[Steel Wolf]

Away with you and your common sense. We want none of that here!

(Just had to get that out of the way)

Yes, rather than deal with harmful drugs abuse out in the open, like we do with cigarettes and drunk driving, we drive them into the shadows where they are beyond our reach. If we spend half as much educating against the physical effects of harmful drugs as we did pumping money into this game of one cat vs 100 mice, we'd see real trends away from drug use.

Cigarette use is on the decline, but it took a long time to educate free people away from making that choice. If you don't believe that free people, armed with the truth, can make good decisions for themselves, then our Republic is as good as dead. Bring on the nanny state, because freedom's too scary.

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[Ecliptic]

Regulation does not necessarily lead to no black market. It's just a guess. Think the drug lords in South America or Asia will stop selling drugs in this country just because they have competition from the government? Of course not!!

Legalization of any kind will just lead to more people using drugs at more times. Today airline pilots go to work drunk. Tomorrow they would go to work high.

Plus, the "war on drugs" would continue under new laws.

[Restore]

The author, Andy Somers, is a friend of mine, a decent guy and one of my ex-flight students. While I agree with him that drug enforcement should be overhauled, he takes the straight-line Libertarian view.

I privately tell him why I feel that he is way off base, and he respects my opinion.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

Stop using drugs.

[waterstraat]

The federal government does not need to do anything, no taxes, no regulations, nothing, just end all federal drug laws, and parole all those on federal drug charges.

The states can do whatever they want to, we still have states and dry counties where alcohol and drinking is regulated at the local level.

[Cultural Jihad]

How Do We End The War On Drugs?

The re-legalization of drugs will happen right after pornography, obscenity, blasphemy, abortion, fornication, adultery, homosexuality, promiscuity, and perversion are re-banned.

[PeteFromMontana]

Hmmmmmmmmm...

Wanna stop the war on drugs? Stop using drugs

Wannna stop being fat? Stop eating so much

Wanna stop the ill effects of cigarettes? Stop smoking

Wanna stop crime? Lock up the criminals

Wanna have smarter children? Teach them better

Nahhhhhhhhhhhhh...

Never work, too complicated

[_Jim]

Patently unworkable ...

[Johnny_Cipher]

Hmmm, just signed up on 2 Jan 04 and this is your first post. You must feel strongly about this issue.

[Reagan Man]

>>>... the War on Drugs is an abject failure.

The American people overwhelming support interdiction and incarceration as the best remedies to control and reduce the spread of illegal drugs in America today. (Pew Survey, Feb.2001) The efforts by America's Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) is working well. Could it be better? Yes. But the legalization of illicit substances like marijuana, cocaine and heroin is not the answer. Increased law enforcement efforts are the answer. Education and drug treatment are also part of the equation. We have enough problems with alcohol in our society and shouldn't be opening the flood gates to drug legalization.

[GLDNGUN]

How do we end the War on Drugs?

Simple. The same way you end the War on Murder, War on Rape, War on Armed Robbery, etc. Just make it legal. Heck, let's just wipe all criminal laws off the book. This whole "War on Crime" thing just isn't working. After all, we should just trust our fellow citizens to make only good choices, right?

[Servant of the 9]

I would prefer the Constitutional way.
If the Federal Govt. did not have the power to ban alcohol without a Constitutional amendment, then how did it gain the power to outlaw drugs?
By liberal over interpretation of the Constitution is how.
Support a return to strict construction.

SO9

[_Jim]

I copied this awhile back from one of the 'drug legalization' threads - didn't write it or the intro. It works to counter the notion that drugs/drug use is a victimless crime and therefore an acceptable 'practice' ... 'legalize'/decriminalize/make drugs avaiale - you WILL have increased use, to the detriment of our society I might add, though the repeated/continued self-administration of some of the more powerful addicting substances that will become available legally (if they are not legal - they are illegal and we're now back to premise of this article and yet ANOTHER 'Drug War' therefore ALL substances WILL have to be made 'legal' - and that implies available) ...

This is writen by RLK, who is so sick of dealing with dopers and their fellow travellers that he no longer participates in these threads. I share those sentiments, and this is posted for those who imagine drug legalization merely a civil rights issue.

"In the normally functioning human being, there is a complex feedback process that directs human thinking and behavior. Old time Freudians call it the pleasure principle. In behaviorist psychology it's looked at as a positive/negative reinforcement behavior shaping and extinguishing process. That is, certain behavior which produces a pleasurable state of affairs is repeated. Behavior or thinking that produces painful outcome is not repeated or is avoided. There are complex corollaries to these rules, but basically that's the idea. This positive and negative feedback system maintains a sense of reality, or maintains the realistic quality of a person's thinking and behavior in their life.

So-called recreational drugs short circuit this realistic feedback process by intervening or replacing it with something that produces unconditional pleasurable feedback. All behavior or thought becomes pleasurable or positively reinforced. Behavior which produces what would normally felt as painful consequences has the discomfort blunted. If you will, drugs occlude necessary danger signals in life. That's one of the reasons people like the stuff.

One of the problems with frequent drug use is that there is a type of unconditional reinforcement within the brain for random thought which results in a drifting mentality or a drift from reality. It's not as noticeable or of concern to the person who develops the mentality, as it is to the person to the observer who doesn't have it. For someone who doesn't share the condition, trying to live with and reason with someone who does have the condition can be difficult or impossible. There are serious social consequences here. People who are high on weed feel wonderful. Attempting to have a lucid conversation with, or counting on any sense of responsibility from, people with the weed mentality isn't very wonderful.

I long ago gave up trying to have any serious productive working relationships with anybody smoking weed. Such people might be able to function as musicians or something similar which are primarily expressions of emotion. But, if I need work done that demands rigorous cognitive acuity, discipline, grit, and determination, potheads can't get the job done. It's a loser. While drug use is claimed to be a victimless crime, working around such individuals, or working in a society of such individuals introduces a harsh unjust burden upon me. Let's make it clear. If I have an editor whom makes tainted or poor decisions, if I have a co-worker who can't function, if I have a supervisor who can't function, if I have an employee who can't function because they are jacking around with drugs, then I am a victim of their drug use. In the event such condition becomes the character of the nation, then I become a victim with little recourse for remedy. In the event such national character facilitates the economic or other decline of the nation, then all of us become the victims of jacking around with drugs. Got it? Drug use is not a victimless crime in the adult real world. Got it?

This state of unconditional positive reinforcement can be very psychologically, that is psychologically, addicting. Many novices are concerned about the physical addiction, the physical side effects, and the physical withdrawal from drugs. The reality is, the purely mental or psychological condition is more of a difficulty than the physical effects.

The initial attraction toward drugs is always purely psychological and occurs before physical addiction. Physical addiction takes time and escalating dosage. When someone comes back for more of a drug a second, third, fourth, or fifth time, they aren't coming back to avoid acute withdrawals or because they are physically addicted. They are coming back because they are psychologically hooked. They like the feeling. Later, they become physically as well as psychologically hooked. Still later, if you can manage to get them off the stuff, they are still hooked on the feeling and a great many other things including the residual mentality.

Frequent drug users adapt to the unconditional reinforcement of the drug world to a point where they slowly develop a mentality that is too soft to want to tolerate real world realistic feedback and effort. They lose capacity to handle real life while simultaneously becoming intrigued with existence in the unconditional positive feedback and insulation of the drug state. When the going gets rough, they head for the insulating state obtained through drugs instead of growing."

[Cultural Jihad]

Greetings! I'm Andrew M. Somers, your About Guide for Civil Liberties. As an About Guide I hope to bring forth reason and understanding to some of the most pressing topics of our time.

Experience:
First and foremost, I'm an American Citizen. Born in Southern California, I've lived in many states of this great nation. As a writer and public speaker, I worked in broadcast radio for over a decade before moving into filmmaking and television, where I have received 3 Emmy awards, plus 9 Golden Reel noms. I am the founder of the Drug Action Network - a grass roots anti-prohibition organization.

From Andrew Somers:
I was brought up on the beliefs in personal freedom and inalientable [spelling!] rights that many of us take for granted. Tragically, Civil Rights and CIvil [spelling!] Liberties are fragile. Remember that if we trade "freedom" for "Security", no one shall be safe.

From Other Sources:
Drug Action Network A non profit organization seeking to end prohibition

[Cultural Jihad]

The "Drug Action Network" is hailed by socialists along with other so-called "harm reduction" organizations. You were saying, Comrade Noob?

[Jim Robinson]

patdor aka KarlCo, cant stand government, Peter B Southwick, Roger Fu, pueblo oro, true advocate, its your constituion, only a newbie, groob, darbo, and many, many other aliases, banned.

[jmc813]

WOD Ping

[freeforall]

If what you are doing fails, then it is wrong.
We have had years of practice and it is worse.

[philman_36]

Good article in general, but...
In other words, each state and locality should be afforded their own means of dealing with issues relating to drug abuse.
Snip...In other words, each state and locality should be afforded their own means of dealing with issues relating to drug abuse.
Snip...About 10% of the people that use alcohol use it abusively. (abusers) This minority of abusive users is echoed by other substances as well. Depending on the substance, only 5% to 15% of the users develop abusive use habits.
In the first two sentences there is only abuse, not use and abuse, which the author does demonstrates in the third sentence.
Oh, and something else. Alcohol is considered a drug so it kind of hampers the whole "drug abuse" aspect. Most don't seem to recognize that alcohol is considered as such.