Is it time to end the war on Drugs?

[Chomsky]

Re: Is it time to end the war on Drugs?

[photon555]

Re: Is it time to end the war on Drugs?

How can we stop the War on Drugs? Between the Security Industry, including private prisons, parole enforcement, and laundering of Cartel profits by the big banks, it's probably 5% of the total economy!
I don't advocate drug use; except the ones I like, but caging people for smoking dried flowers is insane. And even if someone uses something much worse, the efforts of the state should be confined to reducing the harm to society. It's society's role to control self harmful behavior by societal persuasion.
Freedom includes the freedom to mess up, to hurt yourself, and even to eventually destroy yourself. People have to be free to fail, if they are going to be free to succeed.

[lakedaemonian]

Re: Is it time to end the war on Drugs?

Shades of Depression era Prohibition?

Turn a cost centre(law enforcement, judicial system, prison system) into a revenue stream(tax) during times of sustained financial chaos.

But in terms of crime reduction legalizing drugs will not end or dramatically reduce crime.

Organized crime didn't go away when alcohol was legalized. They just shifted to new revenue streams.

The Mexican cartels will not disappear if/when drugs are legalized. Drugs are just a revenue stream for an illegal network. The illegal networks will simply shift to new sources of revenue.

[jk]

Re: Is it time to end the war on Drugs?

Shades of Depression era Prohibition?

Turn a cost centre(law enforcement, judicial system, prison system) into a revenue stream(tax) during times of sustained financial chaos.

But in terms of crime reduction legalizing drugs will not end or dramatically reduce crime.

Organized crime didn't go away when alcohol was legalized. They just shifted to new revenue streams.

The Mexican cartels will not disappear if/when drugs are legalized. Drugs are just a revenue stream for an illegal network. The illegal networks will simply shift to new sources of revenue.

to say that there are other revenue streams doesn't belie the importance of the revenue from drugs. yes, there is still organized crime. but a huge source of revenue, and of violence, was ended with the repeal of prohibition. there is room between all and nothing.

[lakedaemonian]

Re: Is it time to end the war on Drugs?

to say that there are other revenue streams doesn't belie the importance of the revenue from drugs. yes, there is still organized crime. but a huge source of revenue, and of violence, was ended with the repeal of prohibition. there is room between all and nothing.

Don't me wrong.

i support ending the war on drugs and decriminalisation of drugs.

But organized crime networks today are far more sophisticated and transnational in nature than during Prohibition.

We think of Mexican cartels as drug cartels.

They are illegal/illicit/dark networks that just happen to derive income from illegal drugs.

They will not evaporate if/when drugs are decriminalized.

They will find new revenue streams to replace their lost income the same way organized crime in the US shifted to new income streams post Prohibition.

The networks will not disappear. They are far too well established.

They will simply adapt.

Hopefully the cost turned into revenue can be used to attrit the illicit networks that formerly sold drugs.

[thriftyandboringinohio]

Re: Is it time to end the war on Drugs?

... organized crime networks today are far more sophisticated and transnational in nature than during Prohibition.....

Yes, they are indeed.
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[shiny!]

Re: Is it time to end the war on Drugs?

I favor ending the War on Drugs because of the toll it's taken on American civil liberties. It's greatest "success" has been to grow law enforcement and prisons. It turned local police forces from a mindset of "Protect and Serve" to a militarized mindset of treating citizens as enemies to be suppressed. If the gov't really wanted to fight drugs it would devote more money to therapy and rehab and less to militarizing our police forces. It would take the violent crime out of the equation by making safe, controlled drugs available by prescription to addicts, and help them kick the habit by making therapy and treatment widely available.

I was all for Ross Perot when he ran for president many years ago until he said he wanted house-to-house searches for illegal drugs. Someone asked him if he realized that that was unconstitutional. His reply (paraphrased) was:

"People have to remember that the War on Drugs is a war, and during war people must be willing to give up their civil liberties."

That, IMO, has been the real, underlying reason for the War on Drugs. It gave government a justification to create a police state. The vast majority of gun violence is tied to this war. The government responded with gun control laws that only restrict the people who obey them, namely law-abiding citizens.

Now through the Patriot Act, NDAA and the Dept. of Homeland Security, the "War on Terror" is solidifying and putting the finishing touches on our police state.

[lakedaemonian]

Re: Is it time to end the war on Drugs?

Yes, they are indeed.
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Haha.

THAT''s a different discussion.

Where illicit/illegal networks evolve towards legitimacy.

Evolve or die.

Some obviously evolved.

A bit like Gangs of New York and the interplay between the street gangs and the political ward party machine writ large for the 21st century.