Whichever party wins, either a Pres or VP will have admitted to knowingly violating drug laws..

[Fumesucker]

Question: If someone can become president after admitting violating our nations oh-so-important drug laws, then why are we still fighting the drug war?

It makes no sense whatsoever.

We have literally hundreds of thousands of people in prison for violating drug laws and yet admitting that you did so is not a bar to becoming the highest law enforcement official in the land. (the Justice department is under the Executive branch and works at the command of the president).

Edited to add:

And we have the additional irony of admitted coke and pothead Obama choosing uber Demo drug warrior Biden as his VP. If Biden really and truly believed his rhetoric he would refuse to participate in an Obama administration.

Not to mention that this is not the first time this situation has come about. Clinton, Gore and Gingrich were the top three in line for the presidency at one point and all three had admitted prior drug use.

[stillcool]

1. because of drug companies...

you can do all the drugs you want as long as you buy them from the right dealer.

[Fumesucker]

2. Would admitting that you had committed murder 2 be a bar to becoming president?

At what point should a previous crime for which you were never apprehended and punished keep you from becoming the nation's chief law enforcement officer?

[stillcool]

6. You think smoking weed...

is on a par with murder? What about stealing a candy bar when you were 10? Is this country really that full of idiots?

[Fumesucker]

10. Drug crimes carry very heavy penalties..

In some ways heavier than murder.

A murderer can serve his sentence and then get government guaranteed education loans, get busted for a single seed and that will bar you for life from such benefits.

[stillcool]

11. yeah and so?

because of the sentencing you think the crimes are on a par? Do you think that white collar criminals who steal millions upon millions of dollars are any less criminal because they get lighter sentences than someone who has a roach in their ashtray?

[Fumesucker]

13. It's not what I think..

I think smoking pot, snorting coke or dropping acid shouldn't be crimes at all.

But the politicians disagree with me, they think all those things are serious violations.

Edited to add: Except, of course, when it is one of them that has done the crime.

[stillcool]

16. I don't get what your point is...

We have more people incarcerated than any other country in the world. We incarcerate kids. The Prison Industry is huge. It's who we are.

http://www.siahkal.com/english/on%20prison.htm
the US has imprisoned a half million more people than in China which has 5 times the population. California alone has the biggest prison system in the Western industrialized world. It has more prisoners than France, Germany, Great Britain, Japan and Holland combined while these countries have 11 times the population of California. According to official figures, Iran incarcerates 220 citizens per 100,000, compared to US figures of 727. Overall, the total "criminal justice" system in the US, including those in prison, on parole and on probation, is approaching 6,000,000. In the last 20 years, 1000 new prisons have been built; yet they hold double their capacity.



Prisoners, 75% of who are either Black or Hispanic, are forced to work for 20 cents an hour, some even as low as 75 cents a day. They produce everything from eyewear and furniture to vehicle parts and computer software. This has lead to thousands of layoffs and the lowering of the overall wage scale of the entire working class. At Soledad Prison in California, prisoners produce work-shirts exported to Asia as well as El Salvadoran license plates more cheaply than in El Salvador, one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere. A May/99 report in the Wall Street Journal summarized that while “more expensive private-sector workers may lose their jobs to prison labour, assigning work to the most cost-efficient producer is good for the economy.” The February/00 Wall Street Journal reported “Prisoners are excluded from employment calculation. And since most inmates are economically disadvantaged and unskilled, jailing so many people has effectively taken a big block of the nation's least-employable citizens out of the equation.” In other words, this is reported as a workable solution against the threat of potential rebellions of the masses of the unemployed. Many Fortune 500 corporations use prison labour to extract super-profits while these victims suffer from extreme racism, beatings, torture, sexual exploitation and death by their guards. One example is at California's Corcoran State Prison where officials staged gladiator days in which rival gang members were encouraged to fight while staff members placed bets on the outcome which, often ended with inmates being shot. The multi-billion dollar prison-industrial complex has everything from its own trade shows, conventions and web sites to mail-order catalogues and outfits selling shackles for juveniles, body orifice scanners, etc. This industry even has its own Yellow Pages and all of this is based mostly on non-violent offenders who, by European capitalist standards, should not be in prison at all.

[Fumesucker]

17. Apparently you are totally immune to irony..

A huge percentage of our incarcerated population is due to their having violated our ridiculous drug laws.

And yet, we are getting ready to elect a person to the highest or second highest post in the land who has admittedly violated those very laws which have lead to us having the highest incarceration rate in the world.

If you cannot see the irony in that then I'm wondering whether you can pass a Turing test.

[stillcool]

18. Sorry no....I don't see the irony...

What I do see is that you are trying to infer that Senator Obama was a 'drug user' because in the book that he wrote he admitted to it. Your condescending arrogant and self righteous attitude leads me to believe you are not fond of the Democratic Party or a large swath of the American people.

[Fumesucker]

19. Turing test failed..

Honestly, I'm flabbergasted.

And yes, there is a great deal about the Democratic party and the American people I don't like.

I don't think I'm alone on DU in this regard.

[depakid]

3. "why are we still fighting the drug war?"

Ask Joe Biden. He's the one who coined the term "Drug Czar."

http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle_blog/2008/aug/24/joe_bidens_awful_record_on_drug_

[Alexander]

4. Biden is not a complete drug warrior like you think.

He doesn't want the Justice Department to go after medical marijuana patients, and he worked on a bill in the Senate to eliminate the disparity between crack and cocaine sentencing.

[Fumesucker]

15. Did he or did he not coin the term "Drug Czar"?

[Caution]

5. have smoked pot or tried coke does not make one a cokehead or a pothead. Those terms imply heavy

usage. Don't undermine your own argument with inaccurate language.

[Fumesucker]

8. A link please..

I'm unaware of the textbook definition of cokehead and pothead.

Gore and Gingrich both admitted to heavy pot use.

Obama was not specific but I have the definite impression he was at least a fairly regular user.

[Caution]

12. Links

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cokehead

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pothead

These terms clearly imply heavy usage in both common usage and by the dictionary definition.

I agree with your basic premise and can't wait for the destructive drug war to finally end, I just think that to describe the future President of the United States as a cokehead shouldn't be done lightly or most especially without evidence. People will focus on that portion of it and scoff because it isn't true.

[Fumesucker]

14. I hear people on DU call the *current* POTUS a cokehead constantly

And no one complains about that at all.

As I pointed out, Obama has been noncommittal as to his actual usage.

[Eric J in MN]

7. Sarah Palin said that she smoked pot when it was legal in Alaska. NT

NT

[Fumesucker]

9. State law trumps Federal since when? n/t

[High Plains]

24. It's still legal in Alaska. Up to an ounce in your own home.

Thank you, Alaska Supreme Court.

[ShadesOfGrey]

20. Goes to show that legal pot is long overdue, eh?

[Fumesucker]

21. I don't think it's ever going to happen..

Far too much money and far too much political power wrapped up in the system as it currently exists.

[ShadesOfGrey]

22. Already approved in a few states for medicinal use...

more states are applying for the same. Many doctor's in pain management are begging for it. I think we'll see it legalized in our lifetime. Crossing fingers!

[Fumesucker]

23. Never legalization to the same point as alcohol..

And that is what I mean by legalized.