US giving up the "war on drugs"?

I'd like to think it may be true, but the investment in the drug war is stupendous, and the constituency is huge. Militarized police forces and thousands of new jail cells per year will hardly be needed for traffic offenders.

Well, one piece of encouraging news on this front is that a California Assembly subcommittee this week voted in favor a bill to put the legalization, regulation, and taxation of marijuana on the California ballot as an initiative. It's not going any farther at the moment because the legislative session is ending, but it's a first step.

That's good news. Just like with gay marriage, it's the states that are taking the initiative on this issue, while the feds squabble. Last time I checked, fifteen states have decriminalized weed. Unfortunately, my state isn't one of them. But it's good to see that the DEA could possibly be on it's way out; this will take a long time. As Don pointed out, there's a lot of money in the correctional system and those interests won't go away quietly. Still, we're moving in the right direction.

I get the sense that a lot of people here, on all points of the political spectrum, share a significant degree of general agreement on this issue.

Now, go listen to what the Pat Robertsons and John Hagees and James Dobsons and Ted Haggards have to say about it. Not to mention that bastion of purity about the abuse of illegal drugs, Rush Limbaugh.

Then you'll understand another of the major obstacles to be overcome.

caw

Reducing the spending on trying to stop the overseas production of drugs is good, as that seems to be a very futile part of the War On Drugs.

But other parts are quite profitable for local and federal law enforcement, such as the forfeiture laws. Anyone found with large sums of money on their person or in their car gets the money (and probably the car too) confiscated with the reasoning that the only reason someone would have large amounts of cash is to use for drug dealing. Groups such as the ACLU have complained that this is an egregious rights violation, much like aspects of the more recent Patriot Act. I can see where this sort of thing could still go on, as harder drugs continue to be "highly" illegal. Confiscation of property, especially when it is only suspected to have a connection with illegal drugs, is a "profit center" for law enforcement that they may be reluctant to give up.

While I was a kid, my hometown liked to take cars stolen--I mean, confiscated from so-called dealers and rebrand them for service as cop cars. These cars often had text painted on their sides proclaiming them as such, plus some lame slogan like "deal drugs, lose your car".

AryaT92 said:

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Hmmmmmmmm.

blacbird said:

Not to mention that bastion of purity about the abuse of illegal drugs, Rush Limbaugh.

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Perhaps my memory is faulty, but when did Rush abuse illegal drugs?

And forgive my ignorance, but why does the drug monster have an alligator clip head? I'm reminded of Bender abusing electricity on Futurama.

Roger J Carlson said:

Perhaps my memory is faulty, but when did Rush abuse illegal drugs?

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A few years ago...his housekeeper was hooking up him up with oxycontin, then the cops nabbed him and he went to rehab. As I recall.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/04/28/national/main1561324.shtml

Sarpedon said:

And forgive my ignorance, but why does the drug monster have an alligator clip head? I'm reminded of Bender abusing electricity on Futurama.

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roach clip?

Oh. I guess that shows how boring I am.

If you're referring to the roach of a blunt, does anyone use that clip??? If not, nevermind.

Diana Hignutt said:

A few years ago...his housekeeper was hooking up him up with oxycontin, then the cops nabbed him and he went to rehab. As I recall.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/04/28/national/main1561324.shtml

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I don't see anything in that article about illegal drugs.

AryaT92 said:

If you're referring to the roach of a blunt, does anyone use that clip??? If not, nevermind.

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Some people do, yes.

Roger J Carlson said:

I don't see anything in that article about illegal drugs.

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If it's not your prescription, oxycontin is illegal.

Diana Hignutt said:

If it's not your prescription, oxycontin is illegal.

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Yep. If you're caught with it and don't have a bottle with your name on it, you'll most likely go to jail.

AryaT92 said:

If you're referring to the roach of a blunt, does anyone use that clip??? If not, nevermind.

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Not everyone smokes blunts. Not a big fan, myself. But, regular joints, sure, lots of people use clips to keep fom burning their fingers as they pass it about or hold it. Or, um, so I'm told.

Diana Hignutt said:

If it's not your prescription, oxycontin is illegal.

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No, it's the illegal use of a drug, not the use of an illegal drug. I'm not just picking nits here. In the context of this thread about the War on Drugs and legalizing illegal drugs like marijuana, the difference is important.

Legalized marijuana is still illegal to use without a prescription. And yet we are talking here about "legalization, regulation, and taxation of marijuana".

Roger J Carlson said:

No, it's the illegal use of a drug, not the use of an illegal drug. I'm not just picking nits here. In the context of this thread about the War on Drugs and legalizing illegal drugs like marijuana, the difference is important.

Legalized marijuana is still illegal to use without a prescription. And yet we are talking here about "legalization, regulation, and taxation of marijuana".

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You're still missing something, I think. If you do not have a prescription for a prescription narcotic, it is just as illegal for you to have as crack, or heroin. So, it's exactly the same as having medical marijuana without a prescription. So, yeah, Rush was arrested for illegal drugs. I'm not seeing the difference you seem to be seing. Maybe, I'm dense today (yeah, that's it, just today)

Diana Hignutt said:

You're still missing something, I think. If you do not have a prescription for a prescription narcotic, it is just as illegal for you to have as crack, or heroin. So, it's exactly the same as having medical marijuana without a prescription. So, yeah, Rush was arrested for illegal drugs. I'm not seeing the difference you seem to be seing. Maybe, I'm dense today (yeah, that's it, just today)

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Okay, let me try again.

Alcohol is a legal drug, and yet it is illegal to use it if you are under the age of 21. If a minor uses alcohol, that does not make it an illegal drug. Again, in the context of this thread, if that were so, "legalizing marijuana" would not be legalizing it at all, as long as there are some controls on it.

And in Rush's case, he wasn't arrested for "illegal drugs". The charge was "fraud to conceal information to obtain prescriptions". That doesn't make it okay, but it is far different from being arrested for possession of illegal drugs.

Very few people in the US and Canada use clips.