Drug War: America's War at Home

Drug War 101 ^ | 3/25/04 | Drug War 101

[sean327]

Ilicit drugs are one of the biggest threats to our society.
They destroy lives, families, and entire communities. You claim the "Drug War" is an invasion of your privacy, I claim your use of drugs is a threat to my children and myself. I have seen first hand the ability of the drug culture to destroy. I have lost friends, some due to their so called recreational use, and some to a dumbass mistake made by someone who was stoned out of their mind at work.

If your drug use affects the saftey of my family and friends, I am not concerned with your misguided interpretation of privacy rights. If you want to use drugs, do it in your own home and don't come out unill you are clean and sober. If you want to destroy yourself have at it, just make sure you leave me and mine out of it.

[LowOiL]

Caught in the Quagmire of Another Vietnam?

Where have we heard "quagmire" over and over again from?

Quagmireshudder.

[A CA Guy]

Do you want an amen to that? AMEN!!!

[sean327]

Was this a post and run?

[marktwain]

Ilicit drugs are one of the biggest threats to our society. They destroy lives, families, and entire communities.

So, since alcohol destroys far more lives, families, and entire communities, you are for re instituting prohibition, right?

I have personally witnessed the drug war as an enforcer, and I can tell you that there is no question that legal drugs destroy much, much, much more than illicit drugs, and that the drug war itself has dome much more damage to our culture, country, and constitution than the use of drugs ever did.

[Beemnseven]

Sean, please -- spare me the "destroying lives" crap. Are you about to call for the illegality of tobacco since that "destroys lives" in far greater numbers?

I doubt it.

Using a substance does not affect you or your family in any way. The threat comes from those who infringe on your rights while intoxicated. Same goes for alcohol, another substance that "destroys lives" -- yet somehow, the government could care less. Are you ready to ban alcohol too? Again, I doubt it.

The drug war itself is what destroys communities. The sooner you and others who think the same way wake up and realize that the so-called War on Drugs is another miserable government failure, the better off our society will be.

[Ramius]

You don't need to fear any legalization of anything, not even Pot, any time soon.

There is too much money in it the way it is, and therefore all will stay the same. The gangs have all the money they could ever want. The cops have all the budget they could ever want, and if they don't get it in the budget they can seize property until they do. The cartels have more money than most medium sized countries, and can buy whoever they need to buy.

With a system like this, nothing will change because nobody wants it to change *especially* those that profit from the drug business.

Cheers.

[sean327]

I agree the Drug War is a miserable failure, and this is the reason: We treat it as a law enforcement problem, not a National Security problem. The U.S. needs to go after the producers and suppliers of drugs with the full force and might of our military. If we have to do it unilateraly then so be it. We need to crush these vermin the same way we are taking out AL Queda. These clowns are also terrorists.

Your Tobacco argument is nothing but a smoke screen, no pun intended. Tobacco has not turned the inner cities of this country into war zones, drugs have. Tobacco does not cause a mother to leave her children to fend for themselves for days at a time because she had to go out and find a fix.
Tobacco has not caused turf wars between rival gangs who kill inocent people during their drive by shootings.
Tobacco is not being smuggled across our borders by the ton, while our ranchers and land owners have to clean up the destruction left on their land by the mules bringing it across. Tobacco is not turning our schools into cespools, drugs are.

[Ken H]

Tobacco has not caused turf wars between rival gangs who kill inocent people during their drive by shootings.

If we instituted a total ban on tobacco, you can bet the farm there would be gangs fighting over black market profits.

Tobacco is not being smuggled across our borders by the ton, while our ranchers and land owners have to clean up the destruction left on their land by the mules bringing it across.

Again, if tobacco were banned, that problem would be worsened. The mules are after profits and a black market in tobacco would be quite lucrative.

[jedi]

Hopefully, someday soon an informant will decide he wants some of your assets.

[Jorge]

I have personally witnessed the drug war as an enforcer, and I can tell you that there is no question that legal drugs destroy much, much, much more than illicit drugs..

If you truly believe "legal drugs destroy much, much, much more than illicit drugs" then surely you oppose making more drugs legal.
Unless of course you are pro-destruction of society.

[jedi]

Better teach your family how to lie face-down with their hands behind their backs, too. CWOJackson might be one of them coming through your door.

[Jorge]

The drug war itself is what destroys communities. The sooner you and others who think the same way wake up and realize that the so-called War on Drugs is another miserable government failure, the better off our society will be.

This is absolute nonsense.
I've lived in drug infested neighborhoods that were hell holes UNTIL the Govt authorities came in, arrested the dealers and drove them out.

Anybody who's experienced living in areas where drugs were rampant and the law was not enforced knows that I am telling the TRUTH.

[Ken H]

"Mayor Bloomberg and his friends in Albany have managed to spur a brand-new crime war - involving turf battles over bootlegged smokes."

TOBACCO (TAXES) KILL

[Hoof Hearted]

"Ilicit drugs are one of the biggest threats to our society.

Damned straight, brother! Ever try to pick a fight with some stoned pothead? Ain't gonna happen! Why can't them druggies just get sloshed on brew like us law abiding Americans?

[Long Cut]

Near as I can tell, our nation's "drug war" is based largely upon what amounts to superstition as to the effects of some drugs, ansd a willingness to overlook the fact that the more visible "effects", such as inner-city crime, turf wars, etc, are cause not by the drugs themselves but by the enforcement of the laws against them.

If marijuana were legal, its price would be so low as to totally negate any need for criminals to operate to supply the demand. Also, its users would pose no particular other threat to society that drunks do not now pose, except that pot users do not often get violent.

Unfortunately, by this decades-long prosecution of an unnecessary "war" (which is really NOT a war) we have created a vicious cycle that is politically impossible to break. Small comfort, of course, to the dead and those who have been otherwise harmed by its existance.

[Age of Reason]

Drugs should not only be made legal, but the government should give them for free to anyone who wants them--with one provision:

Such people agree to live in remote drug villages where they can obtain all the free drugs they want.

This way drugs can be used to remove the losers from the communities of sensible people.

And the cost of those drugs to the government--especially once those drugs are legalized--would be miniscule in comparison to what is now being spent on the war on drugs.

[Hoof Hearted]

Your Tobacco argument is nothing but a smoke screen, no pun intended. Tobacco has not turned the inner cities of this country into war zones, drugs have. Tobacco does not cause a mother to leave her children to fend for themselves for days at a time because she had to go out and find a fix. Tobacco has not caused turf wars between rival gangs who kill inocent people during their drive by shootings. Tobacco is not being smuggled across our borders by the ton, while our ranchers and land owners have to clean up the destruction left on their land by the mules bringing it across. Tobacco is not turning our schools into cespools, drugs are.

Thats because tobacco is a legal drug. Everything you have cited above is a result of the illegal status of the drug, not the drug itself.

[philman_36]

We treat it as a law enforcement problem, not a National Security problem.
It shouldn't even be a law enforcement problem. It was made a law enforcement problem through bigotry, plain and simple! And if you honestly believe that the drug use by approx. 5% of the population is a "National Security problem" then you're just plain delusional!
The U.S. needs to go after the producers and suppliers of drugs with the full force and might of our military.
Dear G-D, you have no concept of what Posse Comitatus is, do you? And you call yourself a conservative?
We need to crush these vermin the same way we are taking out AL Queda. These clowns are also terrorists.
Oh, you're one of those "body count" types, eh? How about this "oldie but goodie"...Don't Let a Few Innocent Deaths Stop the Drug War!!
Just one of many innocents you've helped kill by your support. Just acceptable collateral damage, right?
What unmitigated ignoramuses people like you are! And before I go about thrashing the rest of your BS read this Freidman interview, who IMO has far more knowledge and practical solutions than your "Kill "Em All" attitude!

Tobacco has not turned the inner cities of this country into war zones, drugs have.
No, the inflated price of drugs -due to them being black market items - has turned the inner cities of this nation into war zones. (your use of "country" instead of "nation" indicates a liberal leaning)
Tobacco does not cause a mother to leave her children to fend for themselves for days at a time because she had to go out and find a fix.
Maybe "Sugar Daddy" with his big wad of cash does it for some women. Maybe Piss Pot Pete has the "fix" she might be craving. Maybe one woman's "fix" isn't the same as another's.
Tobacco has not caused turf wars between rival gangs who kill inocent people during their drive by shootings.
See above about the black market.
Tobacco is not being smuggled across our borders by the ton, while our ranchers and land owners have to clean up the destruction left on their land by the mules bringing it across.
You're right. Tobacco isn't being smuggled across our borders by the ton because it's a legal product. However illegal aliens by the thousands, who sponge off of the socialistic welfare system established by foolish liberals, are smuggled across our border, smuggled in by greedy coyotes. There are far more illegals than "mules" by a long shot. Cast blame where it properly belongs. Also, if things keep going as they are the developing black market for cigarettes will develop and then tons of tobacco will start to be smuggled in.
Tobacco is not turning our schools into cespools, drugs are.
You're right and you're wrong. The liberals are at it again. Have your kids been assigned to read the book Heather Has Two Mommies yet? Have your children been properly educated sexually including transgenderism and subjects such as fisting? Get the point? Something along the lines of liberal educators...
You really need to get your priorities right as to where blame lies.

When I read drivel like yours I automatically get the mental image of the atypical and stereotypical old coot sitting on his porch with his mason jar of moonshine bitching about how bad things are, in his point of view and how much better things were "in my day".
Have a nice day!