War On Drugs, Rebooted – FITSNews

MISGUIDED JUSTICE MEMO MOVES AMERICA BACKWARDS

From its inception thiswebsite has been an unwavering opponent of the federal governments failed War on Drugs.

First, its wrong.

Second, it doesnt work.

Third, its hamstringing our economy.

Government efforts to outlaw certain types of recreational drugs have drained taxpayers of more than $1.3 trillion since the administration of Richard Nixon instituted this New Prohibition in the early 1970s. Yet this massive infusion of resources hasfailed to curb either supply or demand.

Nonetheless, another $50-60 billion in public money will be spent this year despite the demonstrable failure of such appropriations to produce the results policymakers have promised.

Vast expenditures on criminalization and repressive measures directed at producers, traffickers and consumers of illegal drugs have clearly failed to effectively curtail supply or consumption, a 2011 report from the Global Commission on Drug Policy noted.

Meanwhile, the War on Drugs has created a new class of violent criminals on the one handwhilecriminalizing behavior that ought to be perfectly legal on the other. Its also snuffed out a potentially lucrative new marketplace at a time when our countrys economy could desperately use additionaljobs and income.

Its time frankly past time our nation adoptedsome common sense in its approach to this issue. In our view, U.S. drug policy should beguided by the following four core principles

1 FREEDOM Americans should have the right to consumewhatever recreational drugs they wish within the privacy of their own homes or businesses or the homes and businesses ofother consenting adults. As long as their enjoyment of this liberty doesnt impose upon the liberties of others (i.e. injurious negligence, child neglect, driving while impaired, etc.), then it should be none of the governments business what substances they consumebehind closed doors.

2. FREE MARKETS Americans should have the right to produce and sellwhatever recreational drugsthey wish within their own homes or under the auspices of a business enterprise. Again, as long as this engagement of the marketplace doesnt impose upon the liberties of others it should be none of the governments business.

3. SMALLGOVERNMENTIn the interest of public health and safety, government should have the right to regulate and tax the recreational drug industry in a fair, consistent and transparent manner using whatever proceeds it derives from the industry toward the funding of core government functions.

4. LOCAL CONTROL Local governments i.e. municipalities and counties should retain the right to limit or even outlaw the public consumption of recreational drugs within their communities. While we dont believe local leaders should be allowed to dictate what citizens grow or consume on private property, it should be up to local leaders to determine the extent to which recreational drug use is permitted in public in their communities.

Unfortunately, these common sense principles are not guiding the decisions of our policymakers. Just this week, U.S. attorney general Jeff Sessions appeared to take a major step in the opposite direction sending a memo to all U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) prosecutorsinstructing them tocharge and pursue the most serious, readily provable offense those that carry the most substantial guidelines sentence, including mandatory minimum sentences.

Here is Sessions memo

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Sessions claimed this policy shift was not directed toward low-level drug users but rather violent drug traffickers.

Our argument to that? Why preserve a system that keeps violent drug traffickers in business in the first place?

Last month, the Cato Institute in Washington, D.C. released a new report entitled Four Decades and Counting: The Continued Failure of the War on Drugs. Written by analysts Christopher J. Coyne and Abigail R. Hall, this report meticulously documents the extent to which Americas current approach has been disastrous on all fronts and how changes at the state level as well as critical shifts in U.S. federal policies, both domestically and internationally are needed.

Wait internationally?

Yup American taxpayers are subsidizing anti-drug efforts all over the world, efforts that are failing every bit as spectacularly as governments domestic jihad.

The U.S. War on Drugs, like the ill-fated war on alcohol of the early 20th century, is a prime example of disastrous policy, naked self-interest, and repeated ignorance on the part of elected officials and other policymakers, Coyne and Hall concluded. From its inception, the drug war has repeatedly led to waste, fraud, corruption, violence, and death. With many states moving toward legalization or decriminalization of some substances, and other nations moving to legalize drugs altogether, rethinking Americas drug policy is long overdue.

Indeed it is

Supporters of recreational drug use were hopeful that U.S. president Donald Trump would move our country away from the failed policies of the past and to Trumps credit his administration has embraced medical marijuanaas a legitimate treatment option for millions of Americans suffering from a variety of ailments.

Thats a good first step. The legalization of medical cannabis (as we have repeatedly stated) policy debate it is amoral imperative. We have consistently supported it, and we hope lawmakers in our home state of South Carolina will continueadvancing compassionate legislationaimed at legalizing it in the Palmetto State.

Unfortunately, Trumps White House spokesman Sean Spicer has spoken with stunning ignorance about the origins of Americans ongoing opioid epidemic while Sessions DOJ memo strikes us as yet another example of the extent to which some law and order conservatives continue to tragicallymisread this situation.

Cracking down on drug dealers isnt the answer. The answer is upending their apple cart by ending four decades of failed prohibition and providing for a regulated recreational drug marketplace.

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War On Drugs, Rebooted - FITSNews