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Rolling Stone drug forum
Rolling Stone has gathered some interesting comments on the drug war. I haven’t read them all, but they seem reiterate what I hear more and more everyday. People are finally accepting that the war on drugs is a failure, and strategy needs to change dramatically. Let’s hope Washington eventually listens.
July 27th, 2001 at 4:57 pm
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>Rolling Stone has gathered some interesting comments on the drug war (http://www.rollingstone.com/news/newsarticle.asp?nid=14313&cf2=1). I haven’t read them all, but they seem reiterate what I hear more and more everyday. People are finally accepting that the war on drugs is a failure, and strategy needs to change dramatically. Let’s hope Washington eventually listens.
That’s an interesting article.
One of the problems I have with American policies is when the word, “War”, is used in a context totally out of the way it should be used. We never had a “War on Poverty” or a “War on Drugs” in my opinion. Had we had a true war in the sense of what that word means, poverty and drug use would be very minor issues today.
Here is a segment of that url article that stands out to me:
“Half a million of America’s 2 million prisoners are locked away for drugs, and 700,000 people are arrested each year for marijuana possession alone.”
The first comment I make is how few of those people probably think that what they did was wrong. It is wrong under the current law. That’s why they are prosecuted. They don’t seem to care, so why should I when they are caught and sentenced. It’s their choice to break the law. I didn’t force them to break the law.
Did most of them try to work within the system to change the law? I doubt it. They essentially want to ignore the law and then they want me to feel sorry that they spend time in the slammer. They must be real jerks on top of being lawless.
Okay, they need treatment. No problem. Serve the time and then afterwards do community work in exchange for treatment if they haven’t kicked the habit by the time of their release. Let them make a good faith effort towards getting off of drugs. If they want to just sit back and screw-off with drugs and expect the rest of us to feel sorry for them so they can do it all over again - I don’t think so.
Sure American’s might say they need a change in the “War on Drugs”, but the article didn’t say those same majority of people want drugs to be legalized. I’d bet most people still want drug-users off the streets. I bet the inner-city people don’t want drug-users roaming around making them feel more unsafe than they already do.
Finally, let’s survey those people serving time for drug use. Let’s ask them if they will use drugs again knowing they could spend even more time in jail next time. For the ones that come outright and say yes, they’ll use drugs again; well, then the current laws are working fine. If about 90% say, no, and stay off drugs for the rest of their lives. Then I think prison time should be reduced or eliminated for drug use and move towards treatments as a solution. But in the absence of that direct results survey and follow-up observations, I’m for keeping things as they are.
Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time. Even real dumb people can understand that situation and choose accordingly. We’ve got 1.7 million people in jail who understand exactly the outcome for drug violations. Let’s hope the majority of them are smarter after they serve their time. Let’s hope they actively campaign to potential drug users that they shouldn’t use drugs. Let’s see them lift a finger to do the right thing before they ask me to change my view on the topic. They’re the ones that have everything to prove that my view is wrong.
I recall the Million Man March of several years ago. Towards the end of the speeches, one of the religious leaders asked the crowd to go to prisons and become buddies with a prisoner, to show love and respect, etc. That request did not succeed. It fell on mostly deaf ears. Advocating for legalization of drugs is dismissed even more quickly.
Don
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Donald W. Larson
San Marcos, CA
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“The confusion in people comes in following others’ lives, not their own. Do what feels right in your heart and you will know it is right. Live your life your way, not the way of others. If you are following someone else’s life, you are going their direction, not yours.” — Ron Rathbun from “The Way is Within”, ISBN 0-425-15460-2, page 45