The federal government and the states have spent over 1trillion dollars on the drug war.?

Question

That's $1,0000,0000,000,000. We spend about $70 billion a year now. And yet just about any drug can be found within five miles of a typical neighborhood.

At what point do we open our eyes and say enough is enough and look for an alternative to this failed policy? What about giving personal autonomy back to American citizens?

Answer 1

We spend 10 BILLION a year on marijuana enforcement, think its time to decriminalize/legalize?
-10.7 Billion dollars down the drain
-Not to mention the 30 Billion we're missing out on by not regulating and taxing marijuana.
-829,627 people are arrested every year for marijuana offenses. That's more than the entire population of North Dakota + the entire population of a small American city


42 BILLION dollars that could have been spent on:

-We could pass the State Children's Health Insurance Program that Bush is threatening to veto (because it costs too much!): 7 Billion
- We could hire 880,000 schoolteachers at the average U.S. teacher salary of $47,602 per year.
-Or give every one of our current teachers a 30 percent raise (at a cost of $15 billion, according to the American Federation of Teachers) and use what's left to take a $27 billion whack out of the federal deficit.
-Or use all $42 billion for a massive tax cut that would put an extra $140 in the pockets of every person in the country -- $560 for a family of four.

Answer 2

Add the trillion dollars being poured down a rat hole in some desert halfway across the globe and now you have 2 trillion dollars. That buys a lot of personal autonomy. Not to mention new schools, libraries, recreation centers, infrastructure, medical aid, health care, and heck, there's enough left over for a few hundred giant amusement parks that are "drug friendly." Nothing like getting a little ripped before you go on that Kamikaze Sky-Screamer or whatnot.

Answer 3

This war along with every war that our Armed Forces (the best in the world) have fought, have always been fought with the intention of winning. It is people like you who aren't supporting the war effort and saying the war is already lost that are negatively affecting our troops. I don't see what's funny about God fearing Christians fighting the war, nor do I see what you mean about them making God their platform issue. The war in Iraq is being fought so that the people of Iraq can be freed from oppression and enjoy the same freedoms we have enjoyed. If this just so happens to be something a Christian person would want for others, what's wrong with that?

Answer 4

In this country, a guy can go home at night, grab a bottle of scotch, and drink himself into oblivion without breaking a single law. Forget about the ingestion of any substance, he can blow his head off with a shotgun because of depression and, again, no laws are violated. Heck, he can go home and shoot a pound of butter into his heart and we don't care. He wants to gargle with Clorox? No law violation there, either. So why do we care about personal drug use in one's own home?

I really don't know. I'm not going to do it, but what my neighbor does behind closed doors is his business and certainly shouldn't be any concern of government.

Sure you can provide me with a ton of stories about how drugs have ruined someone's life, but there are an equal number of stories about how alcohol, prescription medication, or even flat out laziness have done the same thing. If people wish to self-destruct, they are going to find a way to accomplish that goal.

If we legalize the stuff, we could simply treat it as we currently do alcohol:
(1). It's illegal to buy it if you are a minor.
(2). It's illegal for an adult to buy it and then freely provide it to a minor.
(3). It's illegal to drive under the influence of it.
(4). It's illegal to be in public under the influence if you are a danger to yourself and others.
(5). There are only certain locations and certain areas where it can be sold

What will the probable result be? Less crime and less taxes.

Could anything be any worse than our current system?

Answer 5

and most of that money ends up on the pockets of politicians bankers and their friends too. I think 1 trillion sure could be used to rehabilitate people who want to get off the drugs, not punish them. the drug war is not about getting rid of drugs it is about making money. they use our money to fight it, which reduces the supply, and makes it easy for them to get rid of competition the small timers, (cia, politicians, bankers, rich people etc profit big time) adn thus raise the price of the drugs making it more lucrative, they get to sell the drugs at inflated prices, get taxpayers to pay for the business end of it, get funds from competitors aka asset seizure that is given to the big shots of police, polical and rich friends again. thus they don't have to invest any of theri own money get to keep all the profits and use this false war on drugs as a way around the constitution to instill selective martial law. so as a way to keep tabs on competitors or anyone who might be privvy to what they are doing and can get rid of people who are threats under the guise of law enforcement, you know the heavy survelliances, random checks without probable cause or warrants all under the war on drugs cloak.

RRRRR

Answer 6

I pretty much agree with you guys. I live in Georgia and you can forget that now this is still the Bible belt and they would go totally nuts even though all the facts show what they call legislating morality has never worked.

Answer 7

people need to be responsible for themselves.... no matter what the punishments you put in place "a crackhead is going to be a crackhead if they want to"....You can put them in prison, you can take their money, their children, their belongings....but at the end of the day they still do it, and we pay for their punishment and rehab.

We need to tell the government to stop protecting us from ourselves...because it doesn't work.

Answer 8

yes

Answer 9

it only gets worse-

http://www.usdoj.gov/jmd/budgetsummary/btd/1975_2002/2002/html/page117-119.htm