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78 Comments
- alapoet, on 07/27/2008, -2/+42The point is, the War on Drugs does more harm than good.
Those who are addicted would be much better served -- as would the rest of society! -- by providing them with rehabilitation when they want to quit, rather than incarceration when they get caught.
As for marijuana, it's ridiculous that it was ever included in the War on Drugs, or even made illegal in the first place. - masterdelrond, on 07/27/2008, -2/+20When are they going to wake up and smell the weed!
- DonWigler, on 07/27/2008, -1/+1850 billion is a lot. But add to it all of the money it costs to lock these people up and the sheer waste is mind boggling.
- MommaLu, on 07/27/2008, -2/+17If drugs were legalized the pimply-faced potheads wouldn't be able to get drugs. Teens have a harder time getting alcohol than drugs, because booze is sold behind the counter not behind an alley.
- ammundsen, on 07/28/2008, -1/+15People like to feel superior to others. Having certain drugs illegal lets all those who drink or pop prescription pills, like Rush Limbaugh, feel superior to other people.
Human beings like to use drugs and will no matter what. Trying to stop it is nearly impossible. The only effective way to stop drug use would be to implement draconian measures against the actual users. Something I find offensive to the basic principles of liberty. But I dont think impossible based on what our political leaders are able to get away with with the support of the American people. - relic180, on 07/28/2008, -2/+16God you're so stupid.
- inactive, on 07/28/2008, -0/+11You assume everyone that wants an end to the war is a drug addict. If we want the country to start acting like grownups the government has to stop acting like a parent. I would rather have the police preventing crimes against others then wasting resources protecting someone from harming themselves.
Columbian friends of mine here in Miami have trouble sending money to family members in Columbia because if you are a Columbian living in Miami you must be smuggling cocaine in somehow. - nowsamsara, on 07/28/2008, -1/+11Thanks for the laugh. I belong to several 12 step organizations and I hear precisely the opposite story. Can you tell me how to go about this so I can put this new information on the bulletin boards of NA/AA and CA please? [Namely...what insurance company or governmental organization will do this for anyone who wants help? I have a list of 30 needing detox and rehabs right now off the top of my head.]
Thanks.
Look forward to hearing. - nowsamsara, on 07/28/2008, -1/+111% of the American population is currently in prison. Of those, I think it's HALF [federal prison] due to drug-related offenses. This "war on drugs" is racially motivated as well. Who in Congress is going to step up [like Dennis Kucinich] on behalf of [the disenfranchised black economically challenged youth?] this stupid "war?"
Here are more interesting statistics: http://www.drugwarfacts.org/racepris.htm - relic180, on 07/28/2008, -0/+10Don't forget about the cost of having an ineffective prison system due to overpopulation from an overwhelming number of non-violent drug offenders. And the effects of an abusive law enforcement system when decent citizens are treated (and tased) as "criminals" when they're caught with a small baggy of weed. Some things can't really be measured in dollars, but the cost is still steep.
- nowsamsara, on 07/28/2008, -0/+9"People like to feel superior to others. Having certain drugs illegal lets all those who drink or pop prescription pills, like Rush Limbaugh, feel superior to other people."
Absolutely!
I know ***** of people who pop pills they buy off the internet or doctor shop/doctor hop for but then look down on street drug users. In fact, one person called me up to brag she'd called the cops on a woman who she was friends with who did heroin [but had kids, was her reasoning.].
The irony is that the person [my friend] who called me would go into treatment 2 months later for vicodin and percocet addiction; She got out and is back at it.
Go, war on drugs, go!
You miserable failure. - BillyWarhol, on 07/28/2008, -1/+9No ***** eh!! a complete waste of Time + Money + People's Lives* sad n pathetic*
- inactive, on 07/27/2008, -2/+8wouldn't it be cheaper if you distributed it for free ;)
- TheMachine1, on 07/29/2008, -0/+6Why is it the most vocal gay bashers like yourself often turn out to be gay? Just accept your gay and stop the hate.
- doctechnical, on 07/28/2008, -0/+6By that logic we should ban alcohol because there are drunk drivers.
Oh, wait - we already tried that. Didn't work out so well. - ieee, on 07/28/2008, -0/+6I want to end the war on drugs and the only drug I use is caffiene via a daily soda. I don't even drink.
I see making drugs illegal as generating more crime, not reducing it. It isn't stopping people who really want to do it either.
I want the war on drugs stopped so that the crime generated from illegal commerce can go away and so that the government can regulate drugs they way they regulate alcohol.
I don't care what adults do as long as I don't have to see it.
If the government makes some drugs legal those drugs will be out in the open where the government has a better shot at regulating its use, keeping drugs out of the hands of minors.
They can channel the millions of dollars from fighting it as a crime into public education campaigns and programs to encourage people to get off/stay away from the drugs - PhilliesBlunt, on 07/28/2008, -0/+5If the war on drugs were a real war, we'd have surrendered unconditionally and been occupied a long time ago. So I think it's time to negotiate a cease-fire at the very least.
- BaseballGuyCAA, on 07/28/2008, -0/+5Nobody said anything about legalizing driving while high. Alcohol is legal, but if you get caught driving with it, you're going downtown.
I would agree 100% that driving while intoxicated should be illegal--as you are placing every other driver on the road in grave danger. But we don't need the Nanny State watching over us, making sure we don't fall and go boom, and that's the point of this. NOT to get stoned drivers on the road.
Learn to listen before you open your mouth. - wishninja, on 07/28/2008, -0/+5the lone braincell rides again.
- inactive, on 07/28/2008, -0/+5hey ***** cockmaster,
Alcohol is legal, Cigarettes are legal and kill far more people than weed ever could
think about that before running your mouth again, dumbass - inactive, on 07/28/2008, -0/+4Keeping drugs illegal creates lots of job openings for teenagers in criminal markets and drug dealing is a gateway crime.
- mikestrawman, on 07/29/2008, -0/+3Well, that's like, your opinion man.
Here's mine: No one should be regulate what an adult willfully puts into his body. - Koush, on 07/29/2008, -1/+4Why does America declare war on every little thing it doesn't agree with?
Soon it will be...WAR ON EDUCATION! WAR ON TRANSPORT! WAR ON CLIMATE CHANGE!. - ieee, on 07/28/2008, -2/+5I want to end the war on drugs and the only drug I use is caffiene via a daily soda. I don't even drink.
I see making drugs illegal as generating more crime, not reducing it. It isn't stopping people who really want to do it either.
I want the war on drugs stopped so that the crime generated from illegal commerce can go away and so that the government can regulate drugs they way they regulate alcohol.
I don't care what adults do as long as I don't have to see it.
If the government makes some drugs legal those drugs will be out in the open where the government has a better shot at regulating its use, keeping drugs out of the hands of minors.
They can channel the millions of dollars from fighting it as a crime into public education campaigns and programs to encourage people to get off/stay away from the drugs - wishninja, on 07/28/2008, -0/+3steeper yet are the social costs. Also the fact that they are only catching a fraction of the drug use going on. I always wonder what the world will look like if they ever did win the drug war. It would be like these giant huge prisons where like 45 million people are in prison. Like 85% of some parts of the population would be in prison.
- fruscianteisgod, on 07/29/2008, -1/+3that 50 billion could go to better things, like the war in Iraq, or better yet buying 50 billion double cheeseburgers off the dollar menu, that would feed the world, 3 square meals for three days! am i a genius or what
- kemp34, on 07/28/2008, -0/+2I wholeheartedly agree.
- Lynx55, on 07/28/2008, -1/+3NO. Question asked and answered.
I have come to believe that after the drug infused protests of the 60's and 70's, that the "war on drugs" was in "their" estimation a plan that served two points. First to wage their war against what they saw as the youth and youthFUL of America - to keep them down, and two, a great way for them to appear "moral" and us, immoral. And it simply escalated to where it now costs them money. Don't ya love it when a plan comes together?
Then again...that's only me, could be way off base. - inactive, on 07/29/2008, -0/+2 You who are without sin cast the first stone...forget that one?
- jesuswuzanalien, on 07/30/2008, -0/+2Just imagine how much dank you could get for 50 billion dollars. You could blaze a dub to every person on earth.
- e1evene1even, on 07/30/2008, -0/+2Marijuana has to remain illegal in order to justify the prison-industrial-complex. If hundreds of thousands of people weren't arrested every year for smoking/growing a plant the rest of the bureaucracy would fall apart.
“They lie about marijuana. Tell you pot-smoking makes you unmotivated. Lie! When you're high, you can do everything you normally do, just as well. You just realize that it's not worth the ***** effort. There is a difference.”
“No, I don't do drugs anymore, either. But I'll tell you something about drugs. I used to do drugs, but I'll tell you something honestly about drugs, honestly, and I know it's not a very popular idea, you don't hear it very often anymore, but it is the truth: I had a great time doing drugs. Sorry. Never murdered anyone, never robbed anyone, never raped anyone, never beat anyone, never lost a job, a car, a house, a wife or kids, laughed my ass off, and went about my day.”
-Bill Hicks - ComeOutSwingin, on 07/29/2008, -0/+2mind bottling
- ComeOutSwingin, on 07/29/2008, -0/+2"The War on Drugs has one purpose, to increase the price of drugs.
The higher the price, the more money that is spent, and it helps our economy."
That makes no sense. Money is being taken OUT of the economy. Drugs do not create jobs or increase any taxable income. It leaves less money for people to spend on legal goods, thus reducing demand that creates jobs or products that could be taxed.
Please change your name. - inactive, on 07/29/2008, -0/+2some brilliant stoners for yall:
Carl Sagan
Henry Ford
George Soros
JFK
Honore de Balzac
Alexander Dumas
Victor Hugo
Charles Baudelaire
John McEnroe
Bob Dylan
The Beatles
George Carlin
Terence McKenna
Hunter S. Thompson
and many many more. They may not be "brilliant" to you, but they are no couch potatoes. - 1kewldude, on 07/29/2008, -0/+2Probably a Nickelback fan as well is my guess - that's how i know AmericaisDoomed is gay
- inactive, on 07/29/2008, -0/+2 I think the US needs to get it's head out of it's azz.
- ZurMacht, on 07/29/2008, -1/+2People will ALWAYS find a way to get high. Legalize it all.
- temporaryescape, on 07/29/2008, -0/+1Not for at least another 10 hours, that brownie was just too powerful. (Practical Use for Marijuana #267)
- relic180, on 07/28/2008, -0/+1That's some "friend" you got there. Maybe you shouldn't reveal any information about yourself to her, as it sounds like she'd gladly ***** you over for nothing more than a little personal gratification. In fact, maybe you should just stop having anything to do with her all together.
- Brew, on 07/29/2008, -0/+1The worst part is a large portion of those resources go to marijuana. Which love it or hate it is less potent then alcohol. I understand trying to get highly addictive drugs like heroin and cocaine off the streets, it makes sense, it ruins lives. The US needs to be smart about marijuana though, I am not saying we need to legalize, just maybe look the other way.
- JKAL, on 07/29/2008, -0/+1yup, economics 101
Supply and Demand, as long as there is a Demand, there will always be a supply, if it comes from Asia, down South, Internal (new synthetic drugs) this "war" will never be won until the demand is nullified, i.e. educate and help people to kick their habits and to teach them not to rely or have any reasons to start heavy drugs in the first place. - fruscianteisgod, on 07/29/2008, -0/+1not soon enough
- inactive, on 07/29/2008, -0/+1You're sligthly off base but still on there.
The war on drugs and the DEA started way before, but you are right in the sense that the war really escalated in the 70's and that was most probably caused by the movement of the late 60's. Carter even wanted to legalize weed at one point. Then the right got up on its high horse again and started ***** the ***** out of everybody, and the DEA got more money, more means, more rights, etc.
The father of the drug war: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_J._Anslinger - bjornski, on 07/31/2008, -0/+1Of YOUR god?
Isn't there only one?
Enough of your hate-speech, troll. Go back to the Phelps compound. - ComeOutSwingin, on 07/29/2008, -0/+1Lets make more things illegal. That way we could have more jobs.
Besides, prison guards, the military and law enforcement are all overworked. I don't think they would lose there jobs if drugs became legal. There are plenty of other illegal acts occurring that could occupy their time. Hell, with the money saved certain areas could be more properly funded to fight more pertinent crimes.
If corporations were taxed too much incentives are lost and other countries would look more appealing which would put even less money into the U.S. economy. - geneticlemon, on 07/29/2008, -1/+2Most drugs out there should be illegal ... crystal meth, cocaine, LSD -- that stuff will really mess a person up. Same could possibly be said for supposed "prescription" drugs as well, like vicodin, and lithium, but that's another story entirely. So when this article asks if all drugs should be made legal, no, probably not, but something like marijuana is something I could see being legalized and actually improving the "war on drugs." It would certainly decrease the demand for the drug, and give drug dealers less reason to be shooting each other over it.
Like all things, it's never black and white -- there's a gray area. - inactive, on 07/29/2008, -0/+1Think of all the drugs we could have bought for 50 Billion Dollars.
- inactive, on 07/29/2008, -0/+1nice one, you deserve a joint.
- relic180, on 07/29/2008, -0/+1No exaggeration, I could not love a human baby more then I love your comment.
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