[Lazamataz]

Back when the War on Drugs was launched in earnest, under Reagan, I decried the concept and the execution.

Thirty years later, every one of my predictions have been realized.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

The feral government derives too much power from the war on drugs that aren't under the control of the big-government/big-corporate criminal complex.

They will never, under any circumstances, relinquish that power.

The drug laws are what enabled the feral government to take over the entire health care system.

[umgud]

I read the whole article and while this fella makes a lot of good points, his prescription to solve the probem is pure bunk and won’t work.

[ILS21R]

Judson Phillips nails it.

[Thorliveshere]

“Register” drug users? That’s a new one, but you know what, you’ll get just as big of a resistance to that as you would for registering guns.

And, honestly, drug cartels will really go away even if the price of drugs will get lowered? Doubt it. What would happen is they would steal the cheap drugs and resell them. They won’t just “go away,” they’ll find some way to adapt, and it’d still be illegal.

[TomGuy]

War on Drugs, Poverty, etc., are just ways to taking money from some and giving to others, under the guise of some big social issue.

Several years ago, we saw some reports of US military guarding poppy fields in Afghanistan.

This election, we saw a couple of states legalize marijuana use.

==

The War on Drugs was lost when Congress founded it.

[Thane_Banquo]

I don’t see where in the Constitution something like the War on Drugs is authorized. Let state and local governments decide the issue.

[calex59]

He has a somewhat good idea. I would actually prefer to legalize drugs, but having users register and be put off limits for some jobs might work, although you would still have illegal users and the war on drugs might continue unabated in this case. Take the money out of drugs and you will end the problems caused by gangs, also we can then disband our swat teams, which need to be done away with immediately, if not sooner.

[Hemingway's Ghost]

Registering drug users will change the whole dynamic.

For the worse.

This guy is an effing retard.

[JT Hatter]

Judson,

I think you’re on to something. Take away the profit motive for drugs and a lot of organized drug crime will evaporate. I have some ideas to share with you. Look at how Spain handles drugs. Not perfect but a world of improvement from the user’s end of things.

[varmintman]

Now, thirty years later what have we accomplished? Has the “War on Drugs” become just another epic government failure like the “War on Poverty” with the only thing accomplished being massive government spending and an equally massive erosion of our Constitutional Rights?

Yes.

Some questions actually do have simple answers...

[varmintman]

I don't have anything to do with drugs and recommend everybody on the planet do the same; every drug problem in the world would vanish within five days if the whole world were to do that...

Nonetheless that's never going to happen, hence the "War on Drugs(TM)", instituted under Richard Nixon. This is the single biggest issue I have with Republicans and there is little if anything to choose between demmy and pubby pols on the issue. The "war on drugs" leads to

• "No-knock" raids, which are a clear violation of the fourth amendment and of the common law principle of a man's home being his "castle". In fact technically a homeowner who were to shoot and kill one or more government agents in the process of conducting a "no knock" raid would be entirely within his or her rights.
• The incarceration of large numbers of people who would otherwise never have had contact with prison systems. For many this amounts to a career training program for serious crime.
• Gang wars, drive-by shootings and the like.
• Corruption, the rise of drug cartels, and outright civil wars in other nations which supply drugs to the illegal drug enterprises here.

It is that final item which some would use as a pretext to eviscerate the second amendment, which is the link pin of the entire bill of rights. Consider the following from the former head of U.S. Customs and Border Protection under the Bush administration no less:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/nov/17/weapons-ban-urged-to-rein-in-mexican-drug-war/

The former head of U.S. Customs and Border Protection called Monday for the U.S. to reinstitute the ban on assault weapons and take other measures to rein in the war between Mexico and its drug cartels, saying the violence has the potential to bring down legitimate rule in that country.

Former CBP Commissioner Robert C. Bonner also called for the United States to more aggressively investigate U.S. gun sellers and tighten security along its side of the border, describing the situation as "critical" to the safety of people in both countries, whether they live near the border or not.

Mexico, for its part, needs to reduce official corruption and organize its forces along the lines the U.S. does, such as a specialized border patrol and a customs agency with a broader mandate than monitoring trade, Mr. Bonner said in an exchange of e-mails.

"Border security is especially important to breaking the power and influence of the Mexican-based trafficking organizations," Mr. Bonner said. "Despite vigorous efforts by both governments, huge volumes of illegal drugs still cross from Mexico..."

The problem here clearly is not guns and it is clearly a problem of economics. The drugs one of these idiots would use in a day under rational circumstances would cost a dollar; that would simply present no scope for crime or criminals. Under present circumstances that dollar's worth of drugs is costing the user $300 a day and since that guy is dealing with a 10% fence, he's having to commit $3000 worth of crime to buy that dollar's worth of drugs. In other words, a dollar's worth of chemicals has been converted into $3000 worth of crime, times the number of those idiots out there, times 365 days per year, all through the magic of stupid laws. No nation on Earth could afford that forever.

A rational set of drug laws would:

• Legalize marijuana and all its derivatives and anything else demonstrably no more harmful than booze on the same basis as booze.
• Declare that heroine, crack cocaine, and other highly addictive substances would never be legally sold on the streets, but that those addicted could shoot up at government centers for the fifty-cent cost of producing the stuff, i.e. take every dime out of that business for criminals.
• Provide a lifetime in prison for selling LSD, PCP, and/or other Jeckyl/Hyde formulas.
• Same for anybody selling any kind of drugs to kids.

Do all of that, and the drug problem and 70% of all urban crime will vanish within two years. That would be an optimal solution; but you could simply legalize it all and still be vastly better off than we are now. 150 Years ago, there were no drug laws in America and there were no overwhelming drug problems. How bright do you really need to be to figure that one out?

[PMAS]

“If you want to be a registered drug user, you are not going to get public assistance. If you want to get high, you can do it on your own dime.”

This will never happen, registered drug users will become a whole new entitlement class.

[blueunicorn6]

Well, I see some interesting excuses for people to use illegal drugs. One guy writes that illegal drugs keep him from climbing a clock tower and killing people. A common response for people using illegal drugs is because people drink alcohol. I know, I don’t understand that one either. Taking illegal drugs to escape from reality is cowardice. Attempting to escape from reality has another name.....insanity. No culture values cowardice, yet we want to make it easier for people to use illegal drugs and behave in a cowardly manner. I see article after article and post after post every day on Free Republic lamenting how Democrats vote. Many people vote Democrat because they’re afraid. Obama “cares” about them. He’ll take care of them. Conservatives recognize the insanity of that type of thinking. But, here at Free Republic, many supposed conservatives are fine with people using illegal drugs to escape reality and behave in a cowardly manner. If you think that escaping from reality is a good thing, then look at the Democrat policies. They are unrealistic. But, for some here at Free Republic, the unrealistic Democrat policies are bad, but people escaping from reality is OK. That’s a gaping inconsistency. You want to know how to stop illegal drug use? Call illegal drug users what they are....cowards. Use the word that describes illegal drug use for what it is.....insanity. “No man is an island.” Every toke, every snort, every shot somebody attempting to escape reality takes affects me. They affect you. You can hope that you can live in your bunker and avoid them, but they vote. They influence others to escape reality. Our Republic requires brave people. Fight or surrender. There is no hiding. How many people successfully hid in the Soviet Union? None. Fight or surrender.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

Practically speaking, there are several problems.

To start with, marijuana needs to be separated from both other illegal and pharmaceutical drugs, breaking the paradigm that the FDA is be the single monopoly authority that determines what pharmaceuticals and non-pharmaceuticals (OTC and alternative medicines and herbal medicines) people can use.

And breaking this monopoly has all sorts of ramifications, such as legalizing the consumption of raw milk, unless it is outlawed at the state level, and raising the question of why the federal government is involved with regulating alcohol and tobacco.

But then, there is a huge problem coming down the pike of an enormous number of Americans addicted to prescription opiates and synthetic opiate painkillers; who now that they are being reformulated to make them harder to abuse, will in great numbers turn to cheaper and more effective heroin.

In 2010 alone there were 15,000 opiate and synthetic opiate fatal prescription pill overdoses in the US. Estimates are that 5 million Americans are misusing these drugs, with no clear picture on how many of them are addicted.

And the movement to heroin, costing only a quarter as much as the equivalent prescription medicine, is happening a lot faster and in greater scale than was expected.

Current methods of exchanging a methadone addiction for heroin addiction are clearly insufficient to handle this huge increase in addicts.

Last but not least are all the other illegal drugs, such as methamphetamine, crack cocaine, and numerous pharmaceutical type brain drugs, as well as weird blends of who knows what such as bath salts.

[upsdriver]

The War on Murder has been a dismal failure, too.

[Usagi_yo]

Nah, the war on drugs fuels the fascist state. Legalize most recreational drugs and let Darwin, the god of progressives take over.

[headsonpikes]

The War on Drugs is successful, just as the contemporary education and justicial institutions are successful; they just have different goals than one might have naively imagined from the rhetoric promoting their various powers.

The War on Drugs is particularly successful from the pov of the economic interests represented - extraordinarily successful, actually - enough money and power for everyone involved. These various parties, public and private, do not want their apple-cart upset, and they have guns to enforce that will.

Of course, those cowards afraid of reality will deny this state of affairs despite the head-hurting cognitive dissonance required.

[2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten]

I think legalizing everything is probably not practical and probably not going to happen. Instead how about we do away with the armed home invasions - we don’t do that for white collar criminals or check forgers - so why do we have to enforce the drug laws with a small army? It really doesn’t make any sense. We don’t have to say “do crack and meth to your hearts content” - just simply enforce the existing laws without going full fledged gestapo. That’s what I would do.

[Eva]

Go ahead and legalize it and let the law suits fly. Make sure to put those Surgeon General cancer warnings on the packaging, and include a warning that cannabis use before the age of maturity can lead to a decreased IQ, and increased risk of schizophrenia.

While marijuana use is down among adults, it’s use is way up among teenagers. It is estimated that 40% of teenagers have used marijuana. Maybe it is time to rethink the message that drug legalization sends to teenagers. Marijuana use is not harmless.