Is the war on drugs really worth it?

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ok, random thoughts here.
i dont support the use of drugs and have lost a few good friends to them, and seen many more lives ruined. i have been threatened and attacked by people altered by them. if you use drugs and attack me or my family while altered (or not) you will suffer the consequences. BUT, the drugs are inanimate substances, they are not evil, and can do no harm by themselves. what we need to do is show people (esp. kids) the effects of drug use. drugs should not be used if you value your health, but this is a personal decision which no one will make for me, and i will not make for anyone else. i don't think people should be imprisoned for smoking pot instead of drinking beer on the weekend. but if drug use leads to other crime, when you get shot or arrested, you deserve it.
inanimate object, safe use, education -- sound familiar?
the war on drugs is a way of funding law enforcement, END OF STORY. good or bad, thats the way it is.
 
after 23 years of law enforcement on the local, state and federal levels, i can say that the so called war on drugs is a waste of time and money and is totally ineffective. so why waste more money and lives on it? lets just chalk it up to experience and move on.
pat
 
Is it worth it? Yes.
Has it been effective? No.

I think drug's need to stay off of our street's but we need to figure out some better way's to make it happen.

From a civil libertie's stand point I am all for the legalization of some drug's.

Pot, Speed, Steriod's. Even some drug's like cocain. These are drug's that get you high, make you feel good, whatever. But except for people that let themselve's go they are not life ruining drug's. Someone who let's themselves go to it can also ruin their live's or kill themselve's with alcohol.

But there are certian drug's that should not be legal. Drug's like crack which are so highly addictive people give up their live's for it. All you have to do is walk into some once nice neighborhood's to see the effect crack can have on people. Also some drug's like PCP. Drug's like PCP turn an average guy into someone that take's five or more men to subdue. Any drug that is so highly addictive you will do anything for it or that is so dangerous you become very likly to snap and loose control as well as give's you a big power boost (PCP for example. These are the type's of drug's which should remain illegal.

So is it worth it? Yes. For some drug's.
Is it working? Miserably.
 
Generally

I have seen two sides of the results of illicit drugs. There are more than two sides. I am tasked to work with PD and coordinate the efforts of code enforcement with the Police in many aspects, but one specifically, is the war on drugs.

In my work, I also get to see what happens to people whose lives go down the tank due to their abuse of drugs (legal and illegal). I have been over 28 years in the code enforcement field and I have seen people who were productive workers and family members lose all their physical possessions, people who were well known as athletes, actors, etc., who can no longer work in their chosen careers due to their drug dependency.

I have been on warrant service where special teams had to serve the warrants due to the potential danger to the officers.

All I can say is that no one has the solution which can solve the social problems which are involved on the war of drugs.


The War on Drugs as it is being practiced can slow it down, but not eliminate the need for the use of drugs, therefore, there will always be a need for the use of drugs, therefore not winnable.(?) As long as you have the need, you will have people who will supply the drugs.:banghead:
 
All I can say is that no one has the solution which can solve the social problems which are involved on the war of drugs

Perhaps we are already going in the wrong direction if we think we can "solve" it seeing how the addictive desire for drugs is ultimately a result of a flawed charachter. I have known people who have wreaked their lives through alcohol addiction, same destruction but just a different drug.

Perhaps we would be more successful if we look at "approaching" the problem as opposed to solving it.
 
Sad to say, worth it or not, the current approach isn't working AT ALL.

Given the fact that diacetyl morphine and cannabinoids are both probably easier to obtain than prescription foot powder, despite the enormous funds that have been expended and the civil liberties violations that regularly occur, the current approach is obviously flawed. The best alternative is certainly debatable, but the failure of the current approach isn't.
 
How to win an unwinnable,"War"?

Easy, line your pockets with billions of dollars, while steadily sliding the slippery slope of Socialism, to the Nanny/Police State Utopia that Russia was. With an added benifit of a continued sub class of people(Newly Released Felons: of whom I believe it is too easy to become a member nowadays:scrutiny: ), that you can blame for the steady increase in the crime rate:barf:...
 
Glock Glockler said:
All I can say is that no one has the solution which can solve the social problems which are involved on the war of drugs

Perhaps we are already going in the wrong direction if we think we can "solve" it seeing how the addictive desire for drugs is ultimately a result of a flawed charachter. I have known people who have wreaked their lives through alcohol addiction, same destruction but just a different drug.

Perhaps we would be more successful if we look at "approaching" the problem as opposed to solving it.
Click to expand...

Here are my opinions:

Prohibition didn't work, and the War On Drugs is not working. Flawed character or not, someone can't get addicted if they don't try them. There is no quick solution to the drug problem, but there is a long-term solution. The long term fix is to do a much, much better job educating young people about the dangers of drugs, and then let them make their own choices.

IMO, Drugs should be legalized and heavily taxed/regulated (much like liquor and cigarettes are today). Any funds realized from their sale should be put towards much better education for young people and treatment for the addicted.

Without even taxing newly-legalized drugs at all, I'll bet if we put 1/10th of the money into education and treatment that we now spend on the War On Drugs, a generation from now the "problem" would be significantly decreased. Look at the percentage of people who smoke now vs. in the 1950's or 60's (and take it from someone who knows - there are few substances more addictive than nicotine).

Crime would drop too. Legalizing drugs takes away the biggest profit center for criminal activity. Take away the profit motive and you take away the reason for the criminal activity. As far as crimes committed by drug users: The drugs don't make them rob, the need to get money to buy drugs does. If drugs were legal, they'd (probably) be cheaper. With good education, less people would be users. If treatment was better people would be more successful at breaking the cycle of addiction.
 
Wow, threadja vu! :D

Whatever you think about the moral issues, and even if you don't give a rat's hind end about freedom, you've got to admit that the War On Drugs simply isn't working.

pax

There will not be any violations to speak of. -- Supervising Revenue Agent Colonel Daniel Porter, 16 January 1920, as the US Congress passes the 18th Amendment to the Constitution, prohibiting the sale of alcoholic beverages.
 
It's worth it even if it doesn't work!

Remind me never to buy a product from you. Sheesh.
Click to expand...
Read my entire post. In short with certian drug's it is worth it but the way it is currently being fought is not working. Do I have a better soloution? Education would be good. Screw being PC show kid's what can happen when you take drug's. Aside from that, no I don't have a better soloution but right now it simply isn't working.
 
Lupinus,

I read your entire post. You stated that it was worth it with certain drugs. You also stated that is was working miserably. To my mind, working miserably equates nicely to not working. Therefore, for certain drugs, you think it's worth it even if it's not working.

A concept I have a difficult time wrapping my mind around.
 
Sheesh is the operative word.

Drugs are evil.

The WOSD is eviler.

The harm that is done to the non-addicted community with our current system is only going to lead us into a police state. Some of us here want that.

I suggest complete legalization of all drugs (except prescription) for a period of 5 years. Let the market forces choose which ones are best, cheapest, most dangerous and most effective.

The cream rises.

The sludge sinks. Look at the Yugo.

Within 5 years the extreme pcp or whatever crack heads will either have shifted to a less harmful drug, cheaper drug or kilt themselves.

The WOSD industry (which is addicted as the druggers) will have had to find a productive line of work. The Body Armor Industry can devote more energy into protecting our overseas armies.

Columbia will revert back to a third world country or change their economy to coffee. Cheaper coffee, an unintended consequence. :D

The farmers may, but I doubt it, be able to find a new cash crop. Switch from Tobacco to Poppies or Pot. Even Hemp rope may come back. Put a hurtin on Dupont.

The non-addicted community can watch these goings on with relative safety and some well deserved humor.

The only negative that I can imagine will be that the .gov wosd industry will have to find some other segment of the population to harass. Like in '34 after they legalized alcohol, the gun owners became the new target.

So we gotta shut down the ATF at the same time.
 
I have the,"Elusive Answer to the W. O. some D.,

One: Legalize all substances found to be less addictive than Cigarettes. It only seems right, as nicotine is really more addictive than most drugs. How many pot smokers, or coke heads can use 60 doses a day and survive. People do smoke 3 packs off cigarettes a day(one cigarette being equal to a dose) and live relatively normal lives. Pot is no worse than alcohol, or cigarettes and would be the only drug that would be legal overnight with no testing.

Two:If you go to Sate or Federal Correction facilities, you DO ALL OF YOUR TIME!!!!!!! Along side this startling new idea, we would adjust the penalties for, or have legal review of all laws currently on the books at the State and Federal Level. As I have said before, it is too easy to become a felon in this Country.

Last adjustment to the corrections side of the equation would be the new State and Federal Corrections Facility Motto,"You Don't Work, You Don't Eat, You Starve!!! Just Like the Real World !!!".

Three: Leave people to figure out what is right for themselves. Who would have ever thought that would be a foreign concept in the US, sad really:(...
 
People do smoke 3 packs off cigarettes a day(one cigarette being equal to a dose) and live relatively normal lives.
Click to expand...

The effect of nicotine lasts from a few seconds to maybe a minute. Each drag from each cigarette is a single dose.
 
George Washington smoked Marijuana and Jefferson smoked Opium

George W. grew Marijuana and Hemp on his property. He also smoked it for pain relief (ever see the mans wooden false teeth with springs? OUCH!)

Thomas Jefferson grew Opium at his Monticello Mansion. The opium was still there until the GESTAPO DEA ripped it out a few decades ago.

I don't use drugs myself, but if somebody wants to occasionally smoke pot or opium, and if they can control their usage like a wise man can control his wine usage, then what's the problem?

The Neo-Fascists would disagree however.
 
People do smoke 3 packs off cigarettes a day(one cigarette being equal to a dose) and live relatively normal lives.
Click to expand...

ARGH. sure, as long as they dont try and quit.

nicotine addiction is like pollution , doesnt really exist.

cigarettes are good for you.

kids should smoke.

alcohol, no problem!! drink up!!

it's that weed, the evil evil weedy mc weed weed.

turns your kids GAY!

makes them hate guns, dubya, and everything else American.
 
Government conspiracy to gain more control? No, I don't think so.

However, it is a human tendency for individuals working within an organization to expand the capabilites and power of the organization. Organizations have a tendency over time for 'mission creep' to really twist things around.

I don't think there are that many people in the government who are looking for total control. However, looking at the historical record, it's hard to ignore that most governments make a try for utter supremacy sooner or later. Government is like kudzu. From time to time, it needs to be burnt, sprayed, plowed under, and goats set to feeding in the area where it's growing. Otherwise it gets biggity.

You could make a government staffed solely with clones of Mother Teresa. After a few centuries, it would start to getting too big for its breeches. It's the nature of governments composed of human beings.

I'm not just leery of government. I advocate keeping an eye on all organizations composed of people. The organizations have a way of morphing into new things over time. Some of those new things become venomous.
 
So let's say these do-good .gov war on druggers succeed.

All they gotta do is destroy at least the 2nd, 4th, 5th, 7th, 9th and 10th amendments.

In 281 Pyrrhus went to Italy and defeated the Romans at Heraclea and Asculum, but suffered bitterly heavy losses. The devastation led to his famous statement, "One more such victory and I am lost" -- hence the term "Pyrrhic victory" for any victory so costly as to be ruinous.

We won't even need 1 more.
 
Well if what was occuring in Mina, Ark., is true they the drug trade is very profitable for the Bush-Klinton gang. Drugs for guns to South America is what I think it was about.

During Vietnam the CIA using Air America was bringing drugs into the good old USA, some of it was being brought in through Dover,AFB in coffins of our KIA in Southeast Asia.

Is the government as a whole involved? No I just think that is is a few who make the war on drugs null and void.
 
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