The war on drugs continues unabated. As the New York Times recently reported:
Frustrated by government policy and inaction, a group of advocates for medical marijuana sued two federal health agencies on Wednesday over the assertion that smoking it has no medical benefit.
The group, Americans for Safe Access, a nonprofit organization based in Oakland, filed the lawsuit in Federal District Court, challenging the government’s position that marijuana, “has no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States.”
Although the lawsuit is well-intentioned, it’s clearly misdirected. Whether or not marijuana has a medical benefit is not the issue; whether or not the war on drugs should exist at all is the issue.
The Drug War knows no bounds. The Tenth Amendment clearly limits the federal government to powers that are specifically listed in the Constitution:
“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”
But yet, national laws, including those that are definitively prohibited by the Tenth Amendment, are continually held to be superior to state and local laws; all to the detriment of your personal liberty.
The fact is that you have a right to do what you want with your own body. Self-medication, for example, is a right protected by the Ninth Amendment. More importantly, though, there is nothing listed in the constitution giving the federal government the power to prohibit people from using drugs or medicine.
Therefore, the federal government has no right to violate local drug laws or force you to change your personal choice. Doing so is in direct violation of both the Ninth and Tenth Amendments. But, the Constitution be damned – that’s what the politicians are telling us!
In Murray Rothbard’s book, For a New Liberty, you can see the inherent problem with the drug war – it simply gives the federal government power over you in ways that no free person should want:
Propagandize against cigarettes [or marijuana] as much as you want, but leave the individual free to run his own life. Otherwise, we may as well outlaw all sorts of possible carcinogenic agents – including tight shoes, improperly fitting false teeth, excessive exposure to the sun, as well as excessive intake of ice cream, eggs, and butter which might lead to heart disease. And, if such prohibitions prove unenforceable, again the logic is to place people in cages so that they will receive the proper amount of sun, the correct diet, properly fitting shoes, and so on.
Once the government is given the power to limit the liberty of one group of people, it then has the power to limit the liberty of others – including you. If you approve of the government interfering with people’s rights to use whatever drugs they want, then you approve of politicians being able to decide what’s good for you as well. There is no stopping point once the government has the power to determine what is good or bad for you to put in your own body.
Thus, the drug war is based on a repugnant assertion: that you do not have ownership over your own body; that you don’t have the right to decide what you’ll do with your body, with your property and with your life. The position of the drug warriors is that you should be in jail if you decide to do something with your body that they don’t approve of.
This is an abomination of everything that America is supposed to stand for. As long as this country continues the drug war, you are not free. At their root, then, those that force the drug war on you are enemies to your freedom.
In this ongoing drug war, you are always treated as a suspect and your neighborhood is much less safe. You are searched at airports and your bank accounts are spied on. While drug users who are no physical threat to anyone but themselves are put in jail, the prisons become more and more overcrowded, resulting in the early release of violent criminals on a regular basis. If you love your freedom and you want your city to be safer, this psychotic war on drugs must be ended – now.
Understandably, many Americans are afraid that ending the drug war will result in countless drug addicts, including children. In reality, though, that’s just what we have now! On top of it, we generally don’t even consider the people who are addicted to federally-approved drugs to be drug addicts. What’s going to be different – can our nation’s addiction to drugs get any worse?
According to a 2004 CDC report, almost one-half of Americans use at least one prescription drug. It should be obvious, then, that the drug war has done nothing to reduce Americans’ addiction to drugs – it’s simply controlled which drugs people use, and who can make a profit from them. It’s doubtful that legalizing all drugs could make things any worse, but even if it does, then so be it.
People will always do plenty of things that are bad for them, and there’s no reason to put them in prison for it. Think about the things you do that are bad for your own health – should the government outlaw those too?
People eat too much fast food and they forget to floss every day. They watch too much TV and they don’t count their calories. And, guess what? People swallow, snort, shoot and smoke drugs that are both legal and illegal – and it’s not going to stop. A free society just wouldn’t force you, under the threat of punishment, to be “good†to yourself all the time. That was the job of your parents – unless, of course, you want the feds to be your new “daddy.â€
In all seriousness, though, if we are ever going to have a nation that respects the Bill of Rights, of which the Ninth and Tenth Amendments may be the most important, the DEA and the entire drug war must be eliminated.
If not, what’s going to be next? Orwellian telescreens in our homes and a state-mandated morning exercise routine? That would most assuredly keep the cost down on the coming national healthcare system.
Won’t that be nice?
The War on Amewrican Civil Liberties is just that A WAR!
Everyone should understand that the FRONT LINE of ANY WAR is fought in the courts. It is only losses or unwanted conditions on the judicial front that result in man to man combat on the fields of war….
The PEOPLE must wake up to this INSIDIOUS AGENDA that has culminated in these so called wars – WAR ON DRUGS and WAR ON TERROR – which BOTH undermine constitutional law, the power of the people, and self governance.
It is no coincidence that the government has violated Federal, National and Local Statute, code, and even local policy and procedure with regard to the wars on drugs and terror! Their key is to engage in DOUBLE SPEAK – where a popular individual SAYS what the people want to hear, but acts and does just the opposite of what is uttered – and the RESULT speaks to the intent and the means!
These “wars” are merely attempt to maintain the status quo, to flip the rules of democracy in order that a very small minority rules and governs the majority…. What’s more insidious is that this “model of democracy” is being pedaled around the world – and America is supposed to be a light of democracy and we are promoting totalitarianism and neo-colonialism globally – all in the name of the people…. WAKE UP AMERICA!! WAKE UP!!!
While THE PEOPLE Sleep (primarily as a result of pharmaceutical companies addicting many to AMBIEN, other “sleep” medications like it, and opiates of various sorts), unscrupulous individuals and their groups are wreaking havoc with civil linbeties, real property law, and invoking IMMINENT DOMAIN – all at the expense of THE PEOPLE.
The assault on education is happening contemporaneously…. We need a national movement to make people aware that it is a violation of law to act in a fashion that denies the rights of individuals and groups, and/or prevents the revelation of true liablity as a result of the denied right(s) and it is a CRIME to do so contemporaneously (in a mutually timely fashion(conspiracy) and with intent to deny their own liability and/or the rights of individuals or groups).
With that said, I think we have to take a second, third and even fourth look at this adminstration’s actions, their interest and actions with regard to corporate cronyism, and the historic actions of their party with regard to stymying the rights of certain individuals and groups over the past 60-70 years. What’s even MORE Startling is that the individuals themselves, Cheney, Negroponte, etc. recur and appear and re-appear on several scenes, over several decades – all in conspiracy and contemporaneous action.
I agree with most of the points raised here. I have personally gone further, even, and gone to war with the DEA, destroying a surveillance camera the DEA had infiltrated into my neighborhood, which was destroying peace, turning neighbor against neighbor, and my family into accomplices in the phony Drug War. For my troubles I was awarded the honor of a Felony, and I have been dogged ever since by a criminal record that will never go away. I was just a kid then, but I believe I saw then clearly what was wrong with the surveillance state, and the phony Drug War. I saw what had to be done, and I did it.
Subsequently, It has not been easy finding work, and post-Patriot Act, I suppose some folks don’t consider me much of a patriot. They couldn’t be more wrong.
Since then, I have discovered some facts that our government has tried to cover up, but cannot successfully hide:
All of the following statement can be easily verified by anyone with access to a computer, or a good library.
A: the US government has been directly involved in the Cocaine trade, namely, in aiding drug smugglers to generate revenue for the war against the Sandanistas in Nicaragua. The DEA at one time intercepted a CIA helicopter stuffed with bales of Cocaine entering the USA. The role of Col. Oliver North in all this business is also of interest. All these stories have been murdered, but they refuse to die;
B: the US government has set up Concentration Camps under the auspices of FEMA, for the purposes of interring US citizens; See: Operation Garden Plot; FEMA and Garden Plot are part of a conspiracy to eliminate Democracy altogether and revoke the constitution. See: Continuity of Government
C: the US government has a plan for fomenting disorder – in order to provoke the conditions that would call for implementation of Operation Garden Plot. See: Operation Trojan Horse;
D: that both political parties are FAKE, that elections are FAKE, and that we have already lost our liberties. See: Armed Madhouse, author Greg Palast. I also would encourage all true patriots to research the connections between the Council on Foreign Relations, the Trilateral Commission, and cross-reference membership with names of elected leaders and various other blowhards, liars, and swindlers.
IT IS ALREADY TOO LATE.
With trash like these folks constituting a Ruling Class, I am proud to be a Felon.
KEEP FIGHTING FOR YOUR RIGHTS.
The US government IS in the drug business big time and any legalization cuts into profits for the cronies that support their fascist regime. The so called war in Afganistan is about heroin and the Russians got their asses whipped there and so will America in their attempt to corner the Heroin market. The stock market here is afloat on drug cartel laundered billions. We produce nothing of value anymore but military equipment and the drug business so any attempt to legalize it is a waste of time and you would do better picking your nose. This country is such a contridiction to all it says it is. It is really just one big lie and it is high time folks get the message. Time for something to happen I would say.
I agree, people should be free to decide what they put in the body, but they must not be pressured by a dealer to buy or take drugs, because the infringes on freedom of choice too. It should also be a crime to distribute drugs to children freely, because they are not educated on how addiction can distroy a persons freedom to choose, and ruin their lifes. If an adult chooses to take drugs of their own free will and choice that is their right, but to every bad choice in life there are consequences. For example, if you over dose, or get very sick from taking drugs, or cancer from smoking cigarettes, or kill your liver from drinking to much alcohol, do not expect government to step in and pay your medical bills. Hospitals should not be required to pick up the tab, or even take you in as paticient because you blew your life saving on drugs. Do not expect the tax payer to pay your medical bills, because as a tax payer I refuse to help anyone who is stupid enough to take drugs; that is my freedom to choose how the govenment spends my hard earned money. If you freely choose to abuse the gift God has given you, then you freely choose to accept full responsibility for your actions, and for all I care you can rot in the streets until you die.
So if you go ahead and legalize illicit drugs how do you intend to deal with the increased crime levels. How do you intend to protect the citizens who live addiction free? Or do you honestlyexpect heroin and meth addicts to work a full time job to support their habits. Furthermore, who’s going to pay the medical costs when they develop the inevitable health problems or OD? The health insurance from their full time job? Taxpayers?
Viewing things in a completely secular manner, the rule is generally “do no harm to others”. If we operate under that tenet, then creating and enforcing any and all laws would be unnecessary. It has been shown that human nature precludes abiding by that tenet.
I reside in a small Pennsylvania city. I am told that 90% of all the murders and a large majority of all crime occuring in this city is related to illegal drugs. Either junkies stealing for the next fix or dealers killing competitors or deadbeats. Are we to wait until these crimes occur and deal with the crime or try to prevent them by taking the element leading to the crime off the street? Would legalizing currently illegal drugs prevent this crime? Are we willing to try that experiment?
I agree that the federal government should let this in the hands of the states. However, politicans are the same regardless of the level.
The ultimate goal would be to eliminate the demand for such drugs, thus reducing the profitability. But again we are dealing with the frail nature of human beings.
Okay, given you are equating use of drugs with freedom only indicates you dont have the foggiest clue about drugs. A drug addict is a slave to the people to got them they. To be a drug addict there must be a drug dealer and as the saying goes “the first ones free.” Have you ever been in the same room with a crack or crank addict ever seen the the black spotted x-rays of an Ecstacsy addict’s brain. You say this choice is voluntary but a choice made under fraudulent terms is not a free choice. If a potential heroin/ crack/crank/ user was fully aware of the hell they were in store for before making that inital choice then maybe you could make the case that they are getting only what they deserve but people are seduced into this initial decsion by images which portray a fantasy world. By the timethey relaizze this is the case their bodys nauteral chemistry is permanently damaged.
Now being a good libertarian I do buy a signficnat portion of your argument but please dont try and wrap this up into a black and white issue. Like there is only one obvious answer and people are morons for letting their governments do this to them. People pay more attention than you give them credit. The Drug War exists for more than just the pleasure of government profiteers and power mongers. Drugs are an awful, awful thing. Particularly the ones out now which are specifically engineered for their addictive qualities.
With regard to drug addicts only hurting themselves. That statement is so naive its painful. Drug addicts destroy not only their lives but also the lives of anyone who depends on or cares about them. How about the families of the 17,000 people who died at the hands of drunk drivers last year thats one every thirty minutes whcih im guessing is about how much time you spent thinking about this before putting finger to keyboard. You don’t even mention the black market which with its collateral and inherrant vioence invovling innocents is the heart and soul of the anti drug war movement. This is a big complicated problem and sophomoric diatribes like this only serve to fuel the flames animosity between both sides. Respecting the other side of the argument is the only way to find the common ground neccessary to make some progress. Come on do you really want to buy and eight ball at the gas station.
If narco-trafficking was eliminated it would seriously dent the CIA (which uses drug smuggling to raise cash off the books for its terrorist operations) and the money laundering operations of a few Wall Street darlings.
This could be done if drugs were legalized, packaged in “safe” doses and distributed by the gov’t with a heavy excise tax.
But it’s not going to happen because of the powerful interests aforementioned and because of the pharmaceutical industry, which no doubt understands that some drugs, like marijuana, would obviate the need for their petrochemical cocktails.
I agree. The true evil in this case is the government itself and its seemingly endless assault on personal freedom and choice. Especially when it comes to marijuana, which seems to be of benefit to many people for many reasons, be it helping pain, anxiety, depression, etc. That the government unleashes thugs and thieves upon people for doing with their own bodies as they see fit— goons who plunder (confiscate) whatever they can steal from citizens to fund their thuggish “war on drugs” is an evil, pure and simple; those acting upon these “laws” are no better than the Sheriff of Nottingham’s henchmen— stealing from the poor, often, and stealing more than property, but stealing rights and freedom also. As always, morality should superscede and trump legality, for, after all, the things that Hitler did in pursuing the “final solution” were legal. This is supposed to be a land of freedom, and yet these goons can ruin a person’s life and deprive people of their very liberty. This has been so wrong for so long, and our leaders are in bed with drug companies, just as they are in bed with oil companies and any huge corporation that feeds upon and victimizes individual citizens. It is simply wrong what goes on, and more than that, it is evil.
I completely agree. Totalitarianism is a few breaths away.
But also consider this. Let’s say the Drug war was successful and all the Drug criminals were completely eliminated. What would happen to the gargantuan law enforcement machine and industry which has been created to prosecute this war?
I’ll tell you what would happen…
That focus of that Goliath would be directed at something else, like you and me.
Use a little Imagination.
Do you think you could “get away” with 2mph over the limit? 3mph? Jail time for 10mph over?
DUI a first time capital offense? (It already is in some countries where they don’t have a drug “problem”).
Let’s make sure we use our heads before we redirect Mr. Policeman’s attention.
Putting in your .02 two cents worth may be just what we need
Go To: http://www.idealchoices.info
You may have the right to do what you want with your body. I actually agree with that, up to a point. If what you do with your life interfers with what I do with mine, then it isn’t a right anymore.
If your drug addicted kid runs a red light and kills one of mine, then it isn’t a right anymore.
If your kid is lucky enough to find a state run rehab that has space for him, and my insurance rates go up even more, then his rights are running into mine.
If he breaks into my house to rob me for money for drugs or steals my perscription drugs, or has ruined an apartment/house by making meth, there, that is not his right.
Then, the government has to get involved, and drug takers are almost begging them to do that. If you don’t want the government involved, don’t mess with my life too.
I have too many friends who are losing or lost their children to what looks like a drug epidemic.
i want to keep my freedom. don’t you ?
Ike warned of the military-industrial complex, but today the influence of that lobby pales in comparison to the penal-industrial complex (i.e., law enforcement, courts, correctional system, contractors, suppliers, etc.). It is estimated that as many as 80% of those in prison are there for drug-related crimes. And as long as the present laws exist, that population will continue to increase. Although drugs are a serious social problem, criminalization only serves to feed the criminal justice system with more BUSINESS. In the final analysis, it is all about money and when it comes to a stand-off between money and rights, guess what triumphs every time (hint: it’s not liberty).
When was the last time you saw someone become violent after they smoked a joint? When people get high off pot, they melt into the sofa and eat junk food. Drunks, on the other hand, are violent, volatile and down-right unpleasant to be around. And…when they drive drunk, the results are often deadly. Now…which of these people would you rather spend time with? Let’s be perfectly clear…I have absolutely nothing against drinking and having a good time, however, to put a non-violent pot smoker in prison for personal possession when there are rapists and muderers out and about is completely ridiculous! And when violent criminals are released from prison to make room for a pot smoker, that is just outright CRIMINAL!
Let’s compare pot to the, ever-offensive, cigarette for a moment. Pot is non-addictive so you don’t have to smoke it every five minutes to get your “fix.”
Also, people don’t smoke pot in public places so the smoke is not in anyone’s face…unlike cigarettes. Tobacco is harder on your lungs and body than pot but you don’t see the government putting cigarette smokers in jail. What’s wrong with this picture?
The question with Marijuanna is not just it’s affect on one person’s health. By allowing such drugs as leaves the consumer intoxicated, the public welfare is at risk. Regardless, the entire thing is almost impossible to conclude in debate if only because other intoxicants like alcohol are legal, even though they lead to intoxication, violence and deaths by drunk driving. The solution seems to be prohibition, but we’ve tried that and it just doesn’t work. So what to do with Marijuanna? Does it’s prohibition work? My personal point of view is that it doesn’t, because everyone does it anyway, and the only thing prohibition of marijuanna does is criminalize a popular commodity, forcing alot of people to be criminals by law, and then criminals in fact by adopting criminal behavior necessary to keep clear from the law.
As for the constitution, it seems perfectly legal to bar marijuanna. The federal government can do alot. It can promote the general welfare, and if marijuanna poses a threat to the general welfare, then the government has a legal green-light to bar it. given that most dealers of marijuanna deal more than jut marijuanna, or that they belong to gangs and such, then alot of us are funding their activities, and the government can use just that to throw anyone who consumes marijuanna in jail.
Correct, but this opinion does not go far enough, especially on the Constitution. We hold ourselves to be the world’s showcase of freedom yet we are the most incarcerated country on earth. We hold about 25% of the world’s prisoners. Communist Red China has a smaller prison population and 4 times our free population. The Preamble to our Constitution sets forth the “legislative intent.” The “promote the general welfare” phrase could have been written “do the pubilc good,” but the founding farthers were too intellegent to invoke the quasi biblical good/bad duality. This means public policy under our Constitution must survive a harm/benifit analisys. To benifit “We the People,” not the Vietnamese nor the Iraqis. Our congress recently phrased the Iraq war as “not in our best interest.” That makes it, the Vietnam war and the drug war unconstitutional.
The 13th Amendment makes it clear that no one can own a human. That ownership of one’s own self passes to the individual, not the government or society.
This article draws analogies to other forms of physical consumption. Drug use, to me, is a recreation with calculated risks. One week in February, last, 6 people died on mountain slopes in 3 states. No one died of a heroin overdose. The statistics would support that giving a child a snowmobile or skiis are parental child abuse as opposed to giving him a clean syringe.
The history of drug use in this country makes it clear that all the negative social impacts are caused by the prohibition and not the drugs. This includes gangs, crime, overdose deaths, inveiglment of children, etc. The Pure Food and Drug act of 1906 made the patent medicine industry list the ingredients. Many had opium, heroin or cocaine. People stopped using them and the various brands went out of business as a result. These are the most addictive substances. Pervasive addiction has always been a popular fear of legalization. It WAS legal in 1906. Does this sound like we are a country of addicts, who, once hooked, cannot go cold turkey? The federal government created the Harrison Act, a tax and license law, specifically because the government felt, as this article does, that it couldn’t invade individual privacy under the Constitution. There was no federal criminal code against drugs until the Nixon administration.
Perhaps the worst of them all was Reagan who in 1984 proclaimed to the whole world we will “wipe out drugs in America.” What was HE using for a crystal ball? The same one Bush is using on Iraq? These idiots actually think this problem can be resolved with a wave of a legislative magic wand?
There are three classes of generic crimes. At the top we have violence. In the middle we have property offenses. At the bottom we have morals offenses. Now, what are drugs if not violence or theft? We believe in Lex Talionas or the eye for an eye doctrine, yet the criminal justice system does things to drug offenders that would be class I felonies if not sanctioned by law.
We once regarded gambling as a morals offense. If you ask the average person about concerns of adult behavior, he will tell you he doesn’t want his kids exposed or his neighborhood impacted. This is a licensing and zoning issue, not a criminal issue. Does anyone really care that prostitution is legal in Nevada unless they live there?
This has never been a health, safety or welfare concern. If it were, drugs would all be legalized, recognized as adult vices, and regulated accordingly. This has always been a cultural schism, not unlike the homosexual issue, except there it requires the consent of two, and with drugs only one.
Drugs will not be legalized because those in power cannot reverse a failed policy without looking like the criminals they are. Popular notions are not always correct. My thing is that no matter how deep the dungeon I am burried in, I must still breathe from the same pool of air as the vicious scum who would put a living, breathing human being in such a place for assuming autonomy over his own blood chemistry.
Pay attention to what is happening to the rights of “sex offenders”. Of course, some “sex offenders” are legitimately dangerous and most are not. But look what is happening to ALL of them. 551,000 registered sex offenders nationwide as of 2006 (this figure is created by adding the totals to every states published registry). This number will top one million by 2015 at the current pace.
Why is this important? Because what starts with one group becomes acceptable to ALL groups. After all, aren’t multiple DUI offenders and murderers also a danger to society? There are no registries for them.
*Probations and paroles can be extended beyond the judges original sentence.
*Registration and limitations on registrants constantly increasing, even well after any sentence has been issued. Violations of the increasingly numerous conditions is a new crime altogether.
*Monitoring long after the subject is off probation/parole.
*A national database that does NOT advise you that what is illegal in one state might not be illegal in the next (for the borderline cases).
Pay attention to this! You are NEXT!
Since the average teenager in the US has sex for the first time at 15-16 years old, that would mean in most states that their partners (even same age) are violating SOME law regarding sex offenses.
Now in IL there are new databases authorized for “Violence against Youth” and for “methamphetamine manufacturers”. What is next?
YOU ARE!
Clearer thinking than most such articles, however, it falls just a bit short: language not withstanding, and founding fathers intentions not withstanding, there are exactly zero countries in the world where the people are actually citizens and not subjects (the real reason for the revolution so long ago). ZERO. As long as governments are not FORCED to acknowledge this (yes with force), they never will and no one will be free. Its not about rights written down somewhere but never honored, it’s about rights that are so basic they don’t need to be recorded. Writing them down LIMITS your rights to those that are enumerated. Who sez! Get the damn attorneys out of your heads and realize that you are the owner of the country if you only make it so.
The biggest friend of the war on drugs are the pushers, got to keep itm illegal and profitable,,,how else you goning to make those billions…hmmmmmmmm guess I forgot about oil or banking
I think you are right a person should have the right to do what ever to his own body, as long as he is in a safe place. The streets and highways are not a safe place, Public shopping malls and other public places are not a safe place. So if a person wants to stay in his own home and never go any place, then that is a safe place. The laws should apply this thought in this way if a person on drugs, perscription or what is illegal no difference, causes harm to or kills someone else or damanage to property of others then they should be put to death. This will relieve overcrowded prisons and stop early release programs. It will also give the drug users a real incentive to stay home when using drugs and make the public safe at the same time. This would be the only way in which use of illegal drugs should be embraced in this country because if someone on drugs illegal or illegal causes harm of any kind to one of my family member I want his or her head on a platter.
Keep talking, but don’t forget to act! Like I said, IT IS ALREADY TOO LATE.
The argument is not about legalizing drugs, it is about removing Criminals from Public Office. It is about abolishing illegal laws, and unconstitutional organizations, such as: DEA, FEMA, NSA, Delta Force, etc. Our Federal Government has metastatized out of control. We the People are no longer represented in any meaningful way. There is no communication between the governed and the Governers, i.e. the Ruling Class. We have already lost our rights of Free Speech and Assembly. I know, I was there in New York City, when a political rally against the Fascist policies of the Bush Administration was turned into a public demonstration of Operation Trojan Horse and REX 84. If you don’t know what these are, look it up. It is a matter of life and death for me and you. You need to know how our Fascist government intends to deprive you of Life, Liberty, and Happiness.
Me, I’m studying on how to make gunpowder out of wood ashes and urine, and how to survive in the woods. I will not be rounded up and loaded on some damned cattle car. I will not go to the Concentration Camp! Anyone tries to take me will pay with their life!
Bravo!!! Loved this article.
Here’s the deal with freedom: while I do believe that everyone should have the right to do just about *anything* they want to their body (it is yours after all and the ultimate source of your freedom), because we are social beings that live in societies (go look that word up since it has a lot of connotative meanings) you are responsible for your behavior (and when I say “responsible”, I mean both in what you do that affects other people physically and how you are perceived).
So… now we reach that magical point where the lightbulb clicks on and anyone with even the most modest amount of reasoning skill will come the the realization that drugs do indeed affect behavior… your behavior… which you are responsible for… and that can mean everything from “ewww… he’s drunk” (perception) to “he fractured my skull and took my money so he could get his next hit” (physical reality).
Now… with that out of the way, there are some things that you need to realize about the drug war, property confiscation laws in America and how local law enforcement is funded: namely, the drug war is a self-funding exercise (and until that fact changes, the War on Drugs(tm) will continue indefinitely, no matter what sniveling, whiny citizens have to say about it). A latent side effect of this fact is that the drug war is the primary mechanism by which the state is able to exercise credibility (and you probably need to look up the definition of “credibility”… I’m using it context that the state department uses it) within it’s own borders and upon it’s own people. The War on Drugs(tm) is the new communism that dovetails ever so nicely with The Terrorists (The Long War). It is the trump card that the state can pull out almost at will against anybody it feels it needs to.
If you can’t acquiesce this reality, you will never be able to come to the conclusion required to change the current reality: politicians and governments (local, state, federal) need to be allowed as few powers and authority as possible. I’m not a complete anarchist or libratarian… I know that there needs to be structure… building, health and safety codes, but generally speaking, I believe a society that leaves the individual alone to do what they want is the society that works the best.
Near term proposals to “change things” include: liberalization of possession for everything non-physically addictive, enhanced punishment for crimes committed when evidence of physically addictive drug use can be found (want to do the drug of your choice?, don’t do crime or expect to be punished extra harshly) and keep property confiscation laws intact (because this is the *real* problem and you’re not going to fix it over night).
I LOVE THIS ARTICLE THANK SO THAT I CAN READ IT…
The drug war is a violation of the 13th amendment plain and simple. Those that support the drug war are guilty of treason and should be executed. Nazi Fascist Infidels.