[RLK]

Are Conservatives Addicted to the Drug War?

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I'm not. I just happen to believe, as much as I believe anything, that America will not survive drug use or the mentality facilitated by drug use. Take it or leave it.

[Ronin]

Amen and a bump.

[StriperSniper]

If totalitarianism is the price you are willing to pay for a drug-free society, then move to such a country. Given the choice between a free America and a drug-free America, I will choose the former any day.

Great post.

[southern rock]

Well, if you raise your children properly you greatly reduce the chance that they will do drugs. The government cannot raise your children for you. 100 years ago, it was perfectly legal for a ten-year old to walk into the local drug store and buy heroin, and we had nowhere near the problems we have today. Why? Because raising kids was the duty of parents and churches. If you are really serious about keeping your kids off drugs, you have got to look somewhere - anywhere - besides the government.

Super-duper bumpty-bump, bump, bump!!

May I also add that 100 years ago, it was perfectly legal for a ten-year old to walk into school with a hunting rifle, but there were no school shootings. Prohibition and zero-tolerance are WORTHLESS!

[uncbob]

Resources that could be used to root out terrorists are wasted on this insane WOD

[headsonpikes]

The ritual abuse of Koolaid by the products of public education is the chief threat to the Republic, imho.

[edger]

Prohibition was repealed to reclaim the streets from the bandits, and when it was repealed, we discovered that almost everybody in government had been on the take.

Some of the bandit gangs that were formed during Prohibition are still intact and operating.

During prohibition, beer and wine virtually disappeared--there was a bigger markup on the hard stuff.

Several years ago, it was predicted that the Constitution would not survive the War on Drugs and, boy, was that right on!

[HDawg]

I'm not claiming to have any solutions here, but speaking from personal experience, I believe the WOD is the best thing to happen to marijuana. In the 1970s and early 80s, before the govenment started cracking down hard on marijuana growers, most pot was grown outdoors, in Mexico and the Corn Belt, having a THC level at 3-5% at best. The WOD forced the growers to move indoors, where they would have complete control over the 5 factors for growing optimum plants: water, soil nutrients, light, temperature, and carbon dioxide levels. Also, many of these growers, being talented botanists, could crossbread the older, now obsolete plants to produce marijuana plants genetically superior and a lot more potent to anything produced in the past, which can be cloned again and again. Now most marijuana sold has a THC level of 12-20%.

[WaucondaguyamI]

Screw the DEA, put 'em to work guarding the borders or something useful, instead of narcing on their neighbors!

[supercat]

IF, and to the extent that, anti-drug laws could be enforced without violating the Constitution, I might favor them. In practice, though, nearly all of the anti-drug statutes seem to by their nature require a weakening of constitutional safeguards to allow for even moderately-effective enforcement. And that I do not favor in the least.

To be sure, part of the problem is a government that would rather subvert the Constitution than use clever means to enforce anti-drug laws while still upholding it. For example, rather than using no-knock raids, I'd suggest another alternative: have a cop go to a suspected drug house and appear, in uniform, asking for information about some crime committed nearby. Allow plenty of time for any drug dealers inside to flush their stash, but don't actually bother to search the place. Repeat a few times. If the drug dealers haven't already been put out of commission by their 'higher-ups' for destroying millions of dollars' worth of product, then on the fifth or sixth time show up with a warrant and serve it. Odds are good the dealers wouldn't bother to destroy their stash, and so it should be easy to find and collect it.

[zeugma]

I'm amazed that the WOD crew haven't filled this thread with attacks on posters as being drug crazed libertarians yet. Good post, not that it will do any good, because the government truely is hooked on drugs and the alleged 'war' against it.

[Arkinsaw]

No, not really. Governor Huckabee of my State for one has suggested that the nation needs to have a long hard look at alternative ideas. He is a former Baptist Minister, played for the Freepers with his band, and is certainly a Conservative. He's correct that we need to take a long hard look.

I don't believe that Conservatives are really in favor of locking up so many addicted citizens so there is no room left for violent criminals. I don't believe that Conservatives are really in favor of seizing people's property without being able to arrest them and forcing them to prove that their property is "innocent". Can't and don't believe that.

[Kerberos]

"Such were my thoughts after reading Bill O'Reilly's May 16 column on World Net Daily in which he classifies drug dealing as a "crime against humanity."

O'Reilly never has had a clue about the underlying causes of the drug problem and the failed WOD, and probably never will.

" it provides no solution to what is ultimately a moral and spiritual problem. "

And this, IMHO, is the crux of the problem, which as the article points out, will never be solved by a prohibition mentality.

[Lancey Howard]

Hey, let's "decriminalize" drugs.
Then we can have a great country like the Netherlands and great cities like Amsterdam.
Plus, we won't have our prisons bursting at the seams with young people who happened to get caught with a joint or two, blah blah blah.

[Texasforever]

ADDICTED TO THE DRUG WAR

99% of Conservatives and every other American give the WOD about 5 minutes a year worth of attention. The other 1% are just pissed that they have to get stoned in the dark. Mileage may vary.

[Zon]

When anyone says anything in opposition to the Drug War, they spaz out as if they were tripping on Angel Dust.

The author must be reading FreeRepublic.

[vin-one]

bttt.
Good post.

[Don Myers]

"Are Conservatives Addicted to the Drug War?"

The Libertarians sure are.

[rdb3]

Are Conservatives Addicted to the Drug War? That's a rather slanted question, isn't it? Are Leftists off the hook? A more accurate question would have been "Are Conservatives and Liberals Addicted to the Drug War?"

Anyhoo, pro-WOD or anti-WOD really misses the entire point in my mind. For those who are anti-WOD (especially the decriminalization of narcotics crowd), a quick question: Is the American body politic truly ready for decriminalization of narcotics?

[Marine Inspector]

Since ther is no real War on Drugs, I guess I can't be addicted to it.