from addiction have turned to heroin, a cheaper, easily accessible option. As it is unregulated and attached to great social stigma, people use heroin in shame, not knowing what they are consuming and often afraid to ask for help in case of overdose or addiction. And our friends, family members, and neighbors are dying from it more than ever – four decades into the so-called war on drugs.

5. The Breakdown Between Police & Community

Police officers are supposed to protect and serve communities. However, since the drug war has ramped up in this country over the last forty years, the relationship between police and community has soured. Police officers come into communities – many times, low income communities or communities of color – and meet its members with aggression. Practices such as stop and frisk and the increasing militarization of police officers have deteriorated trust in police forces, which compromises the opportunity for cooperation and justice when violent crimes are committed.

source

And there are five more once you click the link.

C'mon folks, it is way past time that we, as a country and a global community, expose the lies and propaganda that have been forced down our collective throats for decades regarding the cannabis plant. How can we claim to be a free country while at the same time using heavy handed, sometimes ultra-violent, tactics to justify the policing of what fully consenting adults put into their bodies? Are we free at all if we can't even make such a choice freely? Its time to make a choice, and this is a simple one, you (government) will let me smoke myself straight into a felt lined casket but one puff off a marijuana cigarette and I'm going directly to jail, not passing go, not collecting $200, and probably losing everything I ever held dear in the process, all while Fat Cats in pin-striped suits snort and whore their way through our national debt.

No thanks. I want to be allowed to choose. My body. My life. My choice.

Disclaimer: Please, do NOT discuss personal use!

kallisti

The 'Drug War' is very lucrative, employing THOUSANDS. It keeps the economy from total collapse, and rakes in more government money than taxes do.
If it ever ended, the amount of unemployed people would be staggering. I don't see it ever happening.

In my lifetime, I have seen the job market go from private industry to near total government employment if you want to make a decent living wage. Tons more perks than you can get in the private sector, and a lot less work.

Not much to add, but spot on! I've been saying this for years. The war on drugs is one of the biggest money sicks the US government has ever undertaken. It is a MASSIVE failure, and it is about time that the government admitted its failure and cut its losses. Of course that won't happen because the police unions and private prisons are using money they received from the government to massively lobby our politicians to keep drugs as illegal as ever with stricter laws. All so that they can keep prison rates up. The whole things is the most ANTI-FREEDOM thing I have ever heard and is a disgrace to this country.

When people talk about conspiracies on this website, THIS conspiracy needs to be addressed more than others. It is a REAL conspiracy with REAL consequences that are effecting REAL Americans everyday.

originally posted by: nugget1
The 'Drug War' is very lucrative, employing THOUSANDS. It keeps the economy from total collapse, and rakes in more government money than taxes do.
If it ever ended, the amount of unemployed people would be staggering. I don't see it ever happening.

In my lifetime, I have seen the job market go from private industry to near total government employment if you want to make a decent living wage. Tons more perks than you can get in the private sector, and a lot less work.

Duly noted, your suggestion: Just give up, we will never be able to end the drug war. Maybe you are right, that boot has been stamping on our face for a while now, we only have forever to go...

I happen to disagree though, I think that we will be seeing a loosening of drug laws within the next decade at least. Hopefully one day we will see it. It really is the right thing to do.

The war on drugs has been just as successful as the war on poverty......uh....yeah...
Both are a waste of money

Also, as a challenge to those that are in favor of continuing the Drug War, I would like for you to provide at least five of your own reason why we should continue the Drug War. Because I honestly can't see many pros for that argument. And please, do us all a favor, don't use the "think about the kid's line" it's tired and its way past its bedtime.

originally posted by: Krazysh0t
The whole things is the most ANTI-FREEDOM thing I have ever heard and is a disgrace to this country.

When people talk about conspiracies on this website, THIS conspiracy needs to be addressed more than others. It is a REAL conspiracy with REAL consequences that are effecting REAL Americans everyday.

I can't begin to tell you how right you are. We spend a lot of time looking for conspiracies, well, HERE YA GO FOLKS! This is a real one, a big one, and it needs to be addressed. People are basically being plucked off the streets and put into slavery. IT HAS TO END YESTERDAY!

Prohibition of anything usually fails miserably and often has disastrous unintended consequences. Polls show that most Americans favor treatment over incarceration more than 2 to 1. Treatment is cheaper — a whole lot cheaper — and treatment, unlike incarceration, actually results in lower crime rates.

What more is it going to take to bring about an end to the War on Drugs when the people are against it and the experts agree that it's doing more harm than good?

a reply to: CagliostroTheGreat

Unfortunately.We have never had a real "war on drugs"....just a baseball type slapfest
You want a real war...do it Nazi - style =
Every dope grower, harvester, packer, mule, dealer, pusher, and anyone else connected to the drug trade
arrested on site
1. First offense / conviction = 5 years HARD ASSED labor
2. Second offense / conviction = Death Penalty, appeals only good for 30 days

Drugs are the mind & soul killers

originally posted by: nomickeyshere
a reply to: CagliostroTheGreat

Unfortunately.We have never had a real "war on drugs"....just a baseball type slapfest
You want a real war...do it Nazi - style =
Every dope grower, harvester, packer, mule, dealer, pusher, and anyone else connected to the drug trade
arrested on site
1. First offense / conviction = 5 years HARD ASSED labor
2. Second offense / conviction = Death Penalty, appeals only good for 30 days

Drugs are the mind & soul killers

Awesome. When in doubt, ask yourself... What would Hitler do? (WWHD?)

originally posted by: theantediluvian


What more is it going to take to bring about an end to the War on Drugs when the people are against it and the experts agree that it's doing more harm than good?

And therin lies the proof of a conspiracy!

No one agrees that the Drug War has been a success (well, except those that have have their pockets lined by profits gleaned from the war) yet here we stand, discussing why we are still dragging this failed program on and on. It makes no sense! If ANYONE in government cared a lick about the common man they would be lobbying non-stop to have this joke repealed.

originally posted by: nomickeyshere
a reply to: CagliostroTheGreat

Unfortunately.We have never had a real "war on drugs"....just a baseball type slapfest
You want a real war...do it Nazi - style =
Every dope grower, harvester, packer, mule, dealer, pusher, and anyone else connected to the drug trade
arrested on site
1. First offense / conviction = 5 years HARD ASSED labor
2. Second offense / conviction = Death Penalty, appeals only good for 30 days

Drugs are the mind & soul killers

AYFKM!? Allright well, maybe you can go crawl back to whatever fascist bacwater you were spawned from and start your own society because me? *chuckle* Me, I like FREEDOM! And if that means the freedom to kill my mind as you so eloquntly put it then, I WILL KILL MY MIND, after all... it's mine and I'll do with it as I like.

a reply to: CagliostroTheGreat

If the drug war came to an end then the DEA would be out of a job, and we can't have that.

We've been told that even the slightest amount of drugs will ruin a generation yet someone with advanced cirrhosis will be bombarded with alcohol advertisements throughout a football match.

Well said that man/woman! Totally agree with everything you've put. It's the same in the UK, however unlike your good selves we will NEVER see any form of legalization/ de criminalising on our little island.

I've said it before... but who is anyone to tell me, as a human being on gods green earth, that I cannot take something that grows naturally, and put it in MY body. (I am of course speaking of MJ).





Apologies, that was in reply to CagliostroTheGreat

a reply to: yorkshireman

my sentiments exactly yorkshireman, NO ONE has the right to tell me what I can and can't do with my own body, NO ONE! Sorry I seem to be stuck on sticky caps today... but I really feel strongly about this issue. And hopefully one day the UK will decriminalize drugs. Portugal did and they haven't sunk into the ocean all aflame yet. I think we'll be fine.

a reply to: CagliostroTheGreat

It's so frustrating. People who argue day and night about the NWO, the government being in on 9/11, faking the moon landing, etc will DEFEND this failed policy. This is CLEARLY an example of a conspiracy that should be addressed, and people want it to continue despite its consequences being SO in your face it's terrifying.

Funny enough, the solution to the problem is SO simple (legalize everything), but people pretend like we need to do things like "wait and see" for this. Wait and see? That is just some bs feet dragging. Our methods haven't worked for 40+ years, what makes people think that waiting a bit longer is suddenly going to change things? It's beyond ridiculous and anyone who defends a drug (ANY drug) being illegal has been brainwashed by propaganda, both corporate and government.

Spot on.

Our policies are embarrassing.

WHEN are we going to stop voting democrat and republican and start voting for progress?

originally posted by: nomickeyshere
a reply to: CagliostroTheGreat

Unfortunately.We have never had a real "war on drugs"....just a baseball type slapfest
You want a real war...do it Nazi - style =
Every dope grower, harvester, packer, mule, dealer, pusher, and anyone else connected to the drug trade
arrested on site
1. First offense / conviction = 5 years HARD ASSED labor
2. Second offense / conviction = Death Penalty, appeals only good for 30 days

Drugs are the mind & soul killers

They already have those types of laws. They are called Three Strike Laws, and they work as successfully as any other anti-drug law. Not at all.

Newsflash buddy: YOU are part of the problem. NOT the people taking or selling drugs. YOU. By agreeing with the war on drugs, you are helping the government conspire to restrict freedoms and liberty from its citizenry and employ one of the biggest police states in the world's history. Congratulations, you support tyranny.

The war supporters come from a (in the main) good place... and they might have deeply personal reasons to try to stop drugs from being available... but the reasons to stop this horrible enterprise listed above are good ones.

Personally, I had much of my life derailed due to illegal substances... but the "derailment" mainly came from the illegal status of certain substances I found that made my life bearable.

If these substances were regulated and the stigma around them pierced by factual information, as well as dependence being treated as a medical/psychological problem, rather then criminal, many of the accompanying problems would be alleviated... though, of course, not all.

I will say with utter certainty that many of the substances deemed illegal are only damaging due to their illegality itself... and in the mass hysteria, stigma, ignorance and intolerance of others' choices, the truth about the characteristics and effects of the truly damaging ones gets lost.

I would love to live in a truly free society before I croak... or as free for individuals as possible, knowing that when one is in a society, perfect freedom is impossible.

ETA I'd also like to add that if middle America knew the extent of the Statsi like web of intrigue and spying that goes on in metro areas, they'd be appalled... it's worse than HBO's The Wire..lemme tell ya... and the corruption that is spiraling up from this money grab will turn the U.S. into Mexico if it continues... for those terrified for their loved ones if drugs were legal, well, they are available now... with no good info or regulation... how is this situation better? Would you want a loved one in prison, or rehab, if they got involved?

a reply to: Krazysh0t

The numbers speak for themselves.

Maybe taking an honest look at them is what this person needs. Their idea doesn't work, IT ISNT WORKING already, right now in real time not working. There's nothing to discuss.