The Failed Drug War

Ron Paul is for the removal of the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT from the issue of DRUGS, which is none of their business, and is not explicitly mentioned in the Constitution or its Amendments. It is thereby, in accordance with the NINTH and TENTH Amendments, left to the States and the People and their various components to decide (the individual, the family, an organization, club, group of friends, education center, or a work place to apply the societal pressures, and towns, cities, communities, municipalities, counties, districts, and States to write and enforce legislation and regulations).

The Federal War on Drugs has lead to an increase of drug related violence, a higher price for drugs (which is no object to an addict, but only further lines the pockets of the cartels and lords), an increased use in drugs (because the smaller levels, i.e., people and states have become complacent and complicit in the Federal Government usurpations, and thus lazy and indifferent to the plight of addicts and their associates), an increase in the potency or destructiveness of drugs (if cocaine was readily available, there never would have been meth labs), a burgeoning prison system (we are supposedly the least totalitarian nation in the world and yet we have the largest per capita prison population, what a joke!), and another issue for the liars on both sides of the aisle to demagogue their way to power with.

FACT: NO ONE WANTS TO KEEP DRUGS ILLEGAL MORE THAN THE DEALERS, WHO ARE ONLY MAKING A KILLING BECAUSE DRUGS ARE ON THE BLACK MARKET.

FACT: APATHY BEGINS IN THE HOME. PARENTS SHOULD BE THE FIRST LINE OF DEFENSE AGAINST SELF-DESTRUCTIVE BEHAVIOR. WHEN THIS LINE OF DEFENSE FAILS IN JUST A FEW CASES, THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT JUSTIFIES INTRUDING IN ON THE PARENT’S JOB. WHEN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT GETS INVOLVED, IT ONLY SERVES TO GIVE FURTHER LICENSE TO PARENTS AND OTHERS TO IGNORE THEIR PROPER ROLE AS A CITIZEN, ESPECIALLY IN REGARDS TO PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY AND THE CARE TAKING OF DEPENDENTS.

FACT: THE SAME PRINCIPLE USED TO JUSTIFY THE WAR ON DRUGS IS APPLIED TO ALL OF THESE OETHR ISSUES: WELFARE, CLICK-IT-OR-TICKET, FOREIGN AID, NATION BUILDING, THE WAR ON POVERTY, THE WAR ON ILLITERACY, AND AFFIRMATIVE ACTION.

FACT: DRUGS ARE OFTEN WORSE THAN ALCOHOL IN TERMS OF THE EFFECTS THEY HAVE ON THE USERS, BUT NOT IN TERMS OF OVERALL DESTRUCTIVENESS OR THE NUMBERS OF PEOPLE WHO USE THEM. DESPITE ALL THIS, IT IS STILL VERY ARBITRARY TO MAKE ONE ILLEGAL AND NOT THE OTHER. THEY DRAW THE LINE AT RANDOM, AND ENTRENCH THEIR DECISION BY CHERRY-PICKING THEIR EVIDENCE AND MONGERING UPON THE FEARS OF THE PEOPLE. AN AMENDMENT WAS REQUIRED TO MAKE ALCOHOL ILLEGAL, AND APART FROM THE FACT THAT DRUGS AND ALCOHOL HAVE DIFFERENT CHEMICAL COMPOSITIONS, THERE IS NO PRINCIPLED REASON TO NOT HAVE AN AMENDMENT ALSO FOR WHAT ARE ARBITRARILY CLASSIFIED AS BAD DRUGS.