Damn it feels good to be the cop that knows a gangsta…or the mayor, or the gov, or the President (an encore post)

Originally posted on My Space March 16, 2008. As just stated in the post prior to this you will receive a shiny brand new something or other, original for Blogger tomorrow or later in the week. Thanks for your patience in the interim. This will be new for some peeps anyway.

Okay so I know that I said my next blog would be on healthcare, and trust me it’s coming. Right now it’s hitting a little too close to home, and I just don’t have it in me. Additionally, I promise sometime I’ll blog during the day when my thoughts are more cohesive, and I can write with clarity. Sorry, you’re just going to have to deal with another mess for now.

Tonight, I finally watched American Gangster. You know the one with the unfortunate-looking Denzel Washington portraying the real-life character of drug lord Frank Lucas. It was a long but entertaining movie that has inspired me to indulge in a little War on Drugs complaining tonight, and I hope it will help to tire me out soon as I have a 4:30a.m. wake up call tomorrow (blerg!)

Now, let’s see what was I thinking as the credits rolled…mmm, Denzel is a good-looking man…um, the War on Drugs is as backwards now as it was then…

Not only does the "War" on Drugs undermine our fundamental civil liberties, but there are very few public policies that have negatively impacted public or societal health to such a degree as this so called war. Were Foucalt alive to see this mess he’d probably say it was a biopolitical war. The War on Drugs is a war started by the Government against its own people.

The War on Drugs is the botch job of countless politicians and an utter waste of taxpayers’ dollars. Public health problems like Hepatitis C and HIV are only escalated by laws that restrict access to clean needles. US-backed aerial fumigation of drug-growing operations in third world countries is causing the deterioration of an already fragile environment, not to mention the direct negative health impact the fumigation has on the inhabitants of those areas.

Social concerns include the costs associated with funding a War on Drugs. Like any actual war it is pricey. It was estimated that in 2005 after factoring in incarcerating drug law offenders, police protection, legal adjudication, etc. that $45.5 billion was spent on the War on Drugs. Drug prohibition also inflates the cost of drugs, leading users to steal or harm to support their high priced habits. Additionally the War on Drugs plays a negative role in society with its seeming promulgation of racial inequities in a country where minorities still face discrimination. How so? African American and Latino groups are stereotyped as the big drug lords when let’s be realistic: the big drug lords are oft the White House backed corporations that supplied Central American countries with the materials necessary for manufacturing narcotics, not the 14 year old slinging crack (he’s small potatoes.) This War is yet another means for the government to further separate people from each other and from their liberties. Shamefully, the War is causing a vicious cycle that will only be perpetuated in the children of inmates; inmates serving time for distributing marijuana, cocaine, non-prescribed pharmaceuticals, etc. Those children are at risk of educational failure, joblessness, addiction and delinquency.

You would think that we had learned our lesson with alcohol prohibition, but no; here we sit idly by while the government forces a non-Constitutional prohibition of drugs. I’m not saying that I promote all drug use. Admittedly drug abuse is bad, but the drug war is worse. Illegal drugs foster speciously high profits that fund groups such as the Taliban and other similar groups involved in civil warfare across the globe. Despite its opium sales funding their war against the U.S. we still offered somewhat of a reward to the Taliban to abate some of its poppy fields. What is wrong with that scenario? Puhleeze, I only have so much time here before I must attempt slumber.

So what was I saying? Oh yeah, drug prohibition is a Constitutional no no, and since its start has only succeeded in an increase of drug use in all categories. Just for fun though let’s look at marijuana. Once thought in the U.S. as a drug used only by Mexican immigrants and a handful of musicians, since the first hindrance of its availability and use in 1937, it is noted in some places to be used by up to 50% of our nation’s youth at least once. (1937 is when the government passed the Marijuana Tax Act to curb distribution / use of marijuana.) Again, this is a misuse of government. Specifically though, I am concerned with the federal government regulating medical marijuana. Legalization of medical marijuana is a states’ rights issue. The federal government doesn’t have a constitutional foot to stand on when it comes to this issue.

I would like to see us venture away from the War on Drugs and into a world of Harm Reduction. Harm Reduction is rooted in the following tenets: 1. people should not be punished for what they put into their bodies and 2. people should only be punished for crimes committed against others. It acknowledges that no society will ever be free of drugs. It holds that drug policies should seek to reduce the negative consequences (principally death, disease, crime and suffering) of both drug use and the policies themselves.

Okay, seriously I am tired, but there is so much more to say. I didn’t even get to start on the benefits of medical marijuana...another time perhaps. Sometimes I wonder if it’s worth it anyway. I love you people, but why do I waste my time sharing my thoughts to only have 29 of you read them? Then again, I guess none of you asked so really I can’t complain. Thanks to those that venture into my late night jumbles.

More info (not that it's all perfect either):
War on Drugs Basics http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_on_Drugs
Money Spent http://www.drugsense.org/wodclock.htm
Harm Reduction http://www.harmreduction.org/