Mint Press News – by Kit O’Connell
WASHINGTON — The “war on drugs” costs Americans a staggering amount of money every year that it persists. Despite the billions they receive, federal, state and local law enforcement have a proven inability to stem the flow of drugs on the nation’s streets.
Since Richard Nixon declared a war on drugs in June 1971, the cost of that “war” had soared to over $1 trillionby 2010. Over $51 billion is spent annually to fight the drug war in the United States, according to Drug Policy Alliance, a nonprofit dedicated to promoting more humane drug policies.
It’s also taken a massive toll on human lives. In 2013, at least 2.2 million people were incarcerated in the U.S., with some estimates reaching 2.4 million, making the U.S. home to the world’s largest prison population. A vast number of those prisoners are victims of the war on drugs, reported Alejandro Crawford in U.S. News and World Report in March:
“Still, we should take comfort in the fact that these are mostly violent criminals and hardened drug kingpins, right? Not so. About half the inmates in the federal prison system are there for nonviolent drug crime – up from 16 percent in 1970 – and the leading drug involved is marijuana. Of course, none of this seems to have made marijuana remotely difficult to procure for those who want it.”
Although four states and Washington, D.C., have legalized marijuana, and 23 states allow at least limited use of medical marijuana or cannabidiol (CBD) oil, someone is arrested about once every minute for marijuana possession in the U.S., according to the Washington Post’s Christopher Ingraham:
“In 2014, at least 620,000 people were arrested for simple pot possession — that’s 1,700 people per day, or more than 1 per minute. And that number is an undercount, because a handful of states either don’t report arrest numbers to the FBI, or do so only on a limited basis.”
Source: Marijuana.com
Ingraham noted that even as some marijuana laws grew less restrictive and some states legalized recreational use, arrests crept up slightly in 2014 as other jurisdictions stepped up enforcement, reflecting an overall trend toward increased focus on cannabis:
“Nationwide, more than 1 in 20 arrests were for simple marijuana possession. Twenty years ago, near the dawn of the drug war, fewer than 2 percent of arrests were for pot possession.”
Drug prohibition is extremely profitable for police and the prison-industrial complex. Yet Crawford pointed out that while policies of prohibition have already failed society twice in the U.S., legalization offers some proven benefits, including reducing power and profits for organized crime:
“While states across our land continue to imprison nonviolent users and low-level growers and dealers, such cartels depend for a non-trivial portion of their revenues on the false premium supplied by prohibition. Since prohibition has been repealed in key states, the prison population appears finally to have begun to decline, and cartels face falling prices for marijuana.”
“Drug prohibition is extremely profitable for police and the prison-industrial complex.”
As it was designed to do.
“Yet Crawford pointed out that while policies of prohibition have already failed society twice in the U.S.,…”
Again, as it was DESIGNED TO DO. It can only be seen as a failure from the public’s point of view. It’s been a smashing success for the so-called ‘government’s’ agenda, however.
The other obvious reason for drug prohibition is so Big Pharma can corner the market on ‘legal’ drugs, and continue to perpetuate the depopulation agenda with their poisons.
“Drug prohibition is extremely profitable for police and the prison-industrial complex.”
Don’t forget ‘normal’ employers and the mandatory piss test after accidents at work, where the/an disabled employee can be dissed next to the road because of some trace amounts found during the test but are the factual residual traces from a party the week before. Now it is not that the accidents are the result of working the slaves to death in workdays of 12 hours + mandatory overtime… Nono, it is the Drug that makes them lazy that gets them hurt.
“Drug prohibition is extremely profitable for police and the prison-industrial complex.”
Also extremely profitable for the drug ‘diversion’ centers & rehabs.
Most of which are owned by judges & lawyers.
Even if the “War on Drugs” were an unqualified success, it should still be ended. No mortal man has the right to dictate to someone else what he may do with his own health. If a drug ends up making someone do something crazy or dangerous to others, then punish the offender for the actual harm he did, NOT for the drug use. Preemptive laws are almost always tyrannical.
Of course, the “War on Drugs” has been every bit as spectacular a failure as alcohol prohibition was, and probably more so. The more government cracks down on drug sales, the more profits dealers make. And of course the points about the pigs and the private prison industry are all right on the mark. The only people who DON’T benefit from the “War on Drugs” are the general public.
“No mortal man has the right to dictate to someone else what he may do with his own health.”
EXACTLY, BMF!
Denial of sovereignty.
“Of course, the “War on Drugs” has been every bit as spectacular a failure as alcohol prohibition was”
Well, to show how easy changing the Constitution and Bill of Rights really was.
For Dragon Puff, they just ‘regulated’ the Americans right to pursuit happiness away, and railroaded them straight into prison.