Five Things That The Drug War Has Accomplished
Ronald Reagan was so proud of himself for starting the war on drugs. It’s almost painful to watch older footage and watch his face as he talks about how he’s going to stomp out drugs and keep the American people safe. Unfortunately for him, the war has only hindered the inevitable explosion of support for the freedom to ingest substances. The drug war hasn’t helped to keep drugs out of our society. Instead, the support for substances like marijuana is at an all time high… No pun intended. The war on substances has done many negative things for the American people, contrary to Reagan’s original nonsense idea that the war on part of the people’s freedom would be a successful venture.
1. By keeping the black market alive and well fed, the drug war has created deep roots, especially in the communities closer to Mexico that are heavily involved in gang activity. 60% of drug cartel profits come from marijuana itself. If the supply of black market marijuana were to vanish, cartels would lose more than half of their profits to a legal, taxable business. Not to mention cutting down on gang related crime in those same areas.
2. While the cops are out trying to bust some teenager for having a gram of weed, there are real criminals escaping the eye of the law. Recently, there has been an explosion of heroin use among general population. But the police don’t seem to be dealing with it and are paying more attention to nonviolent pot smokers.
3. In the olden days, there were no cops driving around in armor plated tanks. There were no heartbeat skips when a police car cruised by. It used to be that the police were there to protect the people when they were needed. Now, the police are put in place to scare people in to complying with laws. Since the start of the drug war, police no longer feel compelled to act like citizens. They are now above the law, breaking in to houses, harassing people, and shooting innocent people who simply want to light a plant on fire and inhale the smoke.
4. These days, if you get caught with marijuana, the government doesn’t want you to get away with it. Instead of letting you go with a warning, lawyers would rather lock you up. Why? Privatized prisons rake in money from prisoners. By putting small time criminals in jail, the government and the state make money for that person being there. Do they care that you have no foundation when you get out? Do they care that you might be homeless and without any way to make money? No because you’re no longer a dollar sign.
5. One of the biggest effects of the drug war is that people no longer respect the people who enforce the laws or make the laws. Most people will obey laws that are put in to place without question, as long as the law makes sense to them. While marijuana support snowballs and continues to reach new minds, the government will no longer be able to uphold the illusion that the plant is bad. If people refuse to believe that marijuana is bad, it will no longer hold that negative stigma.
