The war on drugs

[kcshocker11]

http://gma.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs/200-million-people-illicit-drugs-study-finds-120123343--abc-news.html

It time to admit that laws against drug use have failed

[SB Shock]

Bad logic. How many people run stop lights and stop signs every day? How many break the speed limit? Should we repeal traffic laws?

How many lives would be ruined if drugs were not illegal and the government wasn't interdicting drug trafficing?

[kcshocker11]

Bad logic. How many people run stop lights and stop signs every day? How many break the speed limit? Should we repeal traffic laws?

How many lives would be ruined if drugs were not illegal and the government wasn't interdicting drug trafficing?

Speaking of something that totally doesnt relate! Prohibition failed, No one is saying that treatment and education and prevention shouldnt be available, but locking these people up and wasting billions or trillions on failed law enforcement and incarceration is wasteful, silly and done only to placate people such as yourself who cant face the fact there are people who want to use drugs.

[WuDrWu]

Good point kc. Let's put PCP and Crank in Dillons next to the dairy section. What this world REALLY needs is more people using drugs and those drugs more easily available. You're on the right side of every issue!

[kcshocker11]

Good point kc. Let's put PCP and Crank in Dillons next to the dairy section. What this world REALLY needs is more people using drugs and those drugs more easily available. You're on the right side of every issue!

Like always Doc you try to paint a ridiculous picture that has nothing to do with reality

I'm in favor of legalizing drugs. According to my values system, if people want to kill themselves, they have every right to do so. Most of the harm that comes from drugs is because they are illegal.
Milton Friedman

[WuDrWu]

What's your point kc? The article states the number of people that use drugs and admits the number is low based on a variety of factors.

Do you want more drug users? Easier for kids to buy? Have more people addicted to alcohol, weed, smack and paint? Do you just want to get high more cheaply? In all my years I have yet to meet someone that's in a better spot in life because they use drugs. Yes, there are a some people that don't get addicted, don't sell to children, don't steal from anyone to get drugs, don't prey on others for drugs or life because they can't do anything because of drugs, but they are the VAST minority.

Is the way we've gone after these people perfect? Of course not. Is legalizing dope the answer? If you think so, you're more stupid than I think you are.....and that's saying something.

[kcshocker11]

Yes legalize and to add to your point the vast vast majority dont get addicted, sell to children, steal, or prey on others. If its legal there is no reason 4 people to sell to kids, steal or pray on others . There would also be more money 4 treatment from rev now wasted on a hopeless war on drugs. As 4 my intelligence, well Doc one thing I like about you is that you are never above a silly insult.

Americans are paying too high a price in lives and liberty for a failing war on drugs about which our leaders have lost all sense of proportion.
Walter Cronkite

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/walter-cronkite/telling-the-truth-about-t_b_16605.html

And thats the way it is

[WuDrWu]

Ooo, more Huffington Post quotes, like that means anything. You want treatment? Don't do drugs.

People like you that argue for drugs just don't get it. There's just no hope for you, just like there's no hope for druggies. Maybe you haven't seen first hand what dope does to people, maybe you have and still don't get it. Frankly I don't care.

The answer isn't to make drugs more available. And if your argument is that our jails are full of innocent people that toked up at home with a few friends, then I suggest you pay a visit to the nearest penal facility. You'll be awakened to the kind of people we are housing there.

Again, is the fight perfect? No. But your alternative is insane.

[kcshocker11]

Not Huffington Post Walter Cronkite- Dont like him how about these guys

Things being as they are, and people as they are, there is no way to prevent somebody, somewhere, from concluding that ``NATIONAL REVIEW favors drugs.'' We don't; we deplore their use; we urge the stiffest feasible sentences against anyone convicted of selling a drug to a minor. But that said, it is our judgment that the war on drugs has failed, that it is diverting intelligent energy away from how to deal with the problem of addiction, that it is wasting our resources, and that it is encouraging civil, judicial, and penal procedures associated with police states. We all agree on movement toward legalization, even though we may differ on just how far. We are joined in our judgment by Ethan A. Nadelmann, a scholar and researcher; Kurt Schmoke, a mayor and former prosecutor; Joseph D. McNamara, a former police chief; Robert W. Sweet, a federal judge and former prosecutor; Thomas Szasz, a psychiatrist; and Steven B. Duke, a law professor. Each has his own emphases, as one might expect. All agree that the celebrated war has failed, and that it is time to go home, and to mobilize fresh thought on the drug problem in the context of a free society. This symposium is our contribution to such thought. --THE EDITORS

or perhaps you might like to read what Wm F Buckley jr thought

http://old.nationalreview.com/12feb96/drug.html

I guess they just dont get it or perhaps its you who just dont get it

insane I think we have all heard that one about to the same thing over and over again. Also Doc I would love to read your research of prison populations and the reasons they are there. Where is it published so I can read it and become educated.

[RoyalShock]

I know more people who's lives have been tragically altered due to alcohol use and smoking than drug use. Those I know who have struggled with drugs, it's been mostly prescription meds.

Are there sound statistics that say decriminalizing drug use will make drug abuse increase?

Does anyone really think you'll ever see a display at Dillons (or any other reputable business) with meth, coke, heroin or any other illicit non-medical substances?

Imagine the amount of money that could be re-directed toward education and treatment if we weren't paying to arrest, investigate, prosecute and incarcerate drug users and dealers?

We have prohibition as an example of how criminalization of a substance failed. I haven't researched it very deeply but from what I've seen, decriminalization of marijuana has been successful (or at least not caused more problems) in countries where it's been done.

How many people have been killed by drug cartels, drug lords and other "drug territory" type violence?

We should start with marijuana. Tax it. Regulate it. Release anyone from prison who was put there solely on marijuana-related charges. The let's see how that goes. If the results are positive, then look at decriminalizing other drugs.

For the record, I've never even seen marijuana in drug form, let alone used it. I've never been intoxicated. I've never smoked. I don't have a horse in this race except as it relates to individual liberty.

[_kai_]

I just think it's interesting to look back on history, and how it repeats itself.

We outlaw alcohol, and all it does is facilitate organized crime and corruption in government, and we end up legalizing it later. But that small amount of time changed the landscape of crime in America by basically creating an industry that profiteered on crime that no longer has an outlet (booze distribution) so it evolves into other areas of crime.

We now are doing the exact same thing with drugs. We see a problem with drug abuse in the 80's and instead of trying to learn from our mistakes in prohibition days, we do the exact same thing, and what happens? Yep, history repeats itself. People still use illicit drugs, and traditional organized crime was being phased out by the FBI, but a new group of criminal stepped up to the plate, the drug cartels, gangs, and now terrorists all benefit from the drug trade. Prisons are overflowing with marijuana offenders and many slums around the country are kept down while crooks thrive on the drug trade.

I'm with Royal on this, as I don't really have a pony in this race, but I feel that I can strongly say that America got it wrong with how its handled both alcohol and drugs. How do we fix it, or even how should it have been handled is the million dollar question. I don't really know if there is a good answer to that.

[Awesome Sauce Malone]

I know more people who's lives have been tragically altered due to alcohol use and smoking than drug use. Those I know who have struggled with drugs, it's been mostly prescription meds.

Are there sound statistics that say decriminalizing drug use will make drug abuse increase?

Does anyone really think you'll ever see a display at Dillons (or any other reputable business) with meth, coke, heroin or any other illicit non-medical substances?

Imagine the amount of money that could be re-directed toward education and treatment if we weren't paying to arrest, investigate, prosecute and incarcerate drug users and dealers?

We have prohibition as an example of how criminalization of a substance failed. I haven't researched it very deeply but from what I've seen, decriminalization of marijuana has been successful (or at least not caused more problems) in countries where it's been done.

How many people have been killed by drug cartels, drug lords and other "drug territory" type violence?

We should start with marijuana. Tax it. Regulate it. Release anyone from prison who was put there solely on marijuana-related charges. The let's see how that goes. If the results are positive, then look at decriminalizing other drugs.

For the record, I've never even seen marijuana in drug form, let alone used it. I've never been intoxicated. I've never smoked. I don't have a horse in this race except as it relates to individual liberty.

this. Except for the usage part.

Most people who are for de-criminalization of drugs is largely speaking of marijuana. While a gateway drug that can lead to other sorts of usage, it is largely due to the "not getting caught and under the tableness" of the culture.

There are ways to regulate with laws and the money to be made from the taxes would be great. Just think of the how high tobacco is taxed? You could essentially double that. And really whose going to complain? You could walk into QT and grab a joint. Just sayin....

[shockmonster]

I know more people who's lives have been tragically altered due to alcohol use and smoking than drug use. Those I know who have struggled with drugs, it's been mostly prescription meds.

Are there sound statistics that say decriminalizing drug use will make drug abuse increase?

Does anyone really think you'll ever see a display at Dillons (or any other reputable business) with meth, coke, heroin or any other illicit non-medical substances?

Imagine the amount of money that could be re-directed toward education and treatment if we weren't paying to arrest, investigate, prosecute and incarcerate drug users and dealers?

We have prohibition as an example of how criminalization of a substance failed. I haven't researched it very deeply but from what I've seen, decriminalization of marijuana has been successful (or at least not caused more problems) in countries where it's been done.

How many people have been killed by drug cartels, drug lords and other "drug territory" type violence?

We should start with marijuana. Tax it. Regulate it. Release anyone from prison who was put there solely on marijuana-related charges. The let's see how that goes. If the results are positive, then look at decriminalizing other drugs.

For the record, I've never even seen marijuana in drug form, let alone used it. I've never been intoxicated. I've never smoked. I don't have a horse in this race except as it relates to individual liberty.

At one time, Opiates, cocaine, morphine, heroine, and other drugs were legal. People sold them as recreational drinks, smokes, etc. Where do you think that Coke come from? People used them as medicinal agents just like alcohol. I think that a lot of people saw how dangerous they were to people who were hooked. I've heard from friends with seemingly good values who said that they and their friends used them recreationally and that they could control them. There are a lot of drugs that can't be easily controlled.

[Maggie]

http://gma.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs/200-million-people-illicit-drugs-study-finds-120123343--abc-news.html

It time to admit that laws against drug use have failed

I actually agree with kc; the "war" on drugs has failed on a number of levels. Time to look for a different solution.


Marijuana is not a gateway drug anymore than cigarettes or alcohol as far as I am concerned so it doesn’t, in my judgment, get you very far to argue otherwise. Keep in mind, I don’t bother with Marijuana because my drug of choice happens to be nicotine – it is my only vice.

Now this doesn’t mean that it is a good thing on a personal level – just consider the cost vs. the benefit in terms of the whole.

[shockmonster]

I actually agree with kc; the "war" on drugs has failed on a number of levels. Time to look for a different solution.


Marijuana is not a gateway drug anymore than cigarettes or alcohol as far as I am concerned so it doesn’t, in my judgment, get you very far to argue otherwise. Keep in mind, I don’t bother with Marijuana because my drug of choice happens to be nicotine – it is my only vice.

Now this doesn’t mean that it is a good thing on a personal level – just consider the cost vs. the benefit in terms of the whole.

Bennett and Califano, former drug czars would argue the marijuana and other drugs of today aren't the marijuana that was smoked 30 years ago. It's stronger, more addictive, and harms more individuals. If you research it a little, they also have a good argument regarding the cost to health care for drug users. They have current statistics regarding what drugs do to our current society. It's difficult to find hard data for legalized drugs since we don't have legalizeddrugs.