Drug War Supporters: Evil or Uneducated?

I really think that at this point, to still support the drug war you have to either be one of two things.

1. Uninformed and ignorant of the effects of the war on drugs and the violence and death it has caused.

2. Evil, enjoying the tens of thousands of deaths that the war on drugs has caused and thinks it's okay to control someone else's body.

I propose to those that support the drug war that you read this thread, look at the evidence and be true to yourself. Don't be willfully ignorant of the truth, people are suffering and dying every day. Is being stubborn worth that price?

Firstly, the drug war for all intents and purposes has failed. One trillion dollars have been spent on the drug war since its inception forty years ago. Drug use has not decreased and supply of illegal drugs is as steady as ever.

How has the war on drugs effected North American countries?

Mexico


The drug war has decimated Mexico and has led the deaths of over 47,000 men, women, and children. Each year that prohibition is in the place, the death toll rises exponentially.

2,837 killed in 2007
6,844 killed in 2008
9,635 killed in 2009
15,273 killed in 2010
16,466 killed in 2011

Who knows how many will die and have already died in 2012?

The drug cartels in Mexico profit greatly from the prohibition of drugs in the same way that Al Capone and other gangsters profited from alcohol prohibition. The public has a demand for drugs and because drugs are forbid on the legitimate marketplace, they go underground and become a source of profit for violent criminals.

USA



The war on drugs has greatly contributed to the militarization of our police because of the increased criminality that prohibition creates. Cases of police brutalizing individuals are commonplace, and with automatic weapons, the police are even more dangerous.


[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6b-67q0vlCw]Dog killing[/ame] In this video above, police terrorize a small family, killing their dogs. These small children and everyone involved will most likely have PTSD from this awful home invasion. All that terror for a little personal pot.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSfOBPlY2n0"]Unarmed kill[/ame] Again, in this video, a raid for a personal marijuana charge turns deadly when a bewildered man is awoken to sound of someone breaking into his home, he comes out unarmed and is shot to death. For what? These officers were acquitted of any wrong doing and no one will be punished for this mans murder.


Ever heard of spice? K2? These drugs contain a synthetic analogue of THC which unlike marijuana, is legal. These drugs are extremely carcinogenic and organ damaging.

This 13 year old boy had to have a double lung transplant after smoking this stuff, he died in the hospital. If marijuana was legal, these dangerous synthetic analogues wouldn't even exist! It's only because of the illegality of marijuana that people have to turn to dangerous legal alternatives.

If you're still somehow skeptical then look at Portugal and their success with the decriminalization of drugs! Drug use and drug related death as well as HIV decreased!

To continue to support the war on drugs in the face of evidence is evil and hypocritical. If you believe you should be able to tell me what I can put into my body then you must think I can tell you what you should put into your body.

If you support drug prohibition then you must support alcohol and tobacco prohibition as well as fatty food prohibition. If you support drug prohibition then you are relinquishing ownership of your body.

Don't support the madness any longer, end prohibition now.

 

May I assume that you are clear-headed enough to know not to use drugs
yourself?

And by the way, do you think it's okay to control someone else's body?
Because I assume that you don't disagree with the prohibition on murder or theft, right?

 

May I assume you are clear headed enough not to eat any processed foods or things that may be unhealthy?

You're really trying to compare murder and theft to drug use? Obviously a murderer or thief is violating the rights of another human being. Where is the victim when I smoke a blunt? You're making strawman's to avoid the argument, why don't you address the points I made?

Do you support a ban on fatty food? If you support the drug war then you should.

EDIT: The lack of responses to this thread is very telling. Why is it so hard for people to admit that they're opinion on something may have been uninformed? It's okay to say you're wrong sometimes.

 

To the title, I'd say both. There are a lot of conservatives who get off on the police raid, beating, and killing people for breaking the law, no matter what that law is. Many people also seem to believe that legalizing drugs means everyone (other than them of course) will go out and start using all the drugs they can find. Also they seem to believe that it would be completely legal to drive while smoking a blunt and injecting heroin. There are some strange beliefs out there regarding drugs and I think it's because people don't really think about it.

 

Well, they need to; lives are at stake. It's extremely selfish to ignore evidence while people are getting slaughtered.

 

There seems to be a really good connection between drug use, murder and theft.

 

You obviously didn't read the original post about decriminalization reducing crime AND drug use and how the illegality of drugs gives gangs a way to make money.

Why can't you just admit that you're wrong? Will it hurt your pride that much?

 

The drug war is a huge, money sucking, failure. Have the drugs stopped? NO! So make them legal, and let the old Darwin thing play out. Druggies will OD and die off, solving the hard drug problem rather quickly. The "soft" drug, pot, (notice the singular?) should be legalized and regulated similar to alcohol. This also opens the door to hemp farming for industrial purposes. I don't use either alcohol or drugs, and consider myself rather conservative, but I feel this, as outlined above, makes sense, and saves a TON of money in the process.

 

Actually, keeping drugs illegal makes drug OD's much more common. I'll refer you to a post I made previously on this very issue:

 

I'm not wrong. 1. Your government is not going to legalize drugs. Especially those drugs coming in from the south. If they did, all hell would break loose.

2. The only thing protecting us, normal americans, ares the police forces that catch and prosecute these people. OTHERWISE, normal everyday life would be hell for you and me and the rest of us. Nothing that we own and not our lives would be as safe as they are. It would be MUCH worse. The drug users and distributors are animals without an ounce of human decency. And they infiltrate every walk of life. You don't realize how much they are around you and you don't even know it.

 

I'm a huge supporter of the drug war just not the way we are going about it.

 

What you just said is an actual logical fallacy. It's called "begging the question." You made no argument, you just assumed that what you said is true. Begging the Question Fallacy

Criminals can only make money from drugs as long as they're illegal. I showed this in my post which you must not have read. Do you see violent gangs making money off of alcohol and tobacco? Of course not.

When alcohol was prohibited, violent gangs did the same thing that they do today with drugs.

I am offering you evidence and proof yet you continue to resist with nothing to back up your position. Why can't you admit that you're wrong?

This is a no-value post. Do you have any kind of rebuttal to the evidence I provided or are you just going to say you support the drug war blindly?

 

I think they are, by and large, well-meaning yet hopelessly ill-informed people.

There's at least 2 of them posting in this thread, in fact.

Great OP, by the way. I hadn't kept up on the issue in a while so it was good to see some recent figures.

 

The facts are right here in front of them, to deny it still is to admit to being irrational. It's really willful ignorance, how else can you explain it? That's why not many people respond, because you can't refute solid facts and evidence.

 

I am not sure why your bringing up Portugal to support your argument. Sure some of their statistics have dropped but most users in that country would prefer it the way it was.

Drugs still are not legal in Portugal, its just that you don't go to prison now. Instead, when you are caught using you are still sent to court where a judge will determine what type of drug treatment you need. You still can't sell or buy drugs in Portugal legally.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=portugal-drug-decriminalization

 

Look at alcohol prohibition before, during and after... That's enough said when Criminal Elements get involved with a Medical Problem and the State considers it a Criminal Problem.

 

Did you just make this up or do you have a source?

The risk of selling and possessing drugs has been reduced substantially, therefore more people are willing to do it. This reduces the violence that is inherent under a prohibitive drug law system. If it was legalized, this risk would drop to zero and violence would no longer have a place in the sale of drugs.

 

Yup. Our modern-day drug war has made Al Capones out of common criminals.

 

The link to the source is in the post where you found my quote.

 

The risk for selling has remained the same. Portugal has not legalized drugs they simply just decriminalized it.

Big difference.

 

Where in your source did it say that Portugal's drug users wanted the old system back? I didn't see it.

 

I know that it's a big difference but in Portugal you can possess up to ten days worth of personal consumption. That's enough so that small time dealers have a substantially smaller risk. If they get caught with it they can just say it was for personal use so it is definitely a lowered risk for small time dealers and users.

 

It didn't which is why that part was not in a quote box. In my opinion the drug rules in portugal are much more of a hassle now than they were. Its far easier to get busted, spend a night or two in jail and be out instead of having a lengthy drug treatment program forced on you.

You are free to disagree with that.

 

Well, you said that they preferred it. You implied that they said that's the way they feel. If it's just your opinion that they feel that way then you should've said so.

 

Kenrichaed, are you a Portugese drug addict? If not, how would your opinion on Portugese drug laws be valid?

I watched a "Cops" episode on cable last night when four big burly police searched a couples car and arrested them both for herion and marijuana posession - not dealing.

It was pathetic. Here were two damaged people being persecuted by the state for their illness.