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Law Enforcement Resources Should Be Used to Protect against Real Crimes
Townhall.com ^ | October 13, 2013 | Daniel J. Mitchell

Posted on 10/13/2013 6:45:57 AM PDT by Kaslin

I’m a very straight-laced guy. Some would even say boring. I’ve never done drugs, for instance.

But not because they’re illegal. I’ve never done drugs for the reason that I’ve never smoked cigarettes. Just doesn’t seem like a smart thing to do. And I encourage friends and family to have the same approach.

"Why Are So Many Violent Criminals Walking Free?" | LearnLiberty

But this isn’t about cost-benefit analysis. Watch this powerful video from Reason TV about how one family has been victimized by drug prohibition.

Riverside Cop Tricks Autistic Teen into Buying Pot

Now ask yourself what purpose it served to have local cops basically entrap that unfortunate kid? If you come up with an answer, you have a very creative imagination.

Also keep in mind that the War on Drugs is the reason why politicians imposed costly and ineffective anti-money laundering laws. As well as disgusting and reprehensible asset forfeiture laws.

One misguided government policy leading to two other bad policies. That’s Mitchell’s Law on steroids!

P.S. Drugs do impose costs, but they’re mostly incurred by moronic users. Though there sometimes are collateral victims, such as kids whose parents allow their lives to get messed up. That’s why it would be nice if drugs somehow didn’t exist. Heck, the same things could be said about booze. Or tobacco. But they do exist. The libertarian position isn’t that these things are good. Instead, our position is that prohibition does more harm than good.

P.P.S. Just in case you think I’m an outlier, I invite you to read the thoughts of John McCain, John Stossel, Mona Charen, Gary Johnson, Pat Robertson, Cory Booker, and Richard Branson.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: drugwar; illegalimmigration; libertarians; medicalmarijuana; mexico; policestate; prohibition; warondrugs
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To: Kaslin

Not as long as Obama’s in charge; it’s much more useful - and generates more publicity - to block Washington memorials and close forests.


21 posted on 10/13/2013 8:17:47 AM PDT by Jack Hammer (American)
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To: Kaslin

It’s important for Americans to realize that the police are just a convenience. Every honest, able bodied citizen are the enforcers of the law, and as groups, we even decide guilt or innocence of someone accused of a crime.

As a convenience, the police really only do three things:

1) They clean up after crimes, gathering evidence that can implicate someone in a crime, as well as determining if someone is a victim of crime.

2) Once they have evidence of a crime, and a suspect, they are to doggedly pursue and arrest that suspect.

3) They are a day and night watch for a community. If they see something amiss, they are authorized to do something about it.

So everything the police do beyond these three things is questionable, and should be questioned.


22 posted on 10/13/2013 8:53:53 AM PDT by yefragetuwrabrumuy (The best War on Terror News is at rantburg.com)
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To: Iron Munro

In Viet Nam I worked in a rock quarry for a couple of months. A ‘round’ rock will not crush, they just bounce in the crusher jaws. We’d hire older men and women to break these rocks in half. They used a one or two pound hammer and a chisel. Tap, tap, tap, tap all day long then like magic this four foot across stone would fall in two pieces. It just amazed me that they knew where to place the chisel to crack this monstrous rock.


23 posted on 10/13/2013 12:01:55 PM PDT by B4Ranch (AGENDA: Grinding America Down ----- <<http://vimeo.com/63749370)
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To: FAA

Very precise analysis.


24 posted on 10/13/2013 12:31:39 PM PDT by Brad from Tennessee (A politician can't give you anything he hasn't first stolen from you.)
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To: Kaslin

Color me totally against the war on drugs. Its part of a push to control peoples medical lives, and their food, too. It is no more a mandate of the gov’t to keep me sober and clean than it is for the gov’t to feed me.

War on drugs is behind a gazillion abuses of our constitutional rights on a daily basis.

Also, ending completely the war on drugs would knock out the economic foundations of the gangs, black, biker, and mexican. All those groups are primarily about drugs at the core.


25 posted on 10/13/2013 12:48:02 PM PDT by TeachableMoment
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To: Kaslin

The War on Drugs is a complete waste of time, money, lives, and freedoms.

Want violent crime to go down?

Want property crime to go down?

Want less traffic stops by police? Less daily intrusions?

Want less money spent on the militarization of the police?

Want less money spent on the prison industry?

Want your Constitutional rights restored?

If so, be dead set against the drug war. I am, and I fought in it neck deep for five years.


26 posted on 10/13/2013 2:14:29 PM PDT by Molon Labbie (Prep. Now. Live Healthy, take your Shooting Iron daily.)
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