Commentary: Time to end this senseless drug war

[unhappycamper]

Commentary: Time to end this senseless drug war
By Glenn Garvin | The Miami Herald
Posted on Thursday, February 3, 2011

The veteran sitting across the table from me looked weary after delivering yet another speech against a war that has neither a point nor, apparently, an end. It was started years ago by a Republican president, long since discredited, the veteran noted. Yet the Democrats who until a few weeks ago controlled both the White House and Congress didn't raise a finger to stop it. ``I don't understand how much more money has to be wasted or how many more lives have to be ruined before we admit it's been a huge mistake,'' Kyle Vogt told me. ``We can end this thing with the stroke of a pen.''

He wasn't referring to Iraq or Afghanistan, but America's truly endless war, the war on drugs. Declared 40 years ago by President Nixon, it chews up $41 billion in government spending each year while sending two million Americans to jail. Yet Nixon's goal of a drug-free America (``the final issue is not whether we will conquer drug abuse, but how soon'') seems no closer to anyone but the drug warriors themselves.

``All these years later, the people running the drug war keep promising us the same thing they have from the beginning, that they can decrease drug use,'' Vogt said. ``They just need a little more time and a little more money. Why do we listen? We wouldn't tolerate that from a physician who was treating us and not making us any better.

``And if everything your physician told you to do made your illness worse, you'd quit doing it and find another doctor.''

Vogt, who served four years as a military policeman on a Maryland army base, speaks as a veteran of the front lines of the drug war. He's one of an increasing number of former drug warriors turned doves. Their organization, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), includes some 4,000 people -- from beat cops through Gary Johnson, the former governor of New Mexico -- who once played roles in enforcing drug laws.

[ixion]

1. End the so-called 'war' on (some) drugs, and stop the madness.

so that we can finally begin repairing the social fabric that has been decimated by it.

[Paranoid Pessimist]

8. How 'bout ending the rest of the senseless wars while we're at it. n/t

[mopinko]

2. wish i could rec this more than once.

it is just insanity. nobody is getting shot up selling beer on the corners. why can't people accept that lesson??
and what kind of public health infrastructure could we have built with all that money.
the new president of the cook county board says that everyone in the cook county jail is there because of addiction or mental illness. drugs, alcohol, makes no difference. they are there, we should be helping them get back on track, but we have next to nothing to offer them. that is the real crime of it all.

[Fly by night]

3. Yes, it is time to put "drug worriers" out of business. Here's one small way you can help.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x307262

Thanks, unhappycamper, for this thread. Hopefully we can unravel this mess soon.

[vim876]

4. the reality is...

...it's not really a war on drugs, it's a war on minorities and people under 30.

[Scottybeamer70]

5. The war on drugs

probably puts a lot of money in a lot of high profile pockets.
That's why it hasn't ended.

[Uncle Joe]

6. Kicked, but too late to recommend.

Thanks for the thread, unhappycamper.

[Mopar151]

7. The "war on drugs" was a depression - era jobs program

For laid-off T-men (now BATF) - Pushed by a man named Harry Ansingler (my sp. if wrong)