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SLAAKMAN -> Futility of the War on Drugs (5/7/2003 11:10:45 PM)
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...is a huge scam.
http://www.angryharry.com/esWaronDrugs.htm
War on Drugs
The war on drugs has to be one of the most nasty and vindictive of policies ever imposed on ordinary people by their own governments. It is an absolute curse inflicted upon our societies by politicians who seem to have no interest in the welfare of their people.
Keeping certain drugs illegal has created a vast underworld of criminality and it has been responsible for the wholesale corruption of hundreds of thousands of state officials.
Almost every category of serious crime contains a high proportion of perpetrators who, in some way or another, have indulged in criminal acts as a consequence of the illegality of drugs.
Because certain desirable drugs are illegal ...
... terrorists manage to arm themselves with expensive dangerous weaponry - and so do nations wishing to get their hands on weaponry which is denied to them through official channels
... organised crime syndicates, such as the Mafia, and thousands of smaller gangs of criminals descend into the underworld to pursue their criminal drug activities and then they also get involved in even more crime! - thus creating channels and resources for other types of crime - prostitution, gun-running, robbery, people-smuggling etc
... young boys, particularly those who have no hope of achieving very much because of their circumstances or their lack of abilities are tempted easily into drugs dealing in order to 'make something of themselves' - or to fund their own drug habits. And it is worth pointing out that some 15% of young men and boys in the population have intelligence levels that are pretty low! They often - especially when young - cannot see the full implications of getting involved with drugs.
... millions of people who take drugs develop anti-government sentiments and/or are susceptible to being blackmailed and/or corrupted. These also include very powerful people - ranging from police officers to politicians - whom societies simply cannot afford to have blackmailed or corrupted.
... Many thousands of people end up in prison or being processed through the criminal justice system - which costs us a fortune. Not only do we pay for them while they are inside prisons, we also lose the value of their labours and turn them into unproductive burdens on society. And, oftentimes, this leaves their loved ones on the outside having to fend for themselves. For every father in a prison cell, there is a child without a father - and the statistics show quite clearly what bad effects this has on children and on society as a whole.
The drugs war is an absolute disaster. It causes far more harm than good. And there are many other effective ways of combating drug abuse.
So, why do we have a drugs war?
Well, what follows is partially the answer to this question.
For the moment, just imagine a politician called ADP.
He thumps the table and he says, "There is far too much crime in our society. We need to lock up the criminals and give them long sentences. We need to get them off the streets. We need to come down hard on drugs users, and put them into prison cells. Etc Etc Etc."
Well, you get the picture of this man.
Now, let's just see who benefits by promoting and supporting ADP's agenda and who is prepared to fund his campaign for office.
1. "We need more money for our prisons! We need to lock up more people," says ADP - and so those who work in the huge prison service industry will vote for him. Of course they will! More funding for them. More benefits for them. And notice that those in the prison services may well not even be wanting particularly to vote to maintain the war on drugs. These people may just be voting for more funds to go into the prison service. A very noble aim. But the point is that when they vote for ADP, they are also voting to maintain the war on drugs.
2. "We need more policemen on our streets!", says ADP - and so everybody who feels the same way because they have a fear of crime will vote for him. And by voting for ADP, these people are ALSO voting for the war on drugs - even though they may not wish to. In other words, because people fear crime, they will vote for ADP who is tough on crime. And the fact that ADP also wants to maintain the drugs war may just be incidental to this.
3. The big construction companies that build and maintain the prisons will also 'vote' for ADP. And they will do this with their dollars - perhaps by contributing to ADP's campaign funds. Of course they will do this. They want to get more government contracts to build and maintain more prisons. And there is certainly nothing morally wrong in this at all. But, by voting for ADP and promoting his campaign with their dollars, they are also promoting the war on drugs!
4. "Citizens must be able to protect themselves from criminals. They must have guns!" says ADP. And so the gun industry, quite legitimately, will support ADP's campaign with its huge amount of dollars. And those citizens who want to bear arms will also vote for ADP. This is all very legitimate. But by voting for ADP, they are voting to maintain the war on drugs!
5. "We must hand out more money to the justice system. We have to prosecute criminals as best as we can," says ADP. And the lawyers and the judges and the customs officers and the police will all agree with ADP. After all, they are all having a tough time dealing with all the cases, and they are very under-resourced. And so they will vote for ADP, who is arguing for more resources to help them in their fight against crime. But by voting for ADP, they are also voting to maintain the war on drugs.
6. "Illegal drugs are bad for you," says ADP - and all the pharmaceutical companies will agree. And they will agree to the tune of thousands of dollars. Why? Because if people, for example, are smoking pot to keep themselves cool and happy, they may well not use the legal drugs that the pharmaceutical companies would prefer them to use. And so ADP will get handsome funding for his cause from the legitimate drugs companies.
7. And, for the very same reasons, the tobacco companies and the alcohol industry would just love to see ADP rise very high in political office. They don't want people to turn away from the addictive but legal drugs that they are most happy to provide them with. For example, the more that people smoke pot, the less are they likely to drink alcohol.
8. And then, of course, in the case of marijuana there are all those industries which would just hate to see hemp being grown legally (e.g. see Hemp has been grown for at least 12,000 years for fiber (textiles and paper) and seed (food and fuel). It has been effectively prohibited in the United States since the 1950s.) No way are they going to support the legalisation of marijuana ! And so their money and their votes will also go to ADP.
9. There are some 300 billion illegal drug dollars every year being laundered through the banking system. If this money was to dry up, the banks would not have enough collateral to continue handing out all their loans, e.g. see Taking that into account and given steady accumulation of wealth by the world criminal fraternity, the amounts of money involved in drug investments could be as much as $1 trillion, and The illegal trade in narcotics is estimated to be worth more than 400 billion dollars a year.
If all drugs became legal, the banks would have to rein in their activities very significantly. No way would they want this to happen, and so they will give their support to ADP.
10. The drugs barons themselves would also be crazy not to support ADP with their dollars - or even, perhaps, by tainting his political opponent in some way. If drugs were legalised they would lose their multi-million dollar businesses overnight!
11. And how would governments and their secret services be able to fund their illicit covert operations without turning a blind eye to the drug dealing that they do themselves or that is being done on their behalf? Across the entire world, the very illegality of drugs ensures that those who want a lot of money and power can get them both! And they can do this without paying any taxes on their dealings! They too will support ADP - somehow.
12. It is a well-known political ploy for politicians to frighten people so that they can then offer to protect them in some way. Even the Mafia do this sort of thing. It is called a 'protection racket'. And so ADP is using a well-tried effective tactic for gaining the support of people.
And so it is that the ADPs of this world get into office and so maintain one of the most barbaric and destructive policies of the past 100 years.
There are enormous numbers of people who will support ADP. And there are many powerful organisations that will do exactly the same. Most of these people are not bad people. Most of these organisations are not bad organisations. And ADP is not a bad person.
But, collectively, they are manufacturing a climate and providing huge resources to maintain a situation that does tremendous harm to our societies. And, quite simply, they are mostly doing this in order to feather their own nests in their own particular necks of the woods.
And who can blame them?
But this is why a man like ADP gets voted into office. He has huge support!
But the drugs war that he maintains does not do his people any good at all.
In some ways, there should be a war on drugs. But it should be conducted through education and treatment, not through persecution, prosecution and incarceration. If we took this alternative route we could cut crime significantly and also divert huge resources into programs that were more involved in caring for people than in hurting them.
And, further, what could be more stupid than handing over to those very 'types' who are prepared to be SERIOUS criminals such huge resources with which to empower themselves!? - i.e. the high profits from selling illegal drugs. If we want to disempower serious criminals then one of the best ways is to remove their sources of power!
Duh!
If all drugs were legalised tomorrow, what calamities would befall us?
Surely, at the worst, the number of 'addicts' would grow?
Well, so what?
OK. So we would have to employ far more health workers, doctors and nurses. We would also have to provide more education and more treatment centres. And we would probably have to fund more research.
Would this be such a catastrophe - especially given that, on balance, we would actually end up saving so many resources from the ensuing reduction in crime?
As a society, what do we want, more police officers and lawyers, or more doctors and nurses? More prisons or more hospitals? More crimes on the streets, or more people receiving help, education and treatment?
ADP is not the man that we should vote for.
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