tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28543539.post2671291237016075045..comments2023-09-20T11:15:28.673+01:00Comments on Transform Drug Policy Foundation Blog: New US cannabis stats undermine drug czar's claims of enforcement successjanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15263261726046054614noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28543539.post-40455930298527380112008-09-30T16:55:00.000+01:002008-09-30T16:55:00.000+01:00In response to Garfield - the tens of thousands of...In response to Garfield<BR/><BR/> - the tens of thousands of prisoners currently incarcerated could be released, severely reducing the problems of our overcrowded prison system and eliminating the need to build yet more prisons<BR/><BR/> - All those working in the war on drugs on the side of law enforcement can have their efforts directed elsewhere to dealing with crimes that actually have victims - like people trafficking, terrorism, and gun crime. They'd find doing all this alot easier as these areas of crime would no longer be funded by the sale of illegal drugs. They would also face much less chance of being corrupted by the staggering profits of the illegal drugs market.<BR/><BR/> - As to the enormous profits of legal drugs manufacturers, by which I assume you mean alcohol and tobacco companies, they may drop slightly, or they may not. I'm not aware of any research to support either perspective. But suggesting that we should carry on with a system of brutally and human rights abuse to protect tobacco growers is frankly ridiculous. You might as well argue that we should keep fighting the war on drugs because it creates jobs in organised crime.Svenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07532115095880260136noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28543539.post-68111098408717136812008-09-19T11:10:00.000+01:002008-09-19T11:10:00.000+01:00If the war on drugs were to end, and be replaced b...If the war on drugs were to end, and be replaced by a model of educated tolerance.....( But then, there are lateral issues.)<BR/> What then would become of the tens of thousands of prisoners now incarcerated? The jobs of thousands of prison officers, the police officers, the judges and barristers, the customs officers, the Royal navy patrols...all depend on continuing prohibition. <BR/> What too, of the enormous profits made by the monopoly manufacturers of "legal drugs", whose products might be usurped by imports/home grown alternatives?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28543539.post-61947478204460616762008-09-16T17:04:00.000+01:002008-09-16T17:04:00.000+01:00Thanks Bruce. The idea of a 'drugs czar' was just ...Thanks Bruce. The idea of a 'drugs czar' was just one of a series of ill fated drug war ideas we have unfortunately seen fit to import from the spiritual home of prohibition. It didn't work here either.Steve Rolleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11487781869462634203noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28543539.post-84688607546765334012008-09-16T16:26:00.000+01:002008-09-16T16:26:00.000+01:00As America's White House drug czar John Walters wa...As America's White House drug czar John Walters was recently in London and elsewhere lecturing Europeans about the U.S.'s allegedly superior drug policies, I sent the letter below to the Telegraph a few days ago. Thus far it has not been published, but I haven't abandoned hope yet:<BR/><BR/>Dear editor,<BR/><BR/>As am American, I was amused to read that our "drug czar," John Walters, has been lecturing Europeans about drug policy ("Models and actors are glamorising cocaine use, says George W. Bush's drugs tsar," 9/11). Readers should understand that this man is not taken seriously in his own country.<BR/><BR/>Walters has obsessively crusaded against marijuana and yet, as revealed this month by the U.S. government's own National Survey on Drug Use and Health, the number of Americans who have used marijuana has risen during his tenure, breaking the 100 million mark for the first time last year. His much-touted anti-marijuana television ads have been found ineffective in independent evaluations, while prevention efforts under his supervision were labeled either "ineffective" or "results not demonstrated" in a review by the White House's own Office of Management and Budget.<BR/><BR/>The best thing one can say about John Walters is that he is expected to leave office when President Bush departs in January. That day can't come too soon.<BR/><BR/>Sincerely,<BR/>Bruce Mirken, Director of Communications<BR/>Marijuana Policy Project<BR/>P.O. Box 77492, Capitol Hil, Washington, D.C. 20013, U.S.A.<BR/>http://www.mpp.org, Bruce.Mirken@MPP.ORGAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com