Local, national groups call for end to ‘war on drugs’

Middletown Press ^ | December 04, 2002 | JOHN ZORABEDIAN

[MrLeRoy]

MIDDLETOWN -- Peter Christ and Cliff Thornton are two men with very different backgrounds: Thornton was a substitute teacher in Hartford’s schools, and Christ is a former police officer in western New York state. But both men have reached the same conclusion -- that the ‘war on drugs’ is a massive failure that only deepens the national crisis of addiction and drug-related crime.

After 20 years on opposite sides of a war that has cost over $1 trillion in 30 years, with millions of casualties on both sides, the two men, and many more around the country, are pursuing campaigns to decriminalize illicit drugs.

"No matter how many (drug offenders) are locked up, the problem doesn’t go away ..it gets worse," said Thornton, an educator for a Hartford-based drug law reform group. "The drug war is a colossal waste of resources (and) we must dismantle this monster."

Speaking to a large group of students at Wesleyan University Tuesday, Thornton and Christ explained their shared perception of the so-called drug war as a policy that not only fails to keep drugs off the streets and out of schools, but leads to the incarceration of large sectors of the population -- mostly poor people and minorities.

"The average drug user in the United States has a 40-hour per week job and is white," said Thornton, who cited reports from Amnesty International condemning U.S. drug policy for its violations of human and civil rights. "But the faces of prisoners are overwhelmingly black and brown."

African-American men make up only 3 percent of Connecticut’s population, according to Thornton’s group, Efficacy, but constitute 47 percent of all inmates in the state’s prisons and halfway houses.

Prisons themselves are "largely violent, drug-ridden places," he said, where inmates are not likely to get the treatment they need."

Although Thornton likened the "war on drugs" to "class and race warfare," Christ said he views the prohibition of drugs as a matter of practicality -- prohibition simply doesn’t work.

Alcohol prohibition ended in the 1930s, "not because alcohol became benign ..but because we realized the policy (of prohibition) caused more problems than (alcohol did)," said Christ.

A founding member of the national group Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, Christ said he wants to see drugs legalized as a way to reduce drug-related crime and to regulate dangerous drugs.

Comparing drug prohibition to abortion and gambling laws, Christ said legalization will not cause an increase in the number of drug addicts.

"I want to regulate and control drugs in this country," said Christ. "You can’t regulate the black market."

The forum was sponsored by the Wesleyan group Students for Sensible Drug Policy.

[jmc813]

I took a gander at your home page and found this...

I am a firm believer in the use of common sense and personal responsibility. If you put a cup of hot coffee between your legs, remove the lid and burn yourself, that is YOUR fault. It is YOUR fault if you get fat from eating fast food. It is YOUR fault if you get cancer from smoking cigarettes.

Why do you support the War on Drugs?

[gcruse]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Three-fourths of Americans think the nation is losing the war on drugs and think the demand for drugs is so high it will be impossible to stop their use, a poll says.

[Houmatt]

Why do you support the War on Drugs?

1) Drugs are illegal (as they should be).

2) Drugs kill.

Any questions?

[Houmatt]

The fact is most drug deaths are due to impurities or even quality/strengths. THat should be obvious to anyone who has done even cursory research on the problem. Obviously (I hope), you realize that legalization would basically eliminate this problem.

And it would obviously make things easier for you.

[Houmatt]

Three-fourths of Americans think the nation is losing the war on drugs and think the demand for drugs is so high it will be impossible to stop their use, a poll says.

And I am sure the same amount of people would believe the moon landing was faked and the world is flat, depending on how you ask the question.

[ThinkDifferent]

Drugs are illegal (as they should be)

Circular reasoning.

Drugs kill

Alcohol and nicotine kill far more. Should they be illegal? Obesity is becoming the leading health problem. Should McDonalds be sued out of existence?

[Houmatt]

Circular reasoning.

Point?

Alcohol and nicotine kill far more.

Exactly. And that is because they are legal, not in spite of it.

[EBUCK]

1) Drugs are illegal (as they should be).

Aspirin is legal (as it should be).

2) Drugs kill.

Aspirin kills.

Any questions?

Any answers?

EBUCK

[gcruse]

And I am sure the same amount of people would believe the moon landing was faked and the world is flat, depending on how you ask the question.

Keep on dancing and whistling.  The fact remains.

[ThinkDifferent]

Point?

That circular reasoning, i.e. supporting the WOD because drugs are illegal, is a logical fallacy.

And that is because they are legal, not in spite of it.

So you would support the return of alcohol prohibition?

[dcwusmc]

If that's the case, why are all the medical mj and decrim laws and initiatives passing? Methinks you are both wrong and a moron yourself. But that's just my opinion. You COULD be an actual idiot, for all I know.

[austinTparty]

Drugs kill. Guns kill. Do you support repealing the 2nd Amendment?

The point of eliminating the "WOD" is not to encourage drug use. Stopping the "WOD" does not automatically mean legalization, actually. But you can stop making possession a mandatory prison-time serving criminal offense, and replace it with an exhorbitant fine, should you prefer. The "WOD" has given the government an excuse to trample on 4th Amendment rights, which I (as a NON-drug user) am concerned about. They can confiscate MY property on SUSPICION of drug crimes, with no requirement of prior conviction, and no compelling statute to return it upon my innocence being proven.

And just like Prohibition led to the rise of mob activity, WOD has led to gang activity (and, as a codicil, just like NYC's cigarette ban and huge tax hike has led to terrorist funding through cig smuggling). Many legal drugs are far more deadly and potent than ones currently illegal...

[ellery]

No, no -- I was responding to the post in favor of continuing the useless WOD because "most Americans want it." That's not a very sound argument -- because everyone else wants it -- is it?

[gcruse]

Agreed. Sorry if I misread. What is most important is what is Constitutional, not the (forgive me) zeitgeist.

[ellery]

Hee -- you said zeitgeist. :-)

[Rocksalt]

"Actually, a recent poll showed that 74% of Americans agreed that the War On Drugs has failed."

I'd be curious to know what polls say about if people favor legalization of narcotics or not.I'm not suprised a majority feel the WOD is a failure.But how many want legalized drugs in it's place?

[RonF]

Actually, I'm in favor of legalization. And you're quite right, legalization would deal with deaths based on impurities, and would help deal with those based on infection, etc.

However, it won't solve everything. Alcohol has been legal for decades, and it's quality is stringently controlled. Yet, people fall into a bottle and die every day. They'll fall into a syringe or a pill bottle just as easily, or more easily. Give people a ready way to avoid reality, and there'll be those who fall for it.

In fact, they don't even have to get that much benefit from it. You don't get much of a high from nicotine, yet yearly it slaughters it's 10,000's and 100,000's in the U.S. alone.

Drug use kills people. It's undeniable. Legalizing drugs will not change that, it just changes who gets killed, and how many.

[TLBSHOW]

PING