I don’t like drugs, but the drug war is worse. Here are 20 reasons why.
1. Most of the problems people associate with drugs are actually caused by the war on drugs.
2. Prohibition is not effective, addiction and drug abuse have stayed the same since the inception of the war on drugs.
Source: http://www.thewire.com/national/2012/10/chart-says-war-drugs-isnt-working/57913/
3. A basic understanding of economics will allow you to see that the supply is not going to be hindered if the demand never decreases, which it never does.
4. Prohibition opens the market for more dangerous synthetic drugs like flakka, spice and bath salts. People don’t want to pop on drug tests or be arrested so they use these drugs instead.
Source: http://bit.ly/2bBmyT4
5. Science shows that punishment is the worst thing for addicts and it drives the vast majority of people further into their addiction.
Source:
6. There is a stronger connection between childhood abuse and addiction than there is with obesity and diabetes.
Source:
7. Nearly every individual drug has been made illegal by the government demonizing a minority class of people.
8. The words cannabis and hemp were changed to “marijuana” and reefer madness was born. The government colluded with media to build the public hysteria about killer blacks, Mexicans, and jazz musicians. It was later criminalized further to target black people and anti-war “hippies.”
Jazz musicians: http://bit.ly/1njPS4E
Hippies : http://bit.ly/1T6QaZS
9. Cocaine was made illegal to target blacks, and police started using more firepower, overnight, because of the “crazed negro” propaganda.
Source:
10. Ecstasy was blamed on homosexuals in the 80’s and made illegal without any scientific evidence of its harmful effects.
Source:
11. From the beginning, the drug laws have benefitted the cartels and gangs more than anyone.
Source: http://bit.ly/1nmfIVA
12. The nation's first drug laws were bought and paid for by the cartels.
Source: https://www.facebook.com/endthedrugwarprotest/videos/2057780601114073/
13. The government has been caught on all levels (CIA, DEA, state & local law enforcement) working with the drug cartels and gangs.
CIA - https://theintercept.com/2014/09/25/managing-nightmare-cia-media-destruction-gary-webb/
DEA - http://www.businessinsider.com/the-us-government-and-the-sinaloa-cartel-2014-1
State & Local: http://thefreethoughtproject.com/officer-year-sentenced-30-years-prison-providing-guns-drug-cartel/
14. The drug war is the main source of corruption in law enforcement as a whole. Civil asset forfeiture is a racket, and police now steal more property and cash than all the criminals combined.
Source: http://bit.ly/210t6Pc
15. There are more people incarcerated for drugs today than all prisoners in America in 1980.
Source: http://sentencingproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Trends-in-US-Corrections.pdf
16. Having a non-violent drug offense on your record can keep you from getting a job, a place to live, or even keep you from getting college financial assistance.
17. Blacks and whites use drugs at about the same rate, yet African-Americans are 4-5 times more likely to be convicted of drug possession.
Source:
18. Homicide clearance rates (solved murders) are near all-time lows. This is likely due to the incentives the drug war creates for individual cops to go after low-level drug offenders in order to receive promotions. These incentives placed by federal grants to state and local police departments makes busting drug users priority over spending time solving violent crimes. Due to the hyper-violent, state-sanctioned war on drugs, the average member of the community increasingly sees their local law enforcers as their potential persecutors and punishers, which closes the conversation between the community and police, making it more difficult to solve homicide cases.
Source:
19. Law enforcement says they need expanding militarized SWAT units so they can be used for active shooter/hostage/barricade scenarios. In reality, the majority of SWAT deployments are used to combat the drug war. SWAT is deployed for the reasons named above only 7% of the time.
Source: http://bit.ly/1jRe8Df
20. Other countries have experimented with decriminalization and legalization techniques that work much more effectively than the punishment-based war on drugs. This “do no harm” approach other countries are using is much more effective and much cheaper.
Source: