Is this War On Drugs Working?

[Robinhood]

After reading this article from the Huff-Post i have to question the strategy on the so called War on Drugs. Why does it seem that the So called Wars on things cause more inconveniences for the innocent citizens and taxpayers of the US as opposed to the people these laws are targeted towards . A good example is the War on Terror with the Patriot act ,TSA etc.,and the attack on the constitution all to make our lives safer .

My question is do they really and at what price??

Any Thoughts?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/0...n_1522328.html

[Skiptown]

As long as there is the following it will never be won:

Demand
Supply
Profit

They may win the war on some but I believe we will see a day when pot is legal (and it pretty much is in our state).
Legalize it, tax it and you take the profit out of the illegal trade on it.

[Uno]

Originally Posted by Skiptown

As long as there is the following it will never be won:

Demand
Supply
Profit

They may win the war on some but I believe we will see a day when pot is legal (and it pretty much is in our state).
Legalize it, tax it and you take the profit out of the illegal trade on it.

Exactly. Why the govt. Keep spending money instead of making money on it makes no sense. By all means cocaine and meth need to be gone after but we spend way too on go after pot.

[Dan-0]

I pretty much agree with the previous comments- legalize soft drugs, like pot, and focus on the hard stuff. But the situation has been complicated by the massive pharmeucitical industry & the mass marketing of pills in the U.S., which has had both positive & negative effects as a whole. Prescription pill abuse is epidemic, and there are so many new pills out there now to abuse these days.

The article you linked to shows how the government is abusing its power in the name of the War on Drugs- particularly with respect to asset forteiture laws, which are unconstitutional, IMO. Like the article says, these laws are the government's "license to steal".

[Robinhood]

I agree Dan-O not to mention the costs involved to the taxpayer like the private prison system, i think we have better ways to spend that money we print from thin air and pay compounding interest on.

[jeffandbecky]

Personally I think it is working great for some groups. Those that enforce it and those that supply the trade.

As soon as I am elected benevolent dictator for life, legalize the whole mess and figure out a way to deal with the broken lives from abuse. The last thing you want to do is tax it. That will just perpetuate an existing black market.

[Dan-0]

Privatizing prisons is a terrible idea & a sure-fire recipe for a cycle of crony capitalism. The government, along with their prison-owner cronies, has a vested interest in busting & jailing drug offenders. But it has been happening under our noses for years. When will the taxpayers wake up?

[melliedee]

Originally Posted by Dan-0

Privatizing prisons is a terrible idea & a sure-fire recipe for a cycle of crony capitalism. The government, along with their prison-owner cronies, has a vested interest in busting & jailing drug offenders. But it has been happening under our noses for years. When will the taxpayers wake up?

That made me think of something I saw yesterday:

[Harold-R]

Legalizing pot here in Washington State is on the ballot this November. It will be interesting what action the feds will take if it passes.

[Mikey]

Originally Posted by melliedee

That made me think of something I saw yesterday:

I wonder who are in those prisons and for what crimes. And who is making the profit?

And by the way

"Iran is drawing international criticism for its continued mass executions of people convicted of violating its drug laws. The Islamic Republic's judiciary reported that 300 people were on death row as of May 30. For 300 drug-related convicts, including those who were in possession of at least 30 grammes of heroin, execution verdicts have been issued, said Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi, Tehran's prosecutor- general, according to the Sharq daily newspaper.

The Iranian government has already hanged 126 people for drug offences so far this year, as of May 30, according to Hands Off Cain, a death penalty abolition organisation.

Iran executed 650 people in 2010, 590 of whom were convicted for drug offences, according to the United Kingdom Foreign & Commonwealth Office 2010 report on Human Rights and Democracy. This was up from 388 in 2009."

Iran Executing Hundreds in "War on Drugs" - IPS ipsnews.net

[roni]

No, it is not working

[D33RHUNT3R]

Originally Posted by roni

No, it is not working

OMG we agree on something... Hell must of just froze over ...

[Ginger]

It's crazy how we all agree on this one. Someone buy a lottery ticket!

[MikeW]

Originally Posted by Skiptown

As long as there is the following it will never be won:

Demand
Supply
Profit

They may win the war on some but I believe we will see a day when pot is legal (and it pretty much is in our state).
Legalize it, tax it and you take the profit out of the illegal trade on it.

The only way to fight it is to deal with the first thing in your list, but that won't win you votes when you are a politician.

[roni]

Originally Posted by MikeW

The only way to fight it is to deal with the first thing in your list, but that won't win you votes when you are a politician.

Legalize it, tax it and use the money for treatment programs and education programs