Ron Paul: End Insanity Of The War on Drugs—Start With Decriminalizing Marijuana!
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bornnraisedoffCMR
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End Insanity Of The War on Drugs—Start With Decriminalizing Marijuana at The Federal Level
Ron Paul
U.S. Congressman (R-Texas)
Two-time Presidential Candidate
Physician, Obstetrics & Gynecology
In light of the recent drug-related violence in Mexico, it is appropriate to reflect on how our current prohibition laws affect crime, law enforcement and the economy.
Many will have the knee-? reaction of wanting to see more of a crackdown on illegal drugs. But I have to ask: Haven't we been cracking down on drugs for several decades only to see the black market flourish and the violence escalate? Could there be a more effective approach?
The illegality of drugs is, in fact, the Number One factor that keeps profits up for dealers and cartels, and ensures that organized crime dominates the market.
? , for example, has about a 17,000-percent markup and sells for more than gold in some areas. This is nothing new or unique to drugs, but a predictable outcome of prohibition.
During alcohol prohibition, Al Capone and others involved in organized crime made fortunes taking advantage of the dangerous and lucrative underground market the laws had created. Every time law enforcement makes another bust, profits rise for the remaining suppliers. These types of economic forces are insurmountable for law enforcement, but make for very good business for dealers and cartels.
For the rest of us, however, it is a disaster. The war on drugs keeps our prisons full to bursting at great expense to taxpayers, but also at great danger to the public at large when the real criminals, the murderers, the rapists, the child molesters, are let out to make room for non-violent drug offenders.
We imprison more of our population per capita than Russia or China ever have, and yet criminals like Philip Garrido (Jaycee Lee Dugard's kidnapper) are out there able to ? and kidnap again and again. (It is interesting that in his case, a little marijuana caught the attention of law enforcement more than repeated reports from neighbors of children in his backyard).
The War on Drugs skews the priorities of law enforcement to the detriment of the public.
Repeal of alcohol prohibition certainly did organized crime no favors. So too today, if we wanted to pull the rug out from under violent drug cartels, create legitimate job opportunities in place of the black market, realign the priorities of law enforcement, and make room in prison for the people that ought to be there, we need to end the insanity of the War on Drugs.
Decriminalizing marijuana at the federal level would be a start.
© 2010 CNBC.com
URL: http://www.cnbc.com/id/36267220/
Ron Paul
U.S. Congressman (R-Texas)
Two-time Presidential Candidate
Physician, Obstetrics & Gynecology
In light of the recent drug-related violence in Mexico, it is appropriate to reflect on how our current prohibition laws affect crime, law enforcement and the economy.
Many will have the knee-? reaction of wanting to see more of a crackdown on illegal drugs. But I have to ask: Haven't we been cracking down on drugs for several decades only to see the black market flourish and the violence escalate? Could there be a more effective approach?
The illegality of drugs is, in fact, the Number One factor that keeps profits up for dealers and cartels, and ensures that organized crime dominates the market.
? , for example, has about a 17,000-percent markup and sells for more than gold in some areas. This is nothing new or unique to drugs, but a predictable outcome of prohibition.
During alcohol prohibition, Al Capone and others involved in organized crime made fortunes taking advantage of the dangerous and lucrative underground market the laws had created. Every time law enforcement makes another bust, profits rise for the remaining suppliers. These types of economic forces are insurmountable for law enforcement, but make for very good business for dealers and cartels.
For the rest of us, however, it is a disaster. The war on drugs keeps our prisons full to bursting at great expense to taxpayers, but also at great danger to the public at large when the real criminals, the murderers, the rapists, the child molesters, are let out to make room for non-violent drug offenders.
We imprison more of our population per capita than Russia or China ever have, and yet criminals like Philip Garrido (Jaycee Lee Dugard's kidnapper) are out there able to ? and kidnap again and again. (It is interesting that in his case, a little marijuana caught the attention of law enforcement more than repeated reports from neighbors of children in his backyard).
The War on Drugs skews the priorities of law enforcement to the detriment of the public.
Repeal of alcohol prohibition certainly did organized crime no favors. So too today, if we wanted to pull the rug out from under violent drug cartels, create legitimate job opportunities in place of the black market, realign the priorities of law enforcement, and make room in prison for the people that ought to be there, we need to end the insanity of the War on Drugs.
Decriminalizing marijuana at the federal level would be a start.
© 2010 CNBC.com
URL: http://www.cnbc.com/id/36267220/
Comments
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Or we could do like China and other Nations that have low drug use and selling.
Start executing ? 's and chopping heads off. -
or we could do like china and other nations that have low drug use and selling.
Start executing ? 's and chopping heads off.
sounds good to me. -
Or we could do like China and other Nations that have low drug use and selling.
Start executing ? 's and chopping heads off.
How many black people would perish every year under that policy? 2,000? 10,000? 40,000? More?
Sounds like (another) covert genocide method to me.
and lol @ "Two-time Presidential Candidate"
like that's some kind of achievement. -
How else are we supposed to get prison records on minorities?
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He's right, the drug war is complete ? , it makes us pay too much to house non violent drug offenders who come out n go right back to drugs, at least put them in rehab if your gonna use OUR money so when they come out some will contribute to society. We spend billions on this ? and it stops nothing, you cant end drugs when America is the biggest producer of drugs. Pills are 2000's version of 80s ? . Until they legalize mary jane, create clinics for heroin addicts, and lessen the charges on other drugs ? will continue to grow bigger and bigger and we will spend more and more on it.
Theres a million reasons why we cant end it though which are all ? stupid.
1.) Private prisons would lose to much money.
2.) They couldnt control who gets it as easy as they can now.
3.) They wouldn't be able to use as many chain gangs and earn money while prisoners are being put through slavery.
4.) They dont want to end most of the crime because it helps to sterotype, ecspecially now with Mexicans going drug war crazy they are using the ? as an excuse as to why Illegal Immigrants are so dangerous.
I could go into a million benefits why it would help America, economically, it would take away some racism, it would cut down on violence tremendously. Theres so much its hard to believe anyone acually things the War On Drugs is worth it. -
How else are we supposed to get prison records on minorities?
The drug war only affects minorities?
It was originally build to opress minorities but they dont care what color you are now everyones getting locked up for it. -
Ron Paul is right.....he seems like a very smart man, if Obama doesn't get our troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan by 2011, I might vote for Paul.
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Swiffness! wrote: »How many black people would perish every year under that policy? 2,000? 10,000? 40,000? More?
Sounds like (another) covert genocide method to me.
and lol @ "Two-time Presidential Candidate"
like that's some kind of achievement.
Hey, it better than "Former Vice Presidential Candidate" *looking at you Sarah* -
ThaChozenWun wrote: »The drug war only affects minorities?
It was originally build to opress minorities but they dont care what color you are now everyones getting locked up for it.
Not the point....
See "? vs ? Bill" Thread to understand what I'm talking about -
ThaChozenWun wrote: »The drug war only affects minorities?
It was originally build to opress minorities but they dont care what color you are now everyones getting locked up for it.
No it doesnt only affect minorities, yet, the largest populations in the prison system are minorities. -
The Drug War largely affects minorities.
Trust me, plenty of upper middle class households are smoking weed, taking pills, etc but they dont have to worry about unlawful searches, profiling tactics, etc.....they do their drugs in peace.
The drug war disproportionally affects black because it disproportionally affects the poor. -
bornnraisedoffCMR wrote: »The Drug War largely affects minorities.
Trust me, plenty of upper middle class households are smoking weed, taking pills, etc but they dont have to worry about unlawful searches, profiling tactics, etc.....they do their drugs in peace.
The drug war disproportionally affects black because it disproportionally affects the poor.
We won't even get into the topic of prescription drugs.... -
Swiffness! wrote: »How many black people would perish every year under that policy? 2,000? 10,000? 40,000? More?
Sounds like (another) covert genocide method to me.
and lol @ "Two-time Presidential Candidate"
like that's some kind of achievement.
No. I mean start with those who initiate and control the trade. We can take a page from Reagan, with the trickle down economic theory. We can start the trickle down guillotine program. Start head chopping at the top then work your way down. By the time the word gets out many will exit the game never too return. -
This is interesting bcause I was watching Ron Paul speeches all day today.... And I've voted democratically for 2 elections.
Here's my favorite video:
and another one:
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geechee slim wrote: »This is interesting bcause I was watching Ron Paul speeches all day today.... And I've voted democratically for 2 elections.
Here's my favorite video:
and another one:
Good ? mayne
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjtL1xvcleA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufekh_SwZd0