That was not enacted as having anything to do with the "war on drugs." That act has it's own inherent flaws that have nothing at all to do with fighting drugs, but as with the RICO statutes and other governmental laws, it has been perverted into something it was never intended to be.
Wrong again. There is nothing in the USA PATRIOT Act that limits its powers to anti-terrorism. The language of the statute itself explicitly allows for criminal investigations.
We tried to warn you Big Govt folks.
>>>* A prison system that incarcerates more people per capita than any other country on the planet
And needs to. That isn't even being reasonable to blame incarcerations on drugs. We have more murderers, rapists, robbers and thieves than do the other nations.
That's odd. In my state, at least half the people in our prisons are there for non-violent crimes, including drug crimes.
Many of the "drug" incarcerations are plea deals to get them out of more serious crimes.
Citation?
>>>* Drug/narcotics checkpoints
Never ran across one of those. Seen traffic stop checkpoints, but I don't even know how you could create a "narcotic" check point. You have to have probable cause to search.
Oh, they exist. Courtesy of nanny staters. Try Google.
>>>Meanwhile, illegal drugs are every bit as available and cheap as they have always been since the farcical War On Drugs was announced.
Meanwhile Murders, rapes, and robberies are still every bit as available and cheap as they have always been since the farcical war on crime was announced.
You do realize crime - including violent crime - has been going down in the U.S. for decades, right?
Do you know how ridiculous it is to suggest that because we have a 2% usage in this nation the whole effort is a failure?
Your 2% figure is BS, as I said previously. Heck, it doesn't even resemble government figures for just illegal drugs.
Pray tell, where exactly did you get your 2% figure?
...then I would say holding it down to 2% of the population makes it a pretty d@mn successful program.
Again with the 2%....
You just aren't grasping what success is supposed to look like.
Drugs just as cheap & plentiful as they have been since the WOD was declared is not in any way, shape or form a "success".
But it isn't ZERO, so it must therefore be a complete failure! Also you don't see any correlation between locking up people on "drug" charges and the reduction in violent crime, the decrease of which you have seemingly noticed?
Pray tell, where exactly did you get your 2% figure?
From a Libertarian nut i've been arguing with for six years. He claims it came from DrugLibrary.org (a pro-drug website) and he often cites it as proof that the drug interdiction effort is a failure. If you want a more recent source, look at the nut job "ConservingFreedom"'s comments up above. I think he mentioned another source for it.
I don't think the number is hiding from you. Google is your friend.
Drugs just as cheap & plentiful as they have been since the WOD was declared is not in any way, shape or form a "success".
I don't know how intelligent you are, or what is your education, but among people who understand complex issue, we realize that any dynamic system can achieve a balance that will not be true if you change one of the dynamics.
Crack rocks are $20.00. They cost that much because most of the crack addicts can't afford to pay more. Stealing and whoring will only get you so much money, and the dealers have to price the market at a point where they can sell their product.
The Supply Demand equation is balanced at the current level. It is *NOT* balanced if you try to increase usage. Your statement that drugs are freely available and cheap is a complete lack of understanding that this instantaneous value for both cannot be sustained if one or more of the components change.
Now suppose you try to increase usage? (let's say you are a dealer trying to increase profit.) How do you do it?
You hustle. You push. You try to hook people who have never tried it before. I don't know who you know, but I have known a lot of drug dealers, pimps and hookers in my life, and I assure you this is how this stuff works.
So what stops you from increasing your market? It's the F***ing cops, that's what.
What I am getting at is that you are offering a simplistic, low knowledge, low understanding of the overall issue that I would expect from an ignorant crack addict, but not from an actually intelligent and knowledgeable individual.
Your level of argument is little better than that of people who think the government can't run out of money because they own a printing press.
If my arguments aren't even within your range of comprehension, I am wasting my time making them.