If we canned the war on drugs and switched that money to health care, we could pay for universal health care for all our citizens without costing taxpayers another cent in taxes.

Something fishy indeed. Although polls show most Americans now want an end to marijuana arrests, the monstrous fraud continues.

Those who benefit the most lobby to keep it from happening. -- Law enforcement, prisons, prosecutors, parole officers, phony parents groups (govt orgs) like NFIA and CADCA, drug testing and "treatment" industries, private security and surveillance companies like G.E., Blackwater, and Dyncorp; the alcohol, tobacco and phamaceutical industries; and the various prohibitionist agencies set up by the thugs who hijacked our government -- the ONDCP, the DEA, PDFA, DARE, NIDA, SAMSHA, NDIC. Plus, imperialistic politicians who use prohibition as a pretext for meddling in the affairs of other countries.

All of these groups who work to perpetuate the monstrous fraud of marijuana prohibition fall under one black concept - CORRUPTION! ---- This country has become rotten from the top down. These wannabe fascists are now destroying the very infrastructure of our freedom - the Constitution. It's time for a thorough FUMIGATION.

I agree, there must be something fishy behind the war on drugs, and some big fish are benefitting from that

Another futile argument for change wasted on the idiotic American people. Americans are so dumb that they would lose a logic contest with a bag or gravel of equal weight.

Like the drug addicts that keep running until their bodies fail the US is going to borrow money and piss it away on prisons and guns until China cuts us off and we collapse.

Google:'futile cycle' and you will understand the US political-economic system. We run the place like a family burning their furniture in the front yard in an attempt to heat the house.

The Ninth Amendment of the US Constitution says that I can smoke herb. Deal with it America!!!

erbalist: "the money that the drug gangs use to buy their weapons comes from the insane profits generated by an unregulated product"

the same is true of all the capitalist racketeers, whether we're talking about the petro/energy racketeers, weapons/war racketeers, transport racketeers, food/materials racketeers, or "legal" or "illicit" drug racketeers - they are all the same except that some control governments and some do not.

Samson: "To me it seems similar to the Soviet Union before its fall. People aren't doing anything because they don't see what can be done. But show them a way of changing things, and they'll respond in the millions."

It's all very complex but the way to simplify it is for individuals to shift our individual exchange/association away from the power centers and toward our local communities, thereby regaining our economic/political power. This means individuals may vote for change and get it when the majority votes for it. This is democracy. That which we suffer under today is fascist oligarchy.

It's up to the individual to choose one's fate. The promise of this change is sustainable, stable livelihoods on 15 hour work weeks, delivering the highest quality education, healthcare, food, shelter and transport to all, plus self-determination and dignity, good karma and all its rewards.

Nice article. American youth should abstain from recreational sex and drugs so they may learn to depend primarily on wealth and power for their pleasure. The pursuit of wealth and power is not concerned with the health of the environment or the society or the individual. But it can be made to appear more benign by redirecting societal animosity onto recreational sex and drugs. It doesn't matter if the pursuit of wealth and power is ten times or fifty times more destructive than the pursuit of recreational sex and drugs. What matters is that it holds far more potential for enslavement of the people to the empire steamroller.

All right, we should not "fight" addictions, we should end and prevent them.

"People are working more jobs and longer hours." What? Why? So they can remain addicted to petrochemicals? Some of those people who are working longer hours are taking amphetamines to do so; a very dangerous practice, but they feel it is necessary to stay awake and alert.

Thomas Jefferson once said "when you got the wolf by the ears, you can't hang on, and you can't let go". Legalizing narcotics would create more misery. Continuing the "war" makes little sense on several levels.

Samson: How do you then explain the failures of Nader and Kucinich? You overestimate the american people. They go for style. Obama has style. Americans live a soap opera life.

The problem extends to more than just simply wasting tax-payers dollars. By pursuing the so-called "War On Drugs" we have militarized our police forces to the extent that they are no longer recognizable from the armed forces. We have entered into an arms race with the so-called drug kingpins: the city of Chicago will equip (read: arm) their police force with AR-15s to "better match the firepower on the street." The simple fact of the matter is that the money that the drug gangs use to buy their weapons comes from the insane profits generated by an unregulated product. Thus, ending the "War On Drugs" will sever the income gained by selling these unregulated products on the street thereby making it harder for the gangs to buy weapons. It worked for alcohol prohibition, it is simply irresponsible to assume it would not work in today's case.
Of course the real problem with the "War On Drugs" is the fact that it has removed the police officer from the community. Instead of walking the beat the police have to "patrol" in armored cars at a good, safe distance from those they are charged with serving and protecting.
However, it is possible that if we remove the "war" from the "War On Drugs" we might just put "peace" back into "Peace Officer." Then, maybe - just maybe - we can put the Peace Officer back into the community where he/she belongs instead of behind the wheel of an armored car, wearing bullet-proof vests, resting their itchy trigger fingers on their high powered weapons of community destruction.

"fighting" addictions doesn't work because (obviously) fighting itself is an addiction, just think of all the unwinnable 'wars' we are waging : on cancer, on poverty, on drugs, in politics, between the sexes, the list is endless. . . words are more important than we realize and the first thing to do is change the lexicon . . .

"Today, there are more drugs on our streets at cheaper prices than ever before."

These cats have obviously not tried to buy a 1/4 bag in my hometown recently.

As long as Mr. & Mrs. Amerika are convinced that the boogeyman has them personally and specifically listed on a hit list, then they will not be willing to confront, or put an end to, the brain-screwing that the bizarre War On Terror, War On (Some) Drugs, and so many other wars on liberty really represents.

Government, like many other organizations or bureaucracies, initially and primarily serves to perpetuate its own existence, regardless of what the organization STATES its purpose to be.

Organized crime reportedly once charged 'protection money,' telling the victims of such scams and extortion that they'd make sure that no one would burn their businesses down, just as long as they paid up on a timely basis.

Governments now sell a similar 'insurance plan,' though mildly different; "Forfeit your self-determination, freedom, dignity and ability to think for yourselves, or we can't possibly keep you safe.".. from al Queda, heroin, the killer weed, bad humor, vulgarities, etc., ad nauseum.

Never mind that, to some degree, in many ways, it was the incompetence of such boobs that contributed to the plight and endangerment of Mr. & Mrs. Amerika in the first place.

Don't we all wish that we had jobs wherein the status quo maintained that the worse our performance was, the more money and authority we'd receive..

"Ending drug prohibition, taxing and regulating drugs and spending tax dollars to treat addiction and dependency are the approaches that many of the world's industrialized countries are taking. Those approaches are ones that work."

Sir! Have you no consideration for the secretive "profit and loss" statements of money-launderers in this country?

If you really want to understand 'money laundering' and the economy and bankers, try reading this ...

http://www.narconews.com/narcodollars1.html

If the problem is poverty, all we hear is that you can't solve the problem by throwing money at it. And that big government programs and agencies aren't the answer.
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The drug of choice for most Americans is survival. I know its the common sport on the left to hate and deride the American people, but most people are just trying to survive. They work more jobs and longer hours just to make ends meet and pay for the gas and the food their family needs. Get a chance to talk to them, and most of them know things are screwed up. But, given no obvious way of changing things, they work to keep themselves and their family alive and whole.

To me it seems similar to the Soviet Union before its fall. People aren't doing anything because they don't see what can be done. But show them a way of changing things, and they'll respond in the millions. Just look at the Obamabot syndrome. A politician starts talking of change, and people everywhere respond to that and rally behind him. Too bad of course that this was just another corporate con and Obama ain't changing nothing important. But the important lesson to be learned is how these people that are described as 'ignorant' and 'apathetic' instead responded strongly to the lie when it was offered.

Find a way to offer real change, and you'll find millions of these 'apathetic' and 'ignorant' people lining up behind you.

Of course, when you hate the people of the country, its going to be very hard to understand them or lead them.

----------------
Yes, the bankers get rich from it. That's one the author missed. No surprise since its the LA Times and the bankers are bit too big of a target for them to go after. It would be like admitting that war makes the bankers rich as well. Even in a rebellious piece like this, there are limits to how far the corporate media will go.

I believe there is another group of people making money off the illegal drug trade: global bankers.

Many of these drug lords need to have their ill gotten dough cleaned and legit. Where does a drug lord go to have it laundered?

I like and agree with most of the posts above; but I would like to give a couple of additional points. The "War on Drugs" has also dangerously impacted the delivery of medical care in our country; medical personnel are sometimes reluctant to prescribe strong anti-pain medications when these medications are clearly indicated; I call this the "Let's make Grandma die in pain" compassion of the the United States. The government makes doctors very nervous when it comes to prescription writing time, as some good doctors have been jailed for what moloch calls "over-prescribing" opioids. These are additional casualties from the war on drugs.

I once had a retired policeman tell me that he and his buddies on the force liked to work the most dangerous neighborhoods in the city because these policemen got "an adrenaline rush or high" from being exposed to violent crime. One might wonder if they felt that shooting miscreants was like shooting cocaine. Yes, indeed: we must fight addictions of all kinds.

Mordechai Shiblikov, wrote on July 5th, 2008 12:58 pm

"Pot makes Peace."

Hear, Hear! But for most Americans, the drugs of choice are Money and Death.

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I would disagree somewhat with this writer. The drugs of choice, favored by the bulk of Americans are: Ignorance, apathy and gullibility. Anyone who takes the easy path by believing the obvious propaganda being spewed by those who create 'the official story' or anyone who still believes that the WTC was brought down by two planes or anyone who still believes that Democracy is still functioning or that the war in Iraq is justified, is sadly delusional.

Surely, we'd all like to believe that our precious government would never, ever lie to us, but the reality is that it just ain't true. They lie and have lied to us at every opportunity. Its called disinformation, folks and it's their favorite tool in controlling the willing and gullible sheeple who so proudly wear their patriotism on their sleeves or put magnetic ribbons on the bumpers of their gas-guzzling cars.

The term 'Plausible Deniability' is a misnomer commonly used by spineless and immoral government officials to 'cover up' the truth or to hide some criminal misuse of their power of office. These 'elected officials' are a disgrace to the nation, and to the oaths they took when they ran for and accepted public office. And rather than earnestly seeking out the truth, most of you accepted the lies so you could continue on wasting resources and reaching for a dream that was and is always, magically out of reach.

It makes me sad to know that they America I grew up respecting no longer exists. How do we go about getting it back?

"The mission of the judicial system is to protect us from harming one another rather than from harming ourselves" Solution: arrest those with Sexually Transmitted Diseasaes and other conatiagous diseases. In that way we can keep the prisons full, support the anti-drug bureaucracy with $ billions, and maybe accomplish something positive (not harming others).

There won't be any change on this issue in the US for at least another 15 to 20 years if there ever is any at all. There's too much invested in the status quo. Those that run this "war" are being fed too well for it to ever change. Stand up and admit you smoke and you are immediately marginalized as an addle-brained pothead devoid of anything worthwhile to contribute. Combine the big money controlling interests with the morality arguments ie "gateway drug/protecting the children" and any rational debate is stifled. For a segment of society it is "just plain wrong" and no amount of evidence to the contrary will convince them otherwise. that's what they've been told, and that's what they believe. Unquestioning social-conservative fear mongers have claimed the moral high ground and simply won't truck any debate. I've known plenty of drunk driving alcoholics that never blinked twice looking down on me for smoking simply because it's "illegal". Just because something is legal doesn't mean it's right. By lumping weed in with heroin and cocaine you take any real legitimacy out of the entire anti-drug argument. It's harmful effects are more in line with alcohol and some could argue even far less than booze. tell a teen that weed is the same as heroin and you're only encouraging that teen to try heroin. I don't even want to push the fight to legalization, I simply want decriminalization. I want to be able to sit on my front porch and smoke a bowl, I want to grow a couple of plants in my garden and be left alone. I defy anyone to tell me that's truly wrong.

Just a correction about the number incarcerated, which is not the 1.2 million cited in the article:

the Pew Center for the States issued a report that indicates at the beginning of 2008 2,319,258 were behind bars in the United States, or about 1 in every 99.1 adults. For comparison, this is about 8 times the rates in Germany. More than 7 million are under a form of correctional control at any time, (prison, probation, parole), and uncounted millions more have convictions that impose lifetime barriers to employment, housing or voting.

The report link:

http://www.pewcenteronthestates.org/uploadedFiles/One%20in%20100.pdf

"The United States has some of the world's most punitive drug policies and has led the cheering section for tough "war on drugs" policies worldwide, but a new international study suggests that those policies have been a crashing failure. A World Health Organization survey of 17 countries, conducted by some of the world's leading substance abuse researchers, found that we have the highest rates of marijuana and cocaine use."

Heckovajob! Haliburton, Wackenhut and CCA are are taking a fortune - from Americans to dispense misery - to Americans. Vonnegut's 'Hocus Pocus' is here.

Legalise cannabis, and regulate caffeine. It's a shocking disgrace, a calamity, that they put caffeine in children's drinks. I say: keep booze, smokes, weed and coca-cola behind the counter, and require ID.

The article says, "There are more than 1.2 million people behind bars in the U.S., and a large percentage of them for nonviolent drug ..." it's OFF by a single digit, as in 2.2 MILLION people incarcerated.

The prison population makes for cheap labor that would ordinarily compete with commerce opening jobs to "free" persons. I consider this aparatus the new plantation system. The sad, sobering reality is that this designation makes sense given the disproportionate percentage of persons of color incarcerated.

The "drug war" sounds sexy and made an initial excuse for supplying police departments with sophisticated weaponry.

When individuals serve time in many states they lose their right to vote. How convenient to negate the rights of so many to vote, most of whom would probaby not vote conservative as more progressive/liberal types tend to experiment... even with drugs.

Finally, it's rare for someone to get violent on pot. *(Note what is legal and how these things facilitate aggression, the KEY component of war and the military-industrial state: guns, alcohol, porn, tobacco. All are toxic killers!) I consider pot the true peace pipe, and too many feeling that peace thing make the come-on to war all the harder. A nation that loves crime and violence needs scape goats and made-for-TV criminals. What a travesty of freedom we/US has become.

A small part of the solution is for those with some degree of protection and independence to come out of the closet about their own use of marijuana. There are some serious sues with meth and coke in parts of the country, but pot is the elephant in the room: up to 20% of adults use it regularly, but no one will admit they do it. Understandably, because of the potential personal costs. but some of us have more leeway than others, and we need to stop pretending we "grew out of it," or used to smoke it, but...". Churches, cubicles, university faculty lounges, sports teams, science labs - full of people who are in the closet about their pot smoking.

TELL THE TRUTH!! that's a good starting point, and it will gradually benefit the vulnerable who are victimized by the drug wars.

"And last are the terrorist groups worldwide that are principally financed by the sale of illegal drugs."

The authors don't mention that the financing of terrorism by illegal drugs worldwide is led mainly by the American CIA and the British MI6. The BCCI Scandal of 1991 is the prime example.

Every year, two or three times per, for forty years, the same old facts and the same old arguments and the same old results: more drug laws, longer and harsher penalties, more billions into the pockets of the drug-war-profiteers.

Maybe, just maybe, if we started supporting the few "leaders" who truly believe in freedom and aren't on the take - like Congressman Dr. Ron Paul or lifetime public servant Ralph Nader - then, just maybe, the insanity would start to ebb.

The way things are going, however, the "majority" are still so deluded, they believe they have no choice but to vote for whatever corporate-government-military complex candidates are put forth.

We get - and deserve - what we vote for...

Finally! I've managed to get on here!

This is an excellent article.
I'm a USA ex-pat who lives in Britain.
I was shocked when there was a serious debate over here about legalizing a whole host of drugs and de-criminalizing many others.

The instigator of this debate?
It was the Chief of Police of Wales.

My 11 years here has periodically seen the police acknowledging that this is a problem that is not going to be solved by jails, guns, and making more criminals out of users.

I have known many police in the US and I think this idea that they are all part of this huge cash-cow and therefore don't want it to end isn't quite right. I think it is more of the kind of thing we have seen more and more often among such people. They have uncommon physical courage. It takes great courage to sweep a drug den in the middle of the night even if you do have back-up. But they often lack moral courage.

Too many people fear more for their jobs and their livelihoods than for their lives. So the cops on the beat are physically courageous enough to enter the well-armed den of a meth-lab...but they are cowards when it comes to standing up to their superiors and the press camera and saying "No, I will not arrest these people because they are not a threat to society. It was making the drug illegal in the first place that created the threat and my efforts are better placed elsewhere."

We see it everywhere in the USA. Great Physical Courage....Utter cowardice in the face of a hard moral question.

The drug wars are a self sustaining system, at least until the oil and money run out, and climate change ruins agriculture. The US is a nation on drugs. There is the oil drug, with no known cure for addiction, apart from complete impoverishment. There is the money drug, with Wall street and Corporations, and US elites getting high, and making sure the US congress members are well supplied. There is the violence, terror and power drug, with the US of Zionists prepared to bullshit, bomb and tear apart any third world country that does bow down and acknowledge the US as lords and masters. There is the technology drug, having so many weapons and gadgets that the US has declared it is the owner of all space outside of earth including the entire universe. Oh yes, the US is making war on drugs.

In my experience small doses of herb and even shroomage allow my resistance to reality to subside enough to give me a beneficial spiritual event. When I'm overly mired in useless thoughts a toke or two gets me right where I wish I could be without it. Discression and moderation are extremely handy. I don't want to be discompassionate but I think that addictions are "many" times a symptom of another problem. This is just speculation on my part. Anyway, I am greatfull for the opening that I experience thgrough one of spirits creations. We are all a part of that creation also. Encounters with fear addicts put me in touch with my warrior and that confuses me because I judge that as negative experience. I need to direct the power that is available to me in those moments in a positive (loving) way without fear and anger at my confusion. Maybe getting a handle on that could open new paths to approach opposition. Thanks for the opportunity to ramble. PEACE

Word is getting out that the recent "hostage freeing" was from a $20 million dollar bribe, courtesy of US taxpayers. So much for not negotiating with terrorists. What a coincidence for John McCain to suddenly make a trip to Columbia this week with no obvious reason for him to do so. I hope somebody showed him on the map where it was.

I forgot which country was this article referencing, SA country or other? Because many thought much that along with that all so smooth hostage release, there was also money re;trug traffiking controls. Why the hell was Lieberman with McInsane?

ubrew said:

"3. Conservatives are devils-incarnates. No, Liberals are. We never seem to find common ground, because too many contributions are flowing to those convincing us its 'imperative' we win against the Satanic forces infecting our body politic from the other side."

Conservatives are Mammon's minions. They may not be devil-incarnates, but knowingly or not, they certainly work for the greedy beast, blaming liberals for their berserking. They've even managed to coopt that bleeding heart liberal hippie Jesus.

The common ground between liberals and conservatives is the realization that each of us is both, some favoring one side over the other--the beast within or the human.

Was clean 14 years, said Fuck it, diagnosed bi-polar with psychotic tendencies. Took the asshole Professionals 39 suffering years to figure it out. Take a simple anti-siezure med and an not so simple yet cheap anti-psychotic, as can be seen sometimes on this site by my maniacal rants and senseless well, lunacy. Pot is okay as long as I'm not in public, I am very paranoid when I smoke. Whatever happened to hash? Now a long, long time ago 1969-70, acid was so pure. I went to classes, functioned a-ok.
When I go to Amsterdam I shall sample the menu. All that addiction, fucking doctors gave me Xanax, valium, clonapin and pain killers, Fentanyl Patches 100mg, vicodin, oxy, percs. Yes, my name is ___ and I'm an addict, I've been clean 13 years and 6 months. Thanks for rehab docs! Gave me meth there, methadone, not methadrine, for opiate withdrawal that'll make you puke and ya know, but will not kill you. Xanax, Grand mal Siezures, so a clonapin taper. 10 days, bye-bye, you're clean...

Not exactly bellthecat, but this insane obsession with putting people in prison, the promotion of perpetual war, and unlimited funds for the war on drugs is bleeding the taxpayer white while allowing schools, highways, bridges, and social programs to go begging.

Incidentally, the war on drugs did not prevent your drug problem, and congratulations on your continued recovery.

As for the occasional user, the constitution is supposed to guarantee me the PURSUIT of happiness. If my pursuit leads to a dead end, it's my mistake. It is not the business of my government to use my money to protect me from myself, and they are the last entity with any credibility for dictating morality to anybody.

@Mr. Ubrew12 - are you suggesting the unexplained death of Mr. Arafat was due to illegal drugs?
Can you provide some evidence?

I am a recovering addict and I struggle every month just to keep me & and my cat & two dogs fed, not even able to reach the poverty level on tippytoes.

I save my anger for those who raise money from the poor allegedly to benefit those who've been struck by a disaster, you know, the ones flying in their personal planes & confessing & boohooing when they're busted with a ho or homo (no insult intended) whoever they've preached against vociferously are usually their secret lust.

Whenever I hear "drugs are the problem", I make sure to say "drugs are not the problem, the War on Drugs is the problem".

"Only cops and crooks have benefited from $2.5 trillion spent fighting trafficking."

This seems to be a recurrent pattern:

1. We can never win the war on drugs, because too many people are making too much money convincing us its 'imperative' we win it.
2. We never seem to run out of enemies, because too many tax dollars are flowing to those convincing us its 'imperative' we win against our enemies.
3. Conservatives are devils-incarnates. No, Liberals are. We never seem to find common ground, because too many contributions are flowing to those convincing us its 'imperative' we win against the Satanic forces infecting our body politic from the other side.

I first began to worry about this effect when I learned that PLO freedom fighter, Yasir Arafat, retired a billionaire. Here all these years I'd been asking myself, why doesn't the Arab-Israeli conflict ever end? But, with money like that flowing in, why would it end?

FDR said it best: 'We have nothing to fear, but fear itself'

Fear is a growth industry. Invest now.

The authors failed to mention the pharmaceutical companies that profit from this. Not only from the sale of 'drug testing equipment' (a billion dollar industry by itself) but from forcing people to buy THEIR drugs instead of ILLEGAL drugs, the pharmaceutical companies lobby government endlessly to keep up their pressure against the 'competition'.
Your third group... "those people in government who are paid well to fight the first two groups" could have been expanded a bit more and pointed out the direct connection between the MIC (military industrial complex) and the War on Drugs. Everything from Black Hawk helicopters to M16's are donated to criminal groups abroad completely subsidized by the US taxpayer. DyneCorp and other mercenary groups then employ demented or morally absent individuals to carry out their righteous war on completely innocent strangers around the world.
With the power that these companies have over our elected officials, it would seem that your logical solutions are a long shot at best. It would take a real democracy, an open debate and an unbiased MSM to bring about tangible changes in our failed drug policies.
Ain't goin' to happen in my lifetime!

o

Clearly with so many criminal organizations making money from prohibition we have to suspect the motives of any policy maker who supports the drug war in the face of its overwhelming failure. The fix is in folks.

Isn't the war on drugs really another campaign in the war on freedom. The billions that "we" spend on this farce ends up financing the oppression of citizens rights in this country and all over this planet. How much energy is wasted struggling against the current of self destruction and utter insanity so prominent in the human being addicted to fear and war. Must be some kind of aikido thing that could apply to politics in regards to dealing with opposing force that we're not seeing. This could be the big change that we're looking for. If we don't truly believe that this is possible, it isn't. PEACE TO US ALL...I'M NOT AFRAID TO INHALE...OR EXHALE

The largest group that this article fails to mention is the CIA. Do you recall Iran-Contra? That $69Billion does nothing but provide seed money for so many "black-op" projects.

It is in the interests of our current geo-political relationships to keep drugs flowing. Not only does it provide a safe flow of cash for the covert economy, but it reinforces the submission to the class structures established here and abroad.

Our "security" community (CIA, NSA, FBI, HSA etc) learned so very well from the Mafia Dons of yore. The drug game is just one example.

I await the day when our Country attempts to do what Al Pacino's character promised in The Godfather; "One day our dealings will be 100% legit."

Can't say no to the valid points this article makes.

Best pot story;

I was in Amsterdam, totally buzzed on some excellent weed that I bought and smoked in a nice cafe. Walking to one of the really excellent museams that the city has I passed a group of schoolchildren. One of the little anklebiters piped up and said that 'if it wasn't for his glasses you couldn't see his eyes'. Long after they had gone their merry way I came up with a nice comeback, 'thanks for speaking french, I wouldn't have recognised you as such an arsehole as my eyes were closed.' Still glad I didn't actually say that to the kids...

"Pot makes Peace."

Hear, Hear! But for most Americans, the drugs of choice are Money and Death.

Pot makes Peace.