"Prohibition creates crime and violence in our society that need not exist, except for the policy of prohibition itself. We tried this with alcohol, and we had gangsters, just like Mexico does. And when we replaced Prohibition with a system of regulation and control, we got rid of the gangsters. You don't see Coors and Budweiser doing drive-by shootings or planting car bombs to increase their market share."
This policy has been called the second worse mistake in US history (behind slavery) by a notable conservative Republican judge. I wonder when people will start listening. http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/02/01/2044289/end-this-absurd-war.html#ixzz1CoDMnwnF
Why is the drug war still going on? Why are we still paying for a 'war' that has not accomplished much? Often, we blame it on the media and how they report stories, turning some into moral panics that then cause radical political action to come about. I think in this case however, there should be some blame on the American people. Yes, we see the news and we tend to believe what we see, because we have been raised to believe it. And in this particular instance, we have seen/heard nothing but good things about the drug war and how much it helps. But as this article pointed out, this makes the second time in our history that we have tried Prohibition and experience shows us that it will fail. So why, even though we see the news and all the good about the drug way, do we still believe it is helping? Americans, for the most part, are fairly intelligent and we are capable of learning from our mistakes, so why not this one?
ReplyDeleteSeeing articles like this infuriate me because we are still supporting this, but they are also helpful because maybe, if we try hard enough, we can make everyday citizens and those in power see the waste of money and time that is being put into this effort
A recent Gallup poll showed that the majority of police chiefs in the United States cited "reducing drug abuse" as their number one priority for combating crime. This is a far cry from eliminating drugs altogether. Much of the crime that takes place today, especially homicides, are not committed by rational beings, but often in desperate attempts to get drugs or as a result of their addictions. Therefore, discriminatory mandatory guidelines and lengthy prison sentences are not the answer to our drug problem; instead, our law enforcement should focus on attacking the root of the problem. Instead, they are forced to merely arrest offenders, clogging up our prison system; although more arrests may quell the concerns of American citizens, it is merely a band-aid solution.
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