Is the War on Drugs is motivated by safety or politics?

[law~curious]

Why are the laws so strict on grass when alcohol is leading killer of drugs and Im sure that tabacco is not far behind. And Uloric:treats gout but causes heart attacks! Just one of many drugs where side effects or worse than the original problem. So Im asking..... do you think the war on drugs is motivated by the safety of the people? Or is it all political? All the drugs I mentioned are taxable killers! Name one person that died from marijuana!!.....IJS

[xlabel]

I think these days it's alot of both especially with the increase of methamphetimine and now the synthetic marijuana substances. Meth production is dangerous and not only a danger to addict/trafficker but the general public as well. There's no telling what exact ingredients are in the synthetic mj, I don't think it's safe.

Of course it politically correct and attractive to appear tough on drugs, but IMO many of the politicans nowadays are of the "Woodstock" generation that indulged back in the day and there's a hypocrisy going on now where "It was allright for them to use but, it's not okay now".

[loyalheart]

because no politician wants to have on his record "went against all previous dogma and decided to decriminalize it"

[loyalheart]

my be I'm wrong though, just my opinion

[sirhada]

Where I live we just approved Sunday sales of alcohol, and the manufacture of distilled spirits. Things will change, just too late for the generation now being institutionalized.

[moondoggie1]

It was originally motivated by racism, but like all things in our capitalistic society, it's now also tied into big money. I spent several years obsessively trying to unravel how and why we got to this crazy place, and found the last few puzzle pieces in the book "The New Jim Crow :Mass Incarceration In The Age Of Colorblindness" by Michelle Alexander. Just as an FYI, my son is white, but when I read her book the last few pieces of the puzzle fit perfectly and a complete, albeit very evil and disturbing, picture emerged. I do not agree with her conclusions though. She thinks change is still a distant hope. I think that the prison system and the war on drugs has overreached, and the millions of people who have been directly or indirectly negatively impacted by it will eventually create a mindset that demands change. The more we refuse to buy into the nonsense, the faster that change can occur. If it doesn't make sense to you..and if it feels wrong to you..don't dismiss those feelings. Figure out why you feel that way, and share your insight.

[Straight]

In the prison legal help section, there's a recent post regarding a drug case.

http://www.prisontalk.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=594640

It starts off with the "soft rationale" of "he was messed up on drugs when it happened", then goes on to point out how to read the news accounts of the crime by searching Google.

Home invasion, sexual assault, kids held at gunpoint, and the subject of the post being shot by the home owner with the end result being the young adult now partially paralyzed and looking at time, and it was all having to do with some sort of drug deal.

Politics are involved in most laws to some degree. That doesn't necessarily make them bad or wrong.

People who are in jail or prison tend to look for the politics involved, so they can somehow be the victim of an uncaring political machine.

People who walk into their kid's room in thge middle of the night and see someone pointing a gun at them and/or their kids tend to see the safety issue.

Nothing good comes from using drugs in anything other than a safe manner prescribed by a reputable doctor with monitoring of issues. No one ever got smarter or made better decisions while high. They just tend to be discussed with phrases like "He was high when...", and news stories with phrases like "It was a drug deal gone bad..."

A lot of people want to just look at their piece of the deal, saying "All I do is get <insert your favorite drug here> and go home and use it, and I don't bother anyone."

The problem is the entire chain of events that leads to the drugs being available and used. There's no telling how many crimes were committed, and how many people people hurt to get the drugs from point A to point B. Drugs makes for a lot of violence, and the politics stems from people being tired of seeing all the damage drugs do to people, communities, neighborhoods, safety, and so on.

[moondoggie1]

Straight--I don't disagree with all of what you posted, but in my mind, you made an excellent argument for regulating drugs instead of criminalizing them. If someone robs a drug store to get drugs or drug money, robbing the drug store was a crime, and should be treated as such, but possession and addiction should not be a crime. Most people that use drugs, or are addicted to drugs, never encounter the legal system. They hit their own low, outgrow it, seek help on their own, or whatever, and then they go on to lead their lives. Sometimes, the people caught are the extreme cases, but regardless, the legal system will escalate a problem that may have been resolveable into a permanently life damaging issue. I'm not arguing that there aren't some who need help--but there are much better, more effective and less damaging ways for society to deliver that help. In addition, the presence of the legal system creates the very issues it claims to want to stop. If drugs are regulated, the associated black market crimes have no reason to occur. The best way to stop the chain of events, is to take away the motive.

[law~curious]

Originally Posted by moondoggie1

Straight--I don't disagree with all of what you posted, but in my mind, you made an excellent argument for regulating drugs instead of criminalizing them. If someone robs a drug store to get drugs or drug money, robbing the drug store was a crime, and should be treated as such, but possession and addiction should not be a crime. Most people that use drugs, or are addicted to drugs, never encounter the legal system. They hit their own low, outgrow it, seek help on their own, or whatever, and then they go on to lead their lives. Sometimes, the people caught are the extreme cases, but regardless, the legal system will escalate a problem that may have been resolveable into a permanently life damaging issue. I'm not arguing that there aren't some who need help--but there are much better, more effective and less damaging ways for society to deliver that help. In addition, the presence of the legal system creates the very issues it claims to want to stop. If drugs are regulated, the associated black market crimes have no reason to occur. The best way to stop the chain of events, is to take away the motive.

Moondoggie dog...... You're guy after my own heart!!! Cheers!!!

[law~curious]

Originally Posted by Straight

In the prison legal help section, there's a recent post regarding a drug case.

http://www.prisontalk.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=594640

It starts off with the "soft rationale" of "he was messed up on drugs when it happened", then goes on to point out how to read the news accounts of the crime by searching Google.

Home invasion, sexual assault, kids held at gunpoint, and the subject of the post being shot by the home owner with the end result being the young adult now partially paralyzed and looking at time, and it was all having to do with some sort of drug deal.

Politics are involved in most laws to some degree. That doesn't necessarily make them bad or wrong.

People who are in jail or prison tend to look for the politics involved, so they can somehow be the victim of an uncaring political machine.

People who walk into their kid's room in thge middle of the night and see someone pointing a gun at them and/or their kids tend to see the safety issue.

Nothing good comes from using drugs in anything other than a safe manner prescribed by a reputable doctor with monitoring of issues. No one ever got smarter or made better decisions while high. They just tend to be discussed with phrases like "He was high when...", and news stories with phrases like "It was a drug deal gone bad..."

A lot of people want to just look at their piece of the deal, saying "All I do is get <insert your favorite drug here> and go home and use it, and I don't bother anyone."

The problem is the entire chain of events that leads to the drugs being available and used. There's no telling how many crimes were committed, and how many people people hurt to get the drugs from point A to point B. Drugs makes for a lot of violence, and the politics stems from people being tired of seeing all the damage drugs do to people, communities, neighborhoods, safety, and so on.

Straight.........Do you whole heartedly believe in the system!!!!!?

[nikkicomrade]

I think it is all political. If the politicians make people afraid and then come up with ways to calm those fears, they will be successful in politics. Plus prisons are big money. The more people that get sent away, the more prisons are needed. This generates cash flow. So these politicians look like saviors. The are getting rid of these scary criminals and producing jobs.
In reality the majority of the scary criminals arrested in the war on drugs are nonviolent offenders.

[MrBW]

IMO most of it is cause it would hurt the pharm industry and the prison industry, and they make so much money which in turn greases the politicians. They don't want people fixing their problems with a plant they can grow for free when they can give everyone crap that causes all kinds of health problems down the road so they can give them more crap to fix what they fucked up in the first place. IMO it should not even be considered a drug. Caffeine is just as bad if not worse imo. Alcohol and tobacco are legal and 2 of the leading causes of death in this country yes pot stays illegal. Just last week a judge told me how he knew medical pro's who told him of the horrible damaging effects of pot. and lectured me of all the damage the "drugs" i was involved in caused to people. Honestly it made me sick to get that type of lecture from some one who doesn't have a clue, just so that he could hand down a shitty sentence and tell me how i shamed my family. something that was not even close to true. my family continues to support me and doesn't care what that asshole said. we need to get people in power who know about these things so that things like this don't happen to other people.

[probedinfl]

Originally Posted by Straight

A lot of people want to just look at their piece of the deal, saying "All I do is get <insert your favorite drug here> and go home and use it, and I don't bother anyone."

The problem is the entire chain of events that leads to the drugs being available and used. There's no telling how many crimes were committed, and how many people people hurt to get the drugs from point A to point B. Drugs makes for a lot of violence, and the politics stems from people being tired of seeing all the damage drugs do to people, communities, neighborhoods, safety, and so on.

That "chain of events" would be taking a little walk or ride over to Walgreens if it weren't for the ridiculous drug laws.

Remember, things were going pretty well back in 1918. Heroin and other opiates were readily available OTC back then. No major issues other than some busybodies didn't like it.

[SusanWayward]

Neither safety nor politics - but FEAR!

That's the root of it.

Irrational fear, bred of ignorance, preyed upon by politicians, causing the public to clamor for safety, creating opportunities for profit on the part of war profiteers and politicians.

[Maya2007]

Politics!!