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Myth-busting Peter Hitchens confronts fake war on drugs
Australian Conservative ^ | November 30, 2010 | Ben-Peter Terpstra

Posted on 11/30/2010 3:38:01 AM PST by AustralianConservative

It’s an old trick mastered by marijuana-first libertarians.

One: Pretend there’s a massive war on drugs – a complete failure.

Two: Demand that we be even softer and kinder to drug users, because being tough is, like, mean.

Three: Repeat the user’s lawyer-approved statements and parrot his cop-bashing stories.

Four: In the name of “freedom” censor the failings of the soft-on-drugs movement, especially cracks in the Dutch experiment, attacks on family-run businesses and welfare-dependency concerns.

Five: Uncritically thank the former-Nazi collaborator George Soros, for supporting your enlightened cause.

(Excerpt) Read more at australianconservative.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Philosophy; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: blogpimp; marijuana; warondrugs
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To: aruanan

The drug warriors get to wear “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Costumes” and carry a lot of big bad guns.


21 posted on 11/30/2010 5:36:56 AM PST by seemoAR
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To: seemoAR
The drug warriors get to wear “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Costumes” and carry a lot of big bad guns.

I also see many pairs of them zooming around the neighborhood in their dark blue or grey Crown Vics trying to find some teens to pounce on and rifle their pockets.
22 posted on 11/30/2010 5:42:53 AM PST by aruanan
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To: AustralianConservative

We should legalize drugs with strong controls or do something serious in Mexico.


23 posted on 11/30/2010 5:44:37 AM PST by bkepley
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To: pnh102
Claiming otherwise is just ignoring reality.

You'll find a lot of that here.

Personally, I think the 'cure' is worse than the disease.

24 posted on 11/30/2010 7:43:21 AM PST by zeugma (Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam)
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To: AustralianConservative

> Shut your borders and then you’ll have a better chance of selling your “war on drugs” myth to me... How can a sane man claim that there is a war when your borders are wide open? It defies logic.

Again, it’s a war of liberty and like another poster said - war on drug _use_. As far as the border goes, just because the ‘army’ and generals are incompetent doesn’t mean there isn’t a war. What’s illogical is conflating ‘losing’ with ‘war’ but I’m guessing you get that a lot if you think that article makes a lick of sense with regards to libertarianism.


25 posted on 11/30/2010 10:06:58 AM PST by Kent C
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To: AustralianConservative

What exactly does a “real” war look like?

You want to make (well in my case) US neighborhoods look like Baghdad? I hate to break it to you but many do because of the drug war.


26 posted on 12/02/2010 11:37:30 PM PST by Nate505
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To: ari-freedom

Yeah right. Apparently the border is the only place the come from. Apparently they aren’t made within the borders or couldn’t be smuggled into ports or anything.

The country’s yearly supply of heroin could be smuggled into a few containers in any US port. How do you propose that gets stopped?


27 posted on 12/02/2010 11:39:20 PM PST by Nate505
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To: Nate505

“The country’s yearly supply of heroin could be smuggled into a few containers in any US port. How do you propose that gets stopped?”

The same way we would stop a terrorist’s bomb from being smuggled through our ports. Solve one problem and you’ll solve the other. Most of the drug problem comes from outside the country and we are really wide open.


28 posted on 12/02/2010 11:50:33 PM PST by ari-freedom (Happy Chanuka!)
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To: ari-freedom

But there is no solution other than completely grinding trade to a halt. At least with bombs you can’t corrupt the dock workers and others as easily for them to look the other way, as they may think of their children/friends/etc. getting the short end of the bomb. With illicit drugs it’s far easier to pay people off to look the other way.

Then there are other avenues of smuggling, like smuggling drugs into Canada and smuggling them into the US from there, unless you are proposing fencing off that entire border too. The fact is, when there is a product worth millions of dollars it will get in. Drugs even make their way into Singapore, a country that is repressive (in terms of civil liberties) and the size of a postage stamp.


29 posted on 12/03/2010 2:52:02 AM PST by Nate505
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To: Nate505

Of course, some suburbs look like war zones. Thanks for proving my point. The drug gangs in neighborhoods should be behind bars. Many drug addicts have long criminal records. Go figure.

Sadly, girl-boy libertarians want to mother drug addicts. From England (as Peter Hitchens notes) to Australia, the Left and drugs-first libertarians have feminized the so-called “war” – and it now resembles a joke.


30 posted on 12/03/2010 8:31:48 PM PST by AustralianConservative
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To: AustralianConservative

They look like war zones because dealing drugs is tremendously profitable due to them being illegal, and only people willing to break the law will do so. Those people tend to protect their business through violent means.

But what exactly is a “real” war on drugs? It’s my position it’s impossible to have in a (relative) free democratic society. It’s more possible in crappy societies like Singapore and Malaysia, but even they still haven’t eliminated drugs.


31 posted on 12/06/2010 7:19:38 PM PST by Nate505
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To: Nate505

Yes, every society will have drugs and rape etc. Still, Singapore (faults and all) is far more successful than liberal Euro-socialist countries with their soft-on-drug policies.

RE: Left’s straw man argument. No conservative I’ve met has ever said a real war would eliminate all stupidity, but it is better than the alternative motherhood culture.


32 posted on 12/06/2010 10:26:51 PM PST by AustralianConservative
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To: AustralianConservative

Are they more successful? By what measure? I’ve never heard of a widespread drug problem in, say, Norway.

And if elimination isn’t your goal, what is exactly?


33 posted on 12/08/2010 9:22:48 PM PST by Nate505
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