RSSDrug Circus Pt. 2
We live in an era when the American government has officially “Declared War!” on drugs, amongst other things such as terror, poverty and other countries. To be more accurate, this is just a conflict punishing illegal drug trafficking and consumption while turning a blind eye to the pushers in private industry that are free to regulate themselves.
From private citizen’s perspective, what exactly is the difference between the two besides who collects the money? I am not attempting to equivocate here. All drugs are not created equal, but each has specific dangers when misused or abused. They each differ in strength, duration, addiction, side effects, and so forth. This no-nonsense policy is nonsense.
America spends over $100 billion dollars per year fighting the spread of narcotics, the illegal ones. At the same time, we trade and politic with the countries whose major exports are opiates, such as cocaine and heroin (exactly how marijuana wound up classified in the same category as these hard drugs still leaves me dazed and confused).
Since there are no poppy fields in the ghetto, one must speculate how the most remote, impoverished areas around our country become permanent havens for the drug trade.
The US military has been deployed over 200 times to countries around the world since World War II. It’s advertised on cable television that we have equipment which can track a fly from miles away (then kill it), yet, we have managed to miss bombing or burning down the poppy plantations in Afghanistan. We happened to miss them in our Central American and South East Asian conquests too.
Somehow the various “intelligence” departments that are funded by our tax dollars are not capable of catching the hard stuff sent from international cartels and drug lords by the crate load into the country. They cannot halt the mass distribution of major suppliers down a chain of proprietors. However, local and state authorities are pretty efficient at catching it in the pockets of individuals on the streets.
The DEA makes a damn fine shotgun toting entrance against medical marijuana patients in states where it’s legal. The prison industry is bursting at the seams with human currency awaiting “rehabilitation” and very little opportunity afterward. In the meantime, they supply a cheap labor force to the state. They even have a great solution to the overpopulation problem: build more prisons.
The War on Drugs has failed yet our politicians and lawmakers are content to allow a broken system to continue to reduce the lives of the have-nots to ash.
11 Comments, Comment or Ping
TROUBL
Malia
Thanks for the list. We have interviews with reps from some of these places. We all need to know effective strategies.
If yall ready we can draft a fictional drug policy here at TROUBL. Opensoure project. Give me Ideas.
[Reply]
troublsome
They classify marijuana in the same category as cocaine and heroin because they know that it’s a billion dollar industry that they are not getting paid for. Of cousre the effect and the harm to people is way different, but the government is not eating off the money that the suppliers and distributors are making. Therefore they have to find some way to try and regulate it. Until you are able to go to the liquor store and by a pack of marijuana filled blunts, like you do cigarettes. There will be regulations. The government knows the money it makes and wants their peice. I agree with you Terry… Dope Post
[Reply]
BrokenSilence
BOOSY,
You are killing me w/ the hate hate hate things! ROFL ROFL
I’m glad that you have touched on this topic, but I hope you know that people will always do what they do. They make petty arrest to make it seem like they’re ‘Cracking Down on the War Against Drugs’! Yeah Right! They’re not fooling anyone except themselves. They’re too consumed with chasing Legal Tender and can careless about who they kill and what they have to do to get it. Just another evil scheme of man!
Have a Blessed One!
[Reply]
Malia
Law enforcement has done its job well – with record seizures, arrests and incarceration. Despite this success, drugs are more available, less expensive and more potent. Law enforcement cannot solve the public health problem of drug abuse. It’s time for an effective strategy that will:
Provide sufficient funding for after school programs and activity programs to meet the needs of America’s youth.
Provide sufficient funding to make treatment on request a reality within the next three years. Treatment is the most cost-effective way of reducing drug abuse.
Provide sufficient funding to stem the health emergencies of HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis C. These epidemics threaten not only drug users but all Americans.
Evaluate current drug enforcement spending to ensure it is effective and provide sufficient funding for alternatives to incarceration for non-violent, low-level drug offenders.
Examine the racially disproportionate impact of current drug policy as well as its adverse effects on women, especially poor women and their families.
Hold international and domestic drug law enforcement funding at current levels until they prove their effectiveness. Law enforcement has had massive funding increases over the last two decades without any proof of success.
Undertake an examination of current drug policies to assess its impact and develop alternatives where necessary.
Organizations Concerned with Impact of Drug Policy:
Advocates for Youth * Afrikan American Institute for Policy Studies and Planning * AIDS Policy Center for Children, Youth and Families * American Civil Liberties Union * American College of Nurse Midwives * American Medical Student Association * American Medical Women’s Association * American Psychological Association * American Public Health Association * Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs * Association of Reproductive Health Professionals * Association of Schools of Public Health * A Better Bronx For Youth Consortium * Campaign for Effective Crime Policy * Center for Women Policy Studies * Correctional Association of New York * Criminal Justice Policy Foundation * DC Prisoner’s Legal Services Project * Disciples Advocacy Washington Network of the Christian Church * Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Division of Government Affairs * Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health * Institute for Policy Studies * Justice Policy Institute * Juvenile Law Center * Latino Commission on AIDS * National Advocates for Pregnant Women, Women’s Law Project * National AIDS Fund * National Association of Nurse Practitioners in Women’s Health * National Association of People with AIDS * National Association of School Psychologists * NAACP * National Black Police Association * National Black Women’s Health Project * National Center on Institutions and Alternatives * National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health *National LLEGO * National Mental Health Association * National Organization for Women Foundation * National Women’s Health Network * Prisoner’s Legal Services of New York * Rainbow PUSH Coalition * Service Employees International Union, AFL-CIO * Unitarian Universalist Association * The United Methodist Church, General Board of Church and Society * US Student Association * Vocational Instruction Project * Volunteers of America * WAVE for Kids * Whitman Walker Clinic * Women’s Alliance for Theology, Ethics and Ritual * YWCA of the USA
Drug Policy Specialists: Common Sense for Drug Policy * Drug Reform Coordination Network * DrugSense * Drug Policy Forum of Hawaii * Drug Policy Forum of Texas * Drug Policy Foundation * Drug Policy Reform Group of Minnesota * Family Council on Drug Awareness * Family Watch * Efficacy * Harm Reduction Coalition * Human Rights and the Drug War * The Lindesmith Center * Marijuana Policy Project * Mothers Against Misuse and Abuse * Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies * National Alliance of Methadone Advocates * National Association for Public Health Policy, Council on Illicit Drugs * National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws * New Mexico Drug Policy Foundation * North American Syringe Exchange Network * November Coalition * Patients Out of Time * ReconsiDer Forum on Drug Policy * Research and Policy Reform Center * St. Ann’s Corner of Harm Reduction
Funding must be shifted
away from interdiction
and incarceration - towards
treatment and prevention.
For a complete copy of the
recommendations of the National
Coalition for Effective Drug Policies
contact us at: 703-354-9050 or
info@csdp.org
[Reply]
ChiCity Star
I am wondering what it would take to spark an honest debate on the American drug policy. There are judges, doctors, professors and Nobel laureates who would love to provide the American public with what it truly deserves: a balanced debate on an issue that affects us all. I have a few friends with MD and PhD behind their names who take a few tokes almost everyday.
[Reply]
boosy
It’s the Duke here, ” All hail his bouginess’”
here telling all of you who do not have can-i-bii club cards to step your game up, failure to do so would result in the police thinking you’re that dude from the hood and arrest you..
Once that was tried and then i flashed the club card, passed go and collected $200.
As to classifying marijuana as a hard drug, let’s face it. Most Americans smoke. From the wall street exec to that Dude on the corner. Look at European countries where they make it legal, crime is down and more money is spent actually fighting “crime”. Come on, come on,
Me wearing not so bougie clothes around my hood ( East Harlem for inquiring minds) on 125th- getting arrested
Me with fellow whites who are smoking, while i’m not but in the vicinity and wearing Columbia Paraphernalia - Definitely still getting arrested
Me Smoking a blunt in a G4 on the way to Barcelona at 20,000 feet and climbing with two white women……hate hate hate…- - Priceless and oo yea, i’m in in international waters.
[Reply]
TROUBLMan
Americas likes its prisons full. Everyone smokes, but niggas on the block go to jail. Theres too much profit being made. The people have to demand change. The governments not gone punish itself.
[Reply]
Malia
TROUBL——
Check out the Principles Project at http://principlesproject.com for help on a first draft.
Also check out the Declaration of Progressive Principles Drafted online by the members of The Principles Project.
Just a thought……
Good morning!
[Reply]
Q.
*puff*
i love the fictional drug policy idea.. that’s TROUBL right there.. i’m game if y’all are..
*puff*
i know a gang of doctors who smoke.. contrary to some of those commercials we see like the kids running over the lil’ girl in the drive-thru.. that’s just wrong.. i’ve experienced corporate execs having pool parties at their house smoking more than weed.. had me shook.. made me want to run, cuz while i knew cops weren’t going to bust through the doors (unless they were snorting too), i still was afraid of these powerful individuals that didn’t look like me putting powder through their noses.. i was afraid cuz i don’t know what they do when they get messed up.. a scene from Smokin’ Aces could’ve transpired for all i knew..
*pass*
but before i go, it would be funny to see people do this (fictional drug policy) while intoxicated by something (love, weed, alcohol, ambition, whateva)..
[Reply]
Malia
LOL @ Q ————— I feel like I’m in a segment of That 70’s Show!!!!!!! I see you walkin in the room - slow motion ((of course)) with that Morris Chestnut smile…and we’re all laughin for absolutely NO REASON WHATSOEVER!!!!!!
[Reply]
Q.
Malia:
slow motion for me, slow motion.. Morris don’t have nothing on me!! Nah, let me stop!!
[Reply]
Reply to “Drug Circus Pt. 2”
SEE ALSO
♦ Terry - Drug Circus Pt. 3
January 21, 2008
♦ Terry - Drug Circus Pt. 1
January 9, 2008
♦ Terry - Fuck the Troops pt.2
April 16, 2008
♦ TROUBLMan - Kill Famous
February 15, 2008
♦ Lag - “Chronic” Suffering
June 28, 2008