America has had a "War on Drugs" since the Nixon administration, based on prohibition and criminalizing drugs. That policy has drained hundreds of billions from our economy, driven drug traffic underground, and raised the price on a commodity that otherwise would cost pennies. Domestically and internationally our "War on Drugs" policies are not only a dismal failure, they produce the exact opposite result.
Paul B. Farrell wrote the above words in a MarketWatch piece earlier this week.
No matter where you turn these days, one can find an honest assessment of the War on Drugs. It's the longest-running war in USA history, surpassed in length and futility only by the equally-inane War on Poverty.
With no end in sight, billions spent, thousands imprisoned and make-work jobs in the Federal bureaucracy its only victory, the War on Drugs is another stark reminder of a governmental nightmare in action. "Regulating U.S. citizens' chemical preferences" is just another example things government doesn't do well.
Economist Milton Friedman made a similar point in a letter to President George H.W. Bush’s first drug czar, William J. Bennett: “Of course the problem is demand, but it is not only demand, it is demand that must operate through repressed and illegal channels. Illegality creates obscene profits that finance the murderous tactics of the drug lords; illegality leads to the corruption of law enforcement officials; illegality monopolizes the efforts of honest law forces so that they are starved for resources to fight the simpler crimes of robbery, theft and assault.
“Drugs are a tragedy for addicts. But criminalizing their use converts that tragedy into a disaster for society, for users and nonusers alike. Our experience with the prohibition of drugs is a replay of our experience with the prohibition of alcoholic beverages.”
Friedman isn't the only government policy heavyweight to outline the monstrous failure; Google "War on Drugs" and almost 49 million stories turn up. Most of those stories highlight the cost of a war far exceeding the Iraqi and Afghanistan wars combined, many times over.
The U.S. federal government spent over $19 billion dollars in 2003 on the War on Drugs, at a rate of about $600 per second. The budget has since been increased by over a billion dollars.
The control-Nazis championing the War on Drugs are the same people leading the cheers for no-smoking anywhere laws, 0% alcohol tolerance laws, and a fat-free food environment. Their motto: "We know better how to live your life than you do."
The next time someone is ranting about America's failure to win the War on Drugs, ask them who the enemy is. If they have any answer than "other Americans", they are just repeating the propaganda of another failed Federal boondoggle.
Sources:
* War on Drugs: 30 years of Failure
* War on Drugs Victims
* War on Drugs Clock
* The Failed War on Drugs
DBKP.com - Bigger, Better!.
Death by 1000 Papercuts Front Page.
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