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The Never-Ending War on Drugs

By Jeralyn, Section Crime Policy
Posted on Fri Aug 26, 2005 at 07:53:21 PM EST
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The Wall St. Journal today has an article about the mis-direction of the supply-side oriented war on drugs.

...don't be confused by the facts. There's a whole army of Washington bureaucrats paid to fight America's drug habit by cutting off supply. A cynic might even suggest that career drug warriors have an incentive to see the "war" go on forever. One glance around this town and you can see that, barring a change in policy, it probably will.

Reporting from Guatemala, it seems things have never been better for sellers:

Here profitable consequences of the "drug war" are prominently displayed; it's just that they're not the ones that Richard Nixon had in mind when he declared the "war" more than 30 years ago.

A fertile mix of incentives -- high demand for cocaine "up north," the prohibition against buying and using and U.S. insistence on interdiction -- has pushed lucrative trafficking operations off traditional routes and onto paths that pass through places like this. Locals here say that everybody and his uncle is getting into "transporting" and they're all getting rich.

The War on Drugs has a current pricetag of $40 billion a year.

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    • The Never-Ending War on Drugs | 12 comments (12 topical)
    Re: The Never-Ending War on Drugs (none / 0) (#1)
    by scarshapedstar on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:48 PM EST
    Yep. And guess what? I could go buy some pot right now, if I had the money. $40 billion well spent, yes sir. Give one percent of that to "welfare queens" and it's communism. Blow it on the prison-industrial complex and the valuable goal of not doing a damn thing (except furthering the goals of early 20th-century racists, another lofty pursuit) and the conservatives will bark like seals.

    Re: The Never-Ending War on Drugs (none / 0) (#2)
    by squeaky on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:48 PM EST
    Can't wait to see the The Wall St. Journal's article about the mis-direction of the supply-side oriented war on terror.

    Re: The Never-Ending War on Drugs (none / 0) (#3)
    by cpinva on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:48 PM EST
    and who complained that "supply-side economics" didn't work? gee scar, i thought they barked like seals if you threw them red meat? lol

    Re: The Never-Ending War on Drugs (none / 0) (#4)
    by Johnny on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:49 PM EST
    I guess I never understood why wrong wingers hated drugs so much... The best argument I have ever received from a wrong winger can be summarized like this: "it is illegal, too bad for the users." well, we all know it is illegal. What we all try to wrap our minds around is why it is illegal?

    Re: The Never-Ending War on Drugs (none / 0) (#5)
    by DawesFred60 on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:49 PM EST
    its now called the war on us all. so has the non war worked?..no, has it stopped drugs..no, have some made money yes, are millions still in prison, yes, will it end, no, not until the usa ends and that is what many want the death of this nation.

    Re: The Never-Ending War on Drugs (none / 0) (#6)
    by cpinva on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:49 PM EST
    well, we all know it is illegal. What we all try to wrap our minds around is why it is illegal?
    because to make it legal would be to admit that all those arrested before had been arrested in vain. we cannot let their sacrifice be for naught. that, and the $40 billion a year spent on the criminal justice industry. if pot were made legal, what reason would the DEA have for existing?

    Re: The Never-Ending War on Drugs (none / 0) (#7)
    by SeeEmDee on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:49 PM EST
    It's interesting, in the wake of the Raich/Monson decision, that major members of the MSM are 'discovering' what drug law reformers have been saying for decades. We can soon expect the WSJ pontificating in clarion tones that water is wet, knives are sharp, and farts smell bad. Look, the narcos have been practising 'raw capitalism' for as long as the trade has been illegal. They will continue to do so for as long as it remains illegal. In essence, the drug trade is operating precisely in accordance with what many of the readers of the WSJ, aspiring entrepeneurs themselves, espouse as their credo. Yet...this is news to them?

    Re: The Never-Ending War on Drugs (none / 0) (#8)
    by kipling on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:49 PM EST
    This is just so stupid and typical of liberal whiners! I mean, wanting a never-ending "war on drugs" would be like wanting a never-ending "war on something or other till the end of time" which is clearly ridiculous! I mean, look what happened when the war on communism ended, right? I mean, nothing else took its place, right? Which would be the logical... oh, wait, there's the GWOT... oh, but that's different cuz....9-11 changed everything, and... hey! You're Unamerican! Get thee to Guantanamo (do not pass GO, do not collect a lawyer, leave your rights at the door)!

    Re: The Never-Ending War on Drugs (none / 0) (#9)
    by DawesFred60 on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:49 PM EST
    Love you Kipling. justice, means just-us, and the credo of our great empire is no right's for all. oh by the way capitalism will sell the rope that hangs it, meaning all of us on earth. Red China knows this all to well. this drug war will end with the death of the usa and our own government is killing it right now.

    Re: The Never-Ending War on Drugs (none / 0) (#10)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:49 PM EST
    I think capitalism thrives as long as people have faith in the almighty dollar which connects to so many, many other issues. Legal drugs would disturb $ income for both sides which is why I don't think you'll ever see legal drugs. They'd have to empty 40% of the prisons. Live human tissue is worth, or more accurately, costs, about $30,000.00\yr.. Our money....

    Re: The Never-Ending War on Drugs (none / 0) (#11)
    by squeaky on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:49 PM EST
    "Phil Leveque, the Oregon doctor who unstintingly authorized cannabis use by patients in the early days following legalization -when almost all his colleagues were afraid to do so- has received a bill from the State Board of Medical Examiners to pay for his own prosecution. The bill is for $21,127.10.....You'd think the appeal would stay the bill collectors, but no. "If you fail to send payment in full or make other arrangements, we may issue a lien on all of your property, both real and personal. We may then record the lien with your county and/or execute on the warrant. This means we can garnish your wages, your bank accounts, or seize your property to pay the debt in full." Leveque is 82, recently widowed, a World War II combat infantryman with a heroic record. Oregon thanks you, Dr. Leveque!" link

    Re: The Never-Ending War on Drugs (none / 0) (#12)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:50 PM EST
    $40 billion wasted for a war that most people no longer support. the dea is infringing on the sovereignty of the states which have legalized medical marijuana by prosecuting those to use and prescribe it. and they are encroaching on the sovereignty of the canadian people by arresting marc emery for crimes the canadian government knowingly received tax money for. too bad marijuana reform is still a long way off in the usa.

    The Never-Ending War on Drugs | 12 comments (12 topical)