If you are concerned at all about liberty, the economy, the Constitution and the power of the Federal Government – you cannot ignore our longest and most costly war – the War on Drugs.
It’s now 35 years after Dick Nixon started this “war” - and we now have over 1 million – yes, 1 MILLION – non-violent people sitting behind bars. People who are in jail not for harming other people, but for making a personal choice that the politicians in government don’t want them to make.
And you – yes, you – are paying for their room and board.
How much more can we accept invasions of our privacy, monitoring of our bank accounts, the shackling and imprisoning of everyday people? How much more can we spend? How much more can this country endure?
These are some of the questions that Texas filmmaker Kevin Booth has set out to answer in his explosive new documentary, American Drug War:
Three and a half years in the making the film follows gang members, former DEA agents, CIA officers, narcotics officers, judges, politicians, prisoners and celebrities. Most notably the film befriends Freeway Ricky Ross; the man many accuse for starting the Crack epidemic, who after being arrested realized his cocaine source was working for the CIA.
American Drug War “the last white hope” shows how money, power and greed have corrupted not just dope fiends but an entire government. More importantly, it shows what can be done about it. This is not some ‘pro-drug’ stoner film, but a collection of expert testimonials from the ground troops on the front lines of the drug war, the ones who are fighting it and the ones who are living it.
According to Booth, “This is not some ‘pro-drug’ stoner film, but a collection of expert testimonials from the ground troops on the front lines of the drug war, the ones who are fighting it and the ones who are living it.”
Keep in mind that every single action of the DEA (and the entire federal government) in support of the federal war on drugs is a direct violation of the Constitution.
The Constitution was written under a principle called “positive grant.” This means that the federal government is allowed to exercise only those powers which are specifically given to it in the Constitution.
If the power is positively listed, then the feds are granted the authority to do it.
Pretty easy, right?
Not in practice, and the founders knew how tyrants would want to abuse their power. They felt that limiting the government through positive grant was so important that they codified this principle in law as the 10th Amendment:
“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.”
A simple reading of the Constitution would make it quite clear that there’s nothing that empowers the federal government to engage in the criminalization of drugs – in fact, it says nothing about drugs at all.
In fact, the only crimes that are considered federal crimes by the Constitution are – treason, piracy, and counterfeiting. Nothing more. Nothing less.
Thus, the government has gone WAY outside their purview of power to engage in this increasingly costly and destructive war – this insanity needs to end.
It’s my hope that “American Drug War” will bring this to light to at least a few more people.
It’s definitely on my “must-see” list as soon as it’s released.