“The United States’ war on drugs has failed and will continue to do so as long as it emphasizes law enforcement and neglects the problem of consumption, a Washington think tank says in a report co-chaired by a former president of Mexico,” according to the L.A. Times.
You think? The U.S. is ruining Mexico. Yet we have the temerity to complain about Mexican immigrants. Their country is being wrecked by the War on Drugs. Can you blame them for leaving? And the salt to the wound is that American drug users are the problem.
Too many Americans use drugs – and we cannot put them all in jail. So what to do? How about legalizing some of these drugs? Don’t get me wrong, I am no fan of illegal drugs. However something has to be done. Just this week a study found that the County of Orange needs to hire 500 more deputies for the County jails. And we need to build more jails. I wonder how much of that is due to the War on Drugs?
If marijuana were legalized it would STILL be illegal to use it if you were a minor, or if you were working, or driving. Recreational use would be allowed on your own time. But employers would still be able to fire you for having it in your system during work hours.
Legalized marijuana would be very different from the junk sold on the streets. It would be a controlled substance. Quality assurance would result in a better grade of marijuana that would be safer. There are over 200 compounds in regular marijuana and filter are not used. Thus a legal product, with filters, would be safer. But understand this – we would also have to make sure that young people understand the dangers of marijuana.
Scientists have known for years that marijuana use can result in psychosis, including manic depression and schizophrenia, in some people. Yet you never see any commercials about this on T.V. If this product were to be legalized, I would expect the companies selling it to advertise its downside too, just as our tobacco companies do with regard to their products.
The vaunted “just say no” campaign and “red ribbon week” programs do not work. They never have. So we need to take a look at those programs and either fix them or supplant them with something else.
What we should not do is continue waging a losing War on Drugs. We are destabilizing Mexico and other Latin American countries in the process. All of us here in the U.S. have their blood on our hands. The Bush administration has had many failures, but this one is glaring and it is, unlike the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts, right here in our hemisphere.
The ball will soon be in President Elect Barack Obama’s hands. I can only hope he will do a better job than the lame President George W. Bush. In fact, eight years of Bush has likely inspired quite a few folks to get on drugs!
Yea i have an idea…hmmm stop wasting tax money on a pointless “war on drugs”….legalize them…sure you may say “well we cant have junkies roaming the streets right? Wrong the junkies already do and will continue to good luck locking them up…if you just legalize them this is the good that will come…1 Tax revenue….2.Drug dealers will be forced to be off the streets…3.Violence will go down because there wont be war between drug territory….4. drugs wont have to be cut with a bunch of crap when it is manufactured professionally thus making them safer in general…..stop being stupid america open your eyes this drug war is costing and killing all of us….