From Reuters via the Daily Beast cheat sheet:
The Global Commission on Drug Policy has declared the international war on drugs a failure and urges a new approach. The commission said the practice of criminalizing drugs and incarcerating users has had “devastating consequences for individuals and societies around the world.” Instead, the panel recommended replacing incarceration of non-violent drug users with health treatment services. It also recommended governments to consider legalizing marijuana and other illicit drugs “to undermine the power of organized crime and safeguard the health and security of their citizens. The panel consisted of former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, businessman Richard Branson, former U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz, and 16 other members.
So, there you have it. Should we, as a nation, just give up and legalize some drugs, in particular, cannabis? How much a year do we spend incarcerating drug users? How much crime goes on because of turf wars over drugs?
Should drugs be sold by states and taxes collected? Would we decriminalize or legalize? Would more people do drugs because they were legal?
What direction should the United States take?
Would border issues with Mexico reduce if some of the drugs being smuggled in could be bought here?
The report from the Global Commission on Drug Policy seems to pose more questions than it answers.
Funny that you should post this. I just read this today. Great comments too about the current failure of Prohibition.
http://www.qando.net/?p=10900
Thanks for including that link. I have mixed feelings about decriminalizing drugs. I think if that happened I would want us to make tax revenue off of them. You know, balance the budget.
Just legalize pot and put a twinkies store in every block. And charge 10 bucks per twinkie…..
Great! The illegals would stop mowing lawns, and start growing pot. They all have green thumbs it seems. After a few years the phrase ‘mowing the grass’ will have a whole new meaning.
MH, have you seen http://www.leap.cc/ ?
I’m fine with legalizing pot but would of course leave it to each state to figure out how they want to tax it (if at all) and to what level you hit ‘intoxication’.
I still think Virginia should look into legalizing gambling.
haha on the twinkies.. But, that has the unintended consequence of screwing us fat people. We have rights, too!
Virginians have been trying to legalize gambling for years. There is great backlash over it for some reason. I suppose it depends on how one defines gambling actually. Slot machines aren’t even legal. Look how long it took to get parimetuel betting legal in VA. And after almost 20 years I think it is only done at one place, Colonial Downs. I might be wrong so correct me.
Maybe the state would be the grower. Who knows. Not up to me to figure all that out.
SA didn’t say how he felt about the ‘war.’ Does he think we are winning?
Who started the expression ‘war on drugs?’ Tricky Dick.
Legalize it.
Tax the crap out of it.
Remove the money from the cartels.
Once again, I agree with Pat.
I think the commission is clearly correct – we’ve spent a small fortune (maybe a sizable fortune) trying to out drug dealers out of business, and we’ve failed. You can trace the situation in Mexico with the emergence of the cartels to laws prohibiting the sale of Sudafed in the US (the active ingredient in Sudafed, which I am incapable of spelling or pronouncing, is one of the necessary ingredients in Meth).
Because the current approach of tossing everyone in jail clearly isn’t working, we need to consider alternatives. Do we legalize all narcotics, regulate the production of them, and tax their production and sale just like any other business? Would it be possible to stipulate that 75% of the revenue raised through taxing the narcotic trade go directly towards rehab programs?
Didn’t the Netherlands try that a while back (or was it just pot?)? If so, what happened when they did it?
What sort of programs do we have to educate people, especially kids, about the harmful effects of drug use? Granted I was in school a few decades ago, but all I remember was “don’t do drugs because they’ll make you feel so good you’ll be addicted like immediately……and they’re illegal so you might end up in jail.” I remember at the time thinking that if it weren’t for that whole jail thing I wouldn’t mind trying some drug cause anything that’ll make you feel so good you’re addicted immediately must make you feel reaaaalllllly goooooood.
I look at cigarettes and can’t help thinking that we’ve changed opinion on them through an aggressive public education program. Maybe something like that would be effective with drugs.
Drop a supertanker off the coast of Columbia.
Tell the cartels that we will deal with only one.
Let them fight it out.
Tell that cartel what price we will pay. Tell the cartel that we will NOT be buying if other cartels send cocaine into America.
Cut out all the middle men.
Turn that Cocaine or derivative into real medicine. Or dump it at sea.
Rinse, repeat.
Problem solved.
The producer gets paid and doesn’t have to ship it to the US.
Take a look at Portugal ten years after the government legalized drugs. The data for ending this waste of people and money with this “war” is there for all to see.