The war on drugs has taken big steps toward ending in recent months as more and more officials call for the forty year old operation to end.
President Carter recently put an op-ed in the New York Times where he reiterated his objections to the “war”, and repeated a phase he used back in ‘77: “Penalties against possession of a drug should not be more damaging to an individual than the use of the drug itself.”
In December, a border patrol agent was killed in Arizona with weapons that, apparently, ATF agents did not stop from being smuggled into Mexico. The operation was intended to build a case against cartel bosses, but is being heavily scrutinized as a failure.
The incident, along with the tens of thousands of deaths of Mexican citizens, may be shaping up like the Kent State shooting, widely considered the “straw that broke the camel’s back” in ending the war in Vietnam. When gross mismanagement of an armed conflict becomes glaringly apparent, people lose their patience for that conflict.
Eventually, marijuana will become legalized. There’s too much support among the young, who will eventually turn 18 and be able to vote for their ideals. The revenue potential on taxed marijuana sales is also very tempting in these tumultuous economic times.
Still, I’m troubled by this debate for two main reasons: There is a lot of conflicting science on the dangers of recreational marijuana use and the supposed benefits of medical marijuana, and there are few scientific advocates for legalization. It’s purely an emotional debate, when it should be based in science.
I also don’t know what “ending the war on drugs” means. Legalize everything? Just weed? Focus on treatment instead of incarceration? Nobody has yet to answer that question, partly because there’s not just one coherent message from the legalization movement.
Here’s the biggest issue. Legalizing drugs doesn’t solve the main problem they cause: addiction. Addiction destroys families, creates most of the street crime that exists in this country, and drives women into prostitution. Legalizing drugs, a tacit sign of societal approval, could exacerbate these issues. It’s also an issue that legalization advocates tend to ignore, instead focusing on the moral outrage of putting people in jail when they break the law.
If “ending the war on drugs” means emphasizing treatment over jail time, then I’m for it. But there are too many lingering issues the legalization movement has yet to address for me to favor blanket legalization and you can watch drug lord online free here.
uniquelythesame replied to your post: The War On Drugs
A portion of any population will have addictive personalities and nothing will change that. Also, legalizing drugs will likely make the danger’s more apparent (as with cigarettes and alcohol) and drive away people who’d take them otherwise.
This is the logic I don’t get. Legalization will discourage use? That’s about as counter-intuitive as it gets.
