Posted on 01/08/2013 12:22:55 PM PST by Altariel
President Richard Nixon declared a "war on drugs" in 1971. The expectation then was that drug trafficking in the United States could be greatly reduced in a short time through federal policing—and yet the war on drugs continues to this day. The cost has been large in terms of lives, money and the well-being of many Americans, especially the poor and less educated. By most accounts, the gains from the war have been modest at best.
The direct monetary cost to American taxpayers of the war on drugs includes spending on police, the court personnel used to try drug users and traffickers, and the guards and other resources spent on imprisoning and punishing those convicted of drug offenses. Total current spending is estimated at over $40 billion a year.
These costs don't include many other harmful effects of the war on drugs that are difficult to quantify. For example, over the past 40 years the fraction of students who have dropped out of American high schools has remained large, at about 25%. Dropout rates are not high for middle-class white children, but they are very high for black and Hispanic children living in poor neighborhoods. Many factors explain the high dropout rates, especially bad schools and weak family support. But another important factor in inner-city neighborhoods is the temptation to drop out of school in order to profit from the drug trade.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
All attempts to resurrect Babel and its schemes of perfecting Man are doomed to failure. It doesn’t follow that our only other option is lawlessness. Whatever the War on Drugs—TM owned by one Mr. LeRoy—means to different people, sane attempts to ameliorate the damage of intoxicants are no more statist than other grasps for security in a fallen world. Evil men will use security as a wedge to grab more power, but I’m afraid that’s just the pickle we’re in.
Don’t forget the imposition of asset forfiture, the crime of “money laundering”, and loss of financial privacy.
The ‘war on drugs’ systematically federalized the local plice forces of all the municipalities of the nation.
It gave Washington, D.C., another hammer to control the States, through denying them any of this ‘new pool of money’, if the State did not swallow the federal government pill.
It allowed federal law enforcement agencies in existence then, and those created since, to encroach upon the unwary private American’s ways amd means of going about their daily business.
The ‘war on drugs’ has made many lawyers rich, while allowing their charges to live another day, and continue their illegal and deadly business, while making John Q./Jane Q. Public less safe, in their travels, their neighborhoods, their very homes.
The ‘war on drugs’ is married to ‘the war on guns’ in a zen fashion. While drug-related reportable crimes run rampant, John Q./Jane Q. Public are exprected to wait on The Nanny State for their ONLY means of protection, which is clearly anti-Constitutional. Personal expressions of self-preservation are being beaten down more and more, in the media, by elected officials, Congreemen and Senators, and even this President!
The Supremem Court has stated that the neighborhood police are NOT there to secure the individual safety of families and do NOT have the obligation to protect the individual American in their home.
Yes! The ‘war on drugs’ has been as much a national failure, as has the late President Johnson’s ‘The Great Society’.
When was this?
Government doesn't have to get "involved" for producers and consumers of a desired good to find each other - the market takes care of that.
How would a war on drugs differ from what is now being done under that name?
the Problem is, until We went to Afghanistan, Heroin use in the US was minimal at best, now it is Exploding in Every Major City, our Military controls EVERYTHING that goes in and out of Afghanistan.
I don't think that's correct - can you back up your claim with evidence?
just google it, the information is everywhere, just not on TV
I don't think that's correct - can you back up your claim with evidence?
just google it
Sorry, YOUR claim means YOUR burden of proof - so YOU Google it.
I could give a Rats Ass about what our lying government has to say, a simple google search yields amazing results
Would this be happening on U.S. or foreign soil?
I don't think that's correct - can you back up your claim with evidence?
just google it
Sorry, YOUR claim means YOUR burden of proof - so YOU Google it.
Just this once I'll do your homework for you: according to the federal government's Substance Abuse And Mental Health Services Administration, since 1998 past-month heroin has remained steady at 0.06%.
I could give a Rats Ass about what our lying government has to say, a simple google search yields amazing results
White Bear Township is a "major city"?
I find it amazing you have no sense of curiosity whatsoever, the link I posted was from my browser in linux, which will not work for those using windows, however if you just type the simple phrase “heroin use on rise” into ANY search engine yourself you will find hundreds of articles from Most MAJOR CITIES in America about the exploding use of Heroin over the last few years. I don’t expect you to remove your blinders, for that would cause you to question the very devotion you have towards our Government as a whole, and might actually be destructive to ones precious self esteem. But should you some day Dare to search out what the truth really is, you might just learn something.
I looked all this stuff up a Year ago after quite a few teenagers overdosed and died from Heroin in a 2 month period in Simi Valley where I have a home.
Just this once I'll do your homework for you: according to the federal government's Substance Abuse And Mental Health Services Administration, since 1998 past-month heroin has remained steady at 0.06%.
I could give a Rats Ass about what our lying government has to say, a simple google search yields amazing results
http://www.google.com/search?q=heroin+use+on+rise&ie=UTF-8&sa=Search&channel=fe&client=browser-ubuntu&hl=en
From a link on that page: "according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services administration [SAMHSA], initiations to heroin have increased 80 percent among 12- to 17-year-olds since 2002. More troublingly, young people are dying in greater numbers, too. In 1999, the number of fatal overdoses in young people between 15 and 24 was 198. Ten years later, it had risen to 510."
A doubling (roughly) of heroin use in a fairly narrow age range does NOT support your claim that "until We went to Afghanistan, Heroin use in the US was minimal at best, now it is Exploding in Every Major City."
Are you spacin’? Here’s my original comment that you replied to. “Exaggeration. There hasn’t been any war on drugs, yet.” And there hasn’t. There are too many effeminate exaggerations in political speech, though.
How would a war on drugs differ from what is now being done under that name?
Armies are used for wars, so it would be a job for the Army. One way would be to soften a target up in advance of a real assault (not civilian SWAT but Army) with artillery or bombing. Then clear the building efficiently, exterminating all of the enemy inside, if any remain.
Would this be happening on U.S. or foreign soil?
Are you spacin’?
No, I'm askin' a question about your description of a real war on drugs. Are you evadin'? Or will you be answerin'?
Here’s my original comment that you replied to. “Exaggeration. There hasn’t been any war on drugs, yet.” And there hasn’t.
Not one that fits your description, certainly.
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