Former Judge Calls Drug War A "Failure"

14News Carolina ^ | 11-14-05 | Gary D. Robertson

[libertyman]

RALEIGH, N.C.--North Carolina should consider decriminalizing illegal drugs as it tries ti stem the need for additional prisons, a former state Supreme Court chief justice said Monday.

[libertyman]

RALEIGH, N.C.--North Carolina should consider decriminalizing illegal drugs as it tries to stem the need for additional prisons, a former state Supreme Court chief justice said Monday.

Burley Mitchell, the state's top judge from 1995 to 1999, said the war on drugs in North Carolina & nationwide has been "a total failure" that has filled up prisons. The money saved if police no longer made arrests & courts no longer handed out sentences could be used to treat drug addicts, he said.

[libertyman]

Ping

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Like that'll ever happen.

The purpose of government is to provide employment for people like DEA agents who are too dumb and corrupt to get real jobs, and the war on drugs provides plenty of employment opportunity.

[TCats]

Hate to say it but this judge does make some valid points IMO.

[Phantom Lord]

The ending of the War On some Drugs should be a top priority. And the War On some Drugs has done more to errode our constitutional rights than any other government action in the past 50 years.

[Holicheese]

So does that mean we can buy big bags of "Junk" in Raleigh?

[Phantom Lord]

NC Bump

[billbears]

NC bump

[flashbunny]

The problem is that if they decriminalize certain substances, the feds will just step up their prosecution of them.

No real progress will be made until the feds drop their unconstitutional war on drugs (if you don't think it's unconstitutional, tell me why they had to pass an amendment to ban alcohol at the federal level) and let the states decide their own drug policy.

Until then, there's too much money to be made for law enforcement agencies by hyping the threat of drugs and violating basic rights in order to fight that threat. So they get more operating funds and more spiffy equipment, and they go on dramatic no-knock raids to justify their existence, when apprehending the suspect while he's out on the town would have done the job better.

Are the geniuses who call anybody who advocates a constitutional approach to drug policy "potheads" and "dopers" still around? I haven't been on a free republic drug war thread in awhile.

[Constitution Day]

NC *Ping*

Please FRmail Constitution Day, TaxRelief OR Alia if you want to be added to or removed from this North Carolina ping list.

[cripplecreek]

Secure our borders and the drug war is 90% won.

[GregoTX]

" The purpose of government is to provide employment for people like DEA agents who are too dumb and corrupt to get real jobs......."

Now I may agree with you on points on weather or not many of the illegal drugs should be legalized, but your statement about DEA Agents are to dumb and corrupt to get real jobs is so idiotic it really doesnt deserve comment. They enforce existing laws, they dont write them. I work with allot of great guys with the DEA regularly, they have real jobs, they are not corrupt, nor dumb. You cant possibly be that stupid as to believe what you wrote.

[Stayingawayfromthedarkside]

It is a failure. Right now my mother is struggling with my 15 y.o. brother's drug use.

[bird4four4]

They'll be here soon I'm sure, you druggie loser.

[G.Mason]

Welcome to the world judge.

Let those that are predisposed for self annihilation go right ahead and do so. Let the thinning of the herds begin.

[conserv13]

Secure our borders and the drug war is 90% won

People will find a way around it.

[headsonpikes]

The purpose of government is to provide employment for people like DEA agents who are too dumb and corrupt to get real jobs, and the war on drugs provides plenty of employment opportunity.

Therefore, we can safely conclude that the WOD will always be judged as both necessary and successful.

The modern cult of the State is seemingly unstoppable - only when the process of engorging the State and its creatures at the expense of society completes itself can the whole system come crashing down, a la the former USSR.

[JudgemAll]

The drug war fails coz lawyers and local cops are the real dealers who rely on them for revenues.

Drugs are about local interests and the localities do not cooperate with the feds in this. It's clear.

[I see my hands]

Absurd, failed thinking.

[libertyman]

I agree w/ you 100%....the FEDERAL drug war IS unconstitutional, & that would be the best place to change things.

But if more & more states return to decriminalization, wouldn't it make it more difficult for the feds to avert the Constitution as they are doing now? If the states refused to help enforce federal drug laws, wouldn't that put more pressure upon Washington to consider making a change on their own?