The War on Drugs just claimed another victim... This time, a 19 month old baby.
Depending on who's doing the counting, the war on drugs kills or injures between 1,000 and 5,000 Americans every year. More than half of our incarcerated citizens were convicted only of drug-related infractions. More than half of all robberies are motivated by drugs. What have we accomplished for all this? There is no evidence that the “War on Drugs” has decreased drug use at all. Instead, drug use appears to shift up and down with cultural trends that are wholly unrelated to the War on Drugs – and also unrelated to the legality of the drugs.
Isn't it way past time to shift from this costly (in both blood and treasure) failed “war” to something more akin to how we deal with alcohol and tobacco?
I certainly think so. If that burned baby survives, I'll bet he'll feel the same way...
No comments:
Post a Comment