Time to end the War on Drugs?...yep,another article on the subject

[Oldenuff]

But this one is well thought out (as most are)....but I particularly liked the comment:

"His argument in favor of legalization is based on the concept of a truly free society, about who gets to decide what you can and cannot do as a free person. “The question of who gets to make decisions about the disposition of certain property is central to understanding freedom,” he explains. “Who gets to decide what activities are too dangerous for you? Should I get to decide what activities are too dangerous for you? What about your neighbor? Or the majority? Or the president? Or Congress? Or some judge? In a free society, the owner of the property gets to decide how the property is used. Because you own your body, I assert that you should decide how your body is used or abused.”

This is a cached version of the article,as I have been unable to access the articles website (maybe because I am in Asia?)..anyway,I apologize for the links length..

http://74.125.47.132/search?q=cache:wmolZ1zcdx8J:chattanoogapulse.com/newsfeatures/news-feature/cover-story-is-it-time-to-end-the-war-on-drugs/+http://chattanoogapulse.com/newsfeatures/news-feature/cover-story-is-it-time-to-end-the-war-on-drugs/&c


Cover Story: Is It Time To End The War On Drugs?
Written by Gary Poole
June 17, 2009 – 1:20 pm

It was a typical sunny day in Acapulco, Mexico. The type of day that draws millions of tourists every year to one of Mexico’s most famed vacation destinations. The beaches, the clubs, the fantastic resorts have for years been a major draw for those looking to get away from the stress of modern life.

What these visitors did not expect was a four-hour gun battle between the Mexican military and heavily armed members of the Beltrán Leyva drug cartel, resulting in the death of 13 drug traffickers, two soldiers, and an innocent father and son caught up in the crossfire.

Welcome to the War on Drugs, 2009 edition.

As the violence in Mexico escalates to frightening levels, fueled mainly by what Secretary of State Hillary Clinton terms America’s “insatiable” appetite for illicit drugs, many in government, law enforcement, academia and the business world have renewed the call for a long hard look at alternatives to what has become one of government policy’s largest failures since Prohibition ended in 1933.

When President Nixon announced the beginning of the “War on Drugs” in 1971, the stated goal was to reduce illegal drug trade and to diminish demand for substances deemed immoral, harmful, dangerous, or undesirable. During the Nixon era, the goal was not to incarcerate and punish drug users, but to stop the drug trade and begin programs to help Americans reduce their dependence on narcotics. It was the only time that more funding went towards treatment than law enforcement.

But like many government programs that start with the best of intentions, the war became distorted by those seeking political gain through appearing “tough on crime”, and the anti-drug warriors turned their attention inwards. The end result has been the highest percentage of incarcerated Americans of any time in our history. Over 2.2 million people are behind bars, a quadrupling of our prison population, with over 37 million arrests since 1971 on non-violent drug charges. Worse yet, in the past three decades, the number of deaths related to drug overdoses has risen more than 540 percent.

The Federal Government’s Household Survey on Drug Abuse, conducted annually, is the most commonly cited set of statistics on the prevalence of drug use. According to the latest surveys, about 12.7 million people have used some illegal drug in the last month, and perhaps 30 to 40 million have used some illegal drug within the last year. Of the 12.7 million who used illegal drugs in the last month, about 10 million are presumed to be casual drug users, and about 2.7 million are addicts.

“The stated goals of current U.S. drug policy—reducing crime, drug addiction, and juvenile drug use—have not been achieved, even after nearly four decades,” claims Jack A. Cole, Executive Director of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP). “Despite all the lives we have destroyed and all the money so ill spent, today illicit drugs are cheaper, more potent, and far easier to get than they were at the beginning of the war on drugs. We believe that to save lives and lower the rates of disease, crime and addiction as well as to conserve tax dollars, we must end drug prohibition.”


Rest of article at above link.