not a big problem when the stuff was legal. The crime associated with
it was also minuscule by comparison. Just how does one equate fewer
addicts, and less crime with the expenditures made by the multitude of
agencies, charities and victims of this "war" and the laws of the
early 20th century that were passed solely to please the Puritanical
sensibilities that permeate the USA ??
On Jun 15, 3:08 pm, Sharon Fuentes <oneforentr...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I always love this argument....I would much rather be smoking pot and paying
> taxes on it than pissing away billions of dollars to keep up this futile
> effort. Can you see the coffee houses all set up like Starbucks? They
> could be called "CannibusHuts" and equipped with drive thrus. Then we can
> be the United States of Americadam and follow the lead of the Dutch. The
> redlight district can be placed in Weiner's district so we will have Vegas
> on the West, and Weinerworld on the East. Everyone will be a little calmer
> and the men that like to venture out can get the fixes legally rather than
> compromising thier politcal stature and sending photos to strange women.
>
> S
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Wed, Jun 15, 2011 at 4:45 PM, MJ <micha...@america.net> wrote:
> > *"The war on drugs costs American taxpayers over $40 billion a year. For
> > the first half of our nation's history there were no prohibitions against
> > any drug. The war on drugs is not authorized by the Constitution. Tobacco
> > kills more people every year than all of the people killed by all illegal
> > drugs in the twentieth century. The war on drugs has done nothing to reduce
> > the demand for illicit drugs. Numerous studies have shown that smoking
> > marijuana is less dangerous than drinking alcohol. The war on drugs is the
> > cause of our unnecessarily swelled prison populations. Alcohol abuse, not
> > drug abuse, is one of the leading causes of premature deaths in the United
> > States. The war on drugs has ruined more lives than drugs themselves. More
> > people in America die every year from drugs prescribed and administered by
> > physicians than from illegal drugs."
>
> > **The 40-Year War on Freedom
> > *by Laurence M. Vance, June 15, 2011
>
> > Although the U.S. government's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have taken
> > center stage for the better part of the last ten years, there is another
> > failed war that has been waged by the federal government for the past forty
> > years.
>
> > The war on drugs was declared by President Richard Nixon on June 17, 1971.
>
> > Speaking at a press conference<http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=3047&st=&st1=>in the Briefing Room at the White House, Nixon announced his plan:
>
> > I would like to summarize for you the meeting that I have just had with
> > the bipartisan leaders which began at 8 o'clock and was completed 2 hours
> > later. I began the meeting by making this statement, which I think needs to
> > be made to the Nation: America's public enemy number one in the United
> > States is drug abuse. In order to fight and defeat this enemy, it is
> > necessary to wage a new, all-out offensive.
>
> > Nixon left no doubt as to the scope of his offensive:
>
> > This will be a worldwide offensive dealing with the problems of sources
> > of supply, as well as Americans who may be stationed abroad, wherever they
> > are in the world. It will be government wide, pulling together the nine
> > different fragmented areas within the government in which this problem is
> > now being handled, and it will be nationwide in terms of a new educational
> > program that we trust will result from the discussions that we have had.
>
> > He went on to say how "essential it was for the American people to be
> > alerted to this danger."
>
> > In a special message <http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=3048> to the
> > Congress on Drug Abuse Prevention and Control on the same day, Nixon
> > declared drug use to be a "menace," an "increasing grave threat," and a
> > "national emergency."
>
> > He also continued his military rhetoric:
>
> > I am transmitting legislation to the Congress to consolidate at the
> > highest level a full-scale attack on the problem of drug abuse in America.
> > The problems of drug abuse must be faced on many fronts.
> > To wage an effective war against heroin addiction, we must have
> > international cooperation. In order to secure such cooperation, I am
> > initiating a worldwide escalation in our existing programs for the control
> > of narcotics traffic, and I am proposing a number of new steps for this
> > purpose.
> > The Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970 provides a
> > sound base for the attack on the problem of the availability of narcotics in
> > America.
>
> > Nixon then issued Executive Order No. 11599 establishing the Special Action
> > Office of Drug Abuse Prevention (SAODAP) in the Executive Office of the
> > President. He also appointed the first drug czar, Dr. Jerome H. Jaffe, as
> > Special Consultant to the President for Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs.
>
> > Nixon's war on drugs really took off after the formation of the Drug
> > Enforcement Agency (DEA) in 1973 and the declaration of an "all-out global
> > war on the drug menace."
>
> > This does not mean that the federal government didn't fight against drugs
> > before Nixon declared his war. To the contrary, the feds have waged war on
> > personal freedom via the drug war since the passage in 1905 of the first
> > federal anti-narcotics law aimed at ending the opium trade in the
> > Philippines.
>
> > This was followed by the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, the Opium
> > Exclusion Act of 1909, the Harrison Narcotics Tax Act of 1914, the Marijuana
> > Tax Act of 1937, the Narcotic Control Act of 1956, and the Comprehensive
> > Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970.
>
> > And since the beginning of Nixon's war, we have had the Anti-Drug Abuse Act
> > of 1986, the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988, the Chemical Diversion and
> > Trafficking Act of 1988, the Illicit Drug Anti-Proliferation Act of 2003,
> > and the Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act of 2005.
>
> > And who can forget the D.A.R.E. school-lecture program, "Just Say No"
> > clubs, and the Partnership for a Drug-Free America's television ad featuring
> > a hot skillet, an egg, and the phrase, "This is your brain on drugs."
>
> > The case against the drug war has been made so many times that, at the risk
> > of sounding like a broken record, I will limit myself to ten key points:
>
> > The war on drugs costs American taxpayers over $40 billion a year. For the
> > first half of our nation's history there were no prohibitions against any
> > drug. The war on drugs is not authorized by the Constitution. Tobacco kills
> > more people every year than all of the people killed by all illegal drugs in
> > the twentieth century. The war on drugs has done nothing to reduce the
> > demand for illicit drugs. Numerous studies have shown that smoking marijuana
> > is less dangerous than drinking alcohol. The war on drugs is the cause of
> > our unnecessarily swelled prison populations. Alcohol abuse, not drug abuse,
> > is one of the leading causes of premature deaths in the United States. The
> > war on drugs has ruined more lives than drugs themselves. More people in
> > America die every year from drugs prescribed and administered by physicians
> > than from illegal drugs.
>
> > To drug warriors, these things don't matter: Because taking drugs is bad
> > for one's health and morally corrupting, the state has the duty to regulate
> > and ban them.
>
> > But as true and important as these things are, the drug-warrior statists
> > are right about dismissing them for in the end they really don't matter. And
> > there are many other things that don't matter as well.
>
> > It doesn't matter if the drug war can or can't be "won." It doesn't matter
> > if drug addiction destroys or doesn't destroy lives and families. It doesn't
> > matter if marijuana is or isn't a gateway drug. It doesn't matter if the
> > majority of Americans support or don't support the drug war. It doesn't
> > matter if marijuana is or isn't beneficial for pain management. It doesn't
> > matter if fighting the drug war is or isn't a bipartisan issue. It doesn't
> > matter if cocaine and heroin are or aren't addictive. It doesn't matter if
> > drug use would or wouldn't increase if drugs were legalized. It doesn't
> > matter if advocates for drug decriminalization want or don't want to get
> > high. It doesn't matter if smoking crack is or isn't dangerous. It doesn't
> > matter if drug use is or isn't immoral. It doesn't matter if the war on
> > drugs is or isn't "worth it."
>
> > What matters is personal freedom, private property, personal
> > responsibility, individual liberty, personal and financial privacy, free
> > markets, limited government, and the natural right to be left alone if one
> > is not aggressing against his someone and is doing "anything that's
> > peaceful."
>
> > Ending the war on drugs is not an esoteric issue of libertarians or a pet
> > issue of those who want to get high. Once the government claims control over
> > what a man smokes, snorts, sniffs, inhales, or otherwise ingests into his
> > body, there is no limit to its power. As the economist Ludwig von Mises so
> > eloquently said: "As soon as we surrender the principle that the state
> > should not interfere in any questions touching on the individual's mode of
> > life, we end by regulating and restricting the latter down to the smallest
> > detail." The war on drugs is incompatible with a free society.
>
> >http://www.fff.org/comment/com1106o.asp
>
> > --
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