Practical Solutions to End the War on Drugs - Alex Wodak

[MrTimothytim]

God im proud to be Dutch.

[brumleyHouse]

This war will never be won. Everyone likes the money too much In the end nature will clear away all this rampant political and civilian trash

[1600Percent]

@brumleyHouse Exactly I've always wondered if humans were placed in this environment as an experiment by a more advanced civilization. We're parasites we pollute consume and destroy. No other animal on earth harms it in the way we do. We seem to be the only species that can't peacefully coexist with the planet and don't fit in with the checks and balances of the food chain. In a nutshell, we are the world's AIDS.

[dkoribag1]

@1600Percent i agree 100%. I also keep in mind the process of evolution. It seems to be within everything we do and everything around us. Some things evolve at different rates than others. On the individual scale of humans it is exactly the same. Each individual human evolves at different rate . Life is a very strange. The war on drugs is obvious failure and against the constitution and against everything our founding fathers faught so hard for. Shame on the federal government.

[WeAskThePeople]

throw off the shackles of this stupid drug war ...treat pot like tomatoes.

FREEDOM OF CHOICE - HUMAN RIGHTS

USA prohibition policy poisons the world. FORCED apon us by trade sanctions & stand over tactics... WAKE UP .. ! compassion NOT incarceration.

[TerrierBram]

Why those so called educated people never seem to consider that it maybe not is meant to succeed. But just another way to have an excuse to make money by selling the drugs for high prices, and collect taxes to finance all this futile state activities to fight drugs activities.The real solution is to burn down this fascistic petrol-chemical industrial and government complex.

[KKillaJ]

dont see how they could package weed with the dangers printed on it the only thing u would see for that is "may cause bronchitis or COPD with chrinic heavy use" and thats very rare lol

[LACHLAN227]

its true getting weed is so much easyer then getting a beer or even to buy a bong or a pipe to smoke it in !

[steveahmann]

the problem as I see it for police officers amd (dont forget their master the attoneys) is malum en se vs. malum prohibitah. malum en se is where there is a real crime. malum prhoibitah is just prohibited by statute and is a total rip off. Malum prohibitah is argued effectively in ourt with the never talked about 6th amendment right to be informed of the nature and the cause of the accusation. read my website

[EvilLeparacaun]

I'm a year 9 student, and I can tell you that its is WAAAAAY easier to get pot and cocaine and all that shit than it is to get smokes and alcohol!

[holylok]

@EvilLeparacaun lol wtf there's a a liquor store n corner store (which sells smokes) not far from my house! every corner shop sells smokes n theres liquer stores basically everywhere

[EvilLeparacaun]

@holylok yeah but they don't sell to anyone under age you moron

[holylok]

@EvilLeparacaun coming from a fuckhead who's off point stay on point not pot! derp derp! point u fucking pot head give up the weed cus u didn't make sense in ur reply lol I wonder why!

[EvilLeparacaun]

@holylok What part of "they don't sell to anyone under age" doesn't make sense to you? Was it the "moron" part that threw you off? Well then, allow me to clarify. Your slow! OK? OK.

Oh and by the way I haven't smoked pot for like 3 months, If you must know. And when I use it, I don't act like a moron (you). My shit isn't THAT good ;)

[holylok]

theres even lquor and smoke in shopping malls place that we go all the time to get our food for the week so it's harder to get weed than it is to get smokes n alcohol

[condemned13]

Legalize it not penilize it:)

[LokiClock]

People always focus on the negatives about Prohibition. Sure there was gang violence and rampant alcoholism, but there was also hot jazz! But seriously, why don't we focus on how things got better after it ended instead of how bad it was? I think that would be more on the point.

[PopgoestheWiesle]

@LokiClock because in reality nothing got better. Everything went back to the way it was and no progress was made. Alcohol related death rates increased, economic crashes occurred, and crime rates skyrocketed. The reason we focus on how bad the Prohibition was, is because if we don't, we are doomed to repeat it again.

[LokiClock]

@PopgoestheWiesle Yes, but plenty of people know that point already, they heard it the first time. We're only talking about how bad not legalizing it is, turning it into an argument over the lesser of two evils, when we could also be arguing that it's actually a net positive.

[PopgoestheWiesle]

@LokiClock ok i see your point now. took me a while to get that

[venturadog]

Why tax it,?It's the poor people who need drugs the most any way.

[lazerYA]

@venturadog umm because if your poor then you shouldnt be doing drugs...? making it expensive might make them resort to getting a job at mcdonlads rather than begging for change out front. and like he said, minor possession shouldnt be a crime so in reality you could probably have a one planter in your garage and have little questions asked.

[devartdjkyota]

@lazerYA Oh yes, I agree fully. If you can't afford a decent place to live or food for every week, stay off drugs. They will kill you faster, but usually by starvation from spending all your money on them.

[willhum]

The critique is good but the solutions don't go far enough. Alex Wodak only seems to want to tax, regulate and legalise cannabis. So he seems happy to leave the rest of the drugs market in the hands of illegal criminal gangs?

Over 29,000 people have died in Mexico since 2007 - as a result of US demand + prohibition + guns. END THE WAR ON DRUGS - ITS A WORLD DEVELOPMENT ISSUE !!

[FRSFreeState]

The "War on Drugs" has been a failure because its fought in the wrong way by treating Drug Addicts the same way as Drug Dealers. Drug Addicts should be treated like Patients and sent to Rehab and Drug Dealers should continue to be treated like the Criminals that they are.

[TheSeaMyst]

Russians views are wrong on this matter please follow wisdom not fodder from rotten police.

Once i fall out of this coma i am on I will fix this mess I pray it's fixed before I remember what the Christ set into my mind if it's power than I will direct it at the wrong decision if there wasn't than we would not be here now would we men.

[tompants2010]

Its so nice to see that there are at least some logical and sensible minded people that have correct views on how the developed world should handle its problems with drugs. Prohibition has never and will never work yet we still persist with it, some say that the definition of insanity is doing something over and over and expecting a different result each time, well for me that sums up prohibition its absolutely INSANE!!!

[Whyisthat101]

LEGALIZE.

[FrsBigeasy]

The "War on Drugs has been a failure but it doesn't mean it can't be won if its fought in a smarter way where Drug Addicts are treated like the patients they are in stead of Criminals & Drug Dealers are treated like the Criminals they are.

It should be mandatory that Drug Addicts are sent to Drug Clinics instead of Prison where they can be released once its determined that their no longer in need & want Narcotics & they wouldn't have their stay in a Drug Clinic on their Criminal Record.

[StoneFredFlint]

The problem with this position and with most positions on drug prohibition is the failure to examine the tacit assumption on both sides: Taking drugs to alter consciousness is pathological. Is there anyone out there willing to argue that the human urge to alter consciousness with drugs is a natural one? That there is nothing intrinsically wrong with taking drugs to alter consciousness? The drive to alter consciousness is natural in people; it is a a right based on the principle of autonomy.

[goncalojferreira]

@StoneFredFlint What's a normal conscience?

[duck24x]

If it's a DRUG WAR, then the drug dealers are PRISONERS OF WAR should be treated with as much respect & honor as we expect American soldiers who get captured by the enemy in foreign lands to be treated.

Personally, I support War for Drug Choice: use military force to blow up the prisons. And honor & respect the brave people - WHETHER CIVILIAN OR MILITARY - who fight for the freedom of others to do that which does not force harm on others.

[The3rdPlateau]

@duck24x you rock.

[duck24x]

@The3rdPlateau Thanks, but I am much more - how should I say - vengeful than most fighters for drug & pot choice. I'm definitely NOT pessimistic - I consider myself a very STRONG optimist, the way, for example, General George S Patton would in fighting the Nazi. So, while I agree with lots of folks on many basic issues - e.g. legalize pot, outlaw Wall Street corruption, etc - I get into fights with them because I want to exact extreme vengeance against the enemy.

[The3rdPlateau]

@duck24x no i totally feel you dude, right on.

[duck24x]

@The3rdPlateau Thank you. I say what needs to be said, no matter how politically incorrect.

[valglass12]

only one solution to the War on Drugs. TREAT IT LIKE A WAR!

Kill the bad guys and DESTROY the production areas. We have the firepower. You cannot traffic what you don't have. Do you think we would've won ANY war in history if we ere limited to making arrests instead of killing? Let the military handle it. After what they've gone through in the Middle East this war will be over in about one weekend when bombers and helicopter napalm the coca/poppy fields and kill the Cartel heads.

[The3rdPlateau]

@valglass12 is this guy serious? i can't tell if this guy is serious......clearly this is a medical issue, sort of the last thing the military needs to get involved with...

[valglass12]

@The3rdPlateau

Is it a War or isn't it? The U.S. is not treating it as a war and look whats happened. Or not happened, more accurately. We have the technology. But its the only way. ANnd it ended being a medical issue a LONG time ago. Bout the time when drug trafficker started controlling countries and killing people in wholesale lots to protect the trade.

Kill the bad guys and destroy the crops. Only way.

[The3rdPlateau]

@valglass12 yeah um it's a war that's a) impossible to win, and b) completely morally and ethically objectionable, on every level. It can inherently never not be a medical issue because drugs are pharmaceutical in nature. Also, the only way to take the control back away from the drug cartels is to legalize the drugs, thus driving the cartels out of business...that's the only way to get rid of the cartels; we have to hit them where it hurts most- their wallets =)

[valglass12]

@The3rdPlateau

Your right its impossible to win the way were doing it now., which is why it must be escalated. Because now we are fighting a war on strictly a defensive strategy, which has failed. So lets go on the offense. What do you care? The U.S. would be doing the world a favor getting rid of 90% of the coca/poppy fields in the world. And the way you hit the Cartel is to hit them where it KILLS the most - with a bullet in their head or a bomb on their house.

[The3rdPlateau]

@valglass12 lol you're crazy. I care because people should have the right to do whatever they want with their own bodies. Also, I don't think eradicating the world's supply of morphine would be doing anybody a favor...especially not for our wounded soldiers and cancer patients. As far as coca goes, many Southern American cultures still use coca leaves the way we use coffee, and we have no right to tell them how to live their lives. In fact, nobody has the right to tell anybody such a thing.

[valglass12]

@The3rdPlateau

If I'm crazy, then next to you I'm sane.

I'm glad you can control yourself and can afford your drug habit. I wish all addicts are as docile and rich as you. But most aren't, and they kill and rob on an hourly basis due to feed their habits; will only increase if drugs are legalized. And when a country is producing shit that kills people and the traffickers kill ANYONE who stands in their way, yes, Uncle Sam has that right to protect its citizens.

[The3rdPlateau]

@valglass12 Firstly you have to remember that only about 10% of people who use drugs actually end up becoming addicts. Secondly, there are plenty of nonaddictive drugs such as LSD and MDMA which actually have more health benefits than they do risks. Thirdly, the best way to get rid of traffickers is to legalize and legitimize the market so that legit businesses will drive them off the market. It's pretty basic economics. And no I don't believe in invading foreign lands and raping their culture

[valglass12]

@The3rdPlateau

"only about 10%" is still 3 million people. Thats a lot of addicts bleeding people. Keep in mind the traffickers just aren't going to let their bread/butter get taken away. They have their lobbies here too. And they aren't going to just go away. Other countries where its not legal will provide them with plenty incentive to continue their old business ways.

Damn shame you don't believe in eradicating a poison that kills people and destroys communities.

[The3rdPlateau]

@valglass12 it's not all poison in the sense that cyanide is a poison, many of them are agents with medical benefits at moderate doses. just about any pharmaceutical will kill you at a high enough dose, that doesn't make it poison. and that's all the more reason for other countries to legalize&regulate, too.

[FinalHeresy]

@valglass12 Ide like the see even a shred of proof that what your saying is just a bunch of bullshit. Theres plenty of studies that show legalizing and taxing something will destroy the drug cartels and drive total overall use down by a lot, as well as save us billions of dollars on the "war on drugs" thats been so effective so far(overall drug use has increasing since the 90's). and BTW uncle does seem to want to protect his citizens if he arrested 300,000k people last year for drug charges.

[valglass12]

@FinalHeresy

Another academic with "studies" ! Great!

How are you going to drive down use when its available to all? When you can get it anywhere? And legalizing narcotics in America will destroy the Cartels?! What about other countries? Newsflash: The Cartels will still be around to service those markets. Whats so wrong about going down to South America and Asia and wiping these fuckers out? Here's a study: Its the only we thing we haven't tried yet. But everything else has failed.

[FinalHeresy]

@valglass12 obvious troll is obvious

[valglass12]

@FinalHeresy

Hey studies man, you didn't answer my question: Whats wrong with going to South America and wiping out the cartels and a moajority of their crops with our military?

[timesup1776]

@valglass12 How many times do you see a wino robbing people at gunpoint and burglarizing neighborhoods for a bottle of thunderbird? The answer is you don't. Why? Because alcohol is a cheap legal drug. The fact is cocaine cost's roughly the same to produce as aspirin. Do you think little Sally will need to sell her body or rob someone so she can afford to buy a few grams of cocaine when it only cost's $5 a gram? If it were legalized and taxed you would see a huge drop in drug related crime.

[valglass12]

@timesup1776

and how many winos do you see begging for change because they drank too many bottles of thunderbird? The answer is plenty. Why? because alcohol is addicting. And so are drugs. And yes, women already sell themselves to get money for drugs. Making it cheaper and available is only going to add fuel to the fire despite taxing it. So social problems skyrocket, but drug related crime goes down. Wow, sounds like a real utopia we can have here.

[spilledinsanity]

@valglass12

youre silly

not everyone who does drugs becomes addicted.

there is no evidence or even a good theory as to how regulating drugs would make social problems worse.

[valglass12]

@spilledinsanity

"not everyone" is still a very high number.

How about some common sense instead of evidence: Your making readily available a highly addictive poisonous product that anyone with $20 can have. And corporations being corporations, they will do whatever it takes to maximize profits and who cares at what expense.

[spilledinsanity]

@valglass12

true

but don't the criminals do the same things?

likehacking up the prices and shits

[valglass12]

@spilledinsanity

its tougher for criminals to do their thing because any business that sells a product needs a viable distribution and retail system. Cops do their damnest to put them out of business, but at the end of the day they fail. If the monkeys in Columbia, Bolivia, Afghanistan, Thailand had a legit system with no interference, the number of addicts is only going to go up now that you don't have to worry about getting raided by the cops AND making it safer for your clients to score.

[spilledinsanity]

@valglass12

Well it's not like we can stop addiction by trying to get rid of the drugs. The way to prevent addiction is to educate people properly, something we are doing a terrible job of now. There are also harm-reduction techniques that work that we don't use because we fear it'll look like were drug advocates. And so what if we make addictive chemicals readily available to adults? They know how to control themselves.

[randy109]

In the 1800's in America you could get opiates at local drug stores or mail order catalogues. Most of the traveling "medicine men" in their wagons sold tonics that had fairly high amount of opium. Many housewives leading rough lives on the prairie took their "tonic" nightly. Many cowboys sat around the fire at night smoked weed. Indians and Mexicans had been smoking the weed and cowboys had plenty of aches and pains after a day in the saddle.

No "War on Drugs" and the world didn't end...

[duck24x]

Easy: blow up every fucking person who elects Democrats and Republicans. Period. Elect Socialists or Greens, as I'e been doing for 30+ years. Fuck libertarians - they claim to be for freedom, but they don't do anything. I've given them half credit for too long. They deserve no credit. Socialists call for revolution. That is the ONLY way terrorism against drug choice will end.

[Nilopollis]

The drugs won the war. And america has embraced them as liberators. But authoritarian insurgents still insist on fucking up everyone elses good time

[Fuctmentality]

Drugs demand unconditional surrender.

[Nilopollis]

Any argument for pot prohibition is based on emotion, not reality.

[CALICOTV301]

Any argument for ANY DRUG's prohibition is based on emotion, idiocy and not reality.

More cigarettes and alcohol has killed more than any other drug.

Crack, PCP and so forth are no different from MY QVAR (asthma inhaler) that warns me of a possible stroke, heart attack and so forth...not to mention nausea, headaches, rapid heartbeating and so forth.

That goes any drug. America is full of SHIT!

Any ABUSED drug can be a problem.

Over 1,000,000 non violent offenders are in for drugs

[mynameisbobtoo]

the war on drugs is not a failure...just the majority of us are on the wrong side of the victory. The war on drugs is amazingly profitable for those in Government. I pays for wars pays for slave labor pays in kicks backs buy off bribes and is a system that government can play from both ends. The war on drugs is a stunning success....just not for you and I.

[AVTPro]

I agree with everything except legalizing it. The crime sentencing should be equivalent to quantity and flow of distribution.

[TheHaightAshbury]

so make alcohol and tobacco illegal as well!

[7jerryv7]

You forgot the criminal justice system. They benefit too.

Is it really a failure if so many powerful people and organiztions benefit from keeping drugs illegal?

[Alberg6]

I'm coming down from cannabis, need more cannabis...

[IncLogic]

GODDAMN ALBANIANS !!!

[TheHaightAshbury]

How Dangerous is Marijuana Compared with other Substances? Number of US Deaths:

TOBACCO 340,000 - 450,000

ALCOHOL 150,000+ (Not including 50% of highway deaths and 65% of murders)

ASPIRIN 180 - 1,000+ (Including deliberate overdose)

CAFFEINE 1,000 - 10,000 (stress, ulcers, and triggering irregular heartbeats)

"LEGAL" DRUG OVERDOSE 14,000 - 27,000 (Deliberate or accidental)

ILLICIT DRUG OVERDOSE 3,800 - 5,200 (Deliberate or accidental)

MARIJUANA 0 (google "cannabis oil cures cancer")

[rhugh052]

but it's a gate way drug!

[TheHaightAshbury]

what did you try first, cigarettes or alcohol?

[rhugh052]

crack, and it led to me thinking all drugs should be legal.

crack killed Applejack!

[CALICOTV301]

See... but...

he jumped in and he couldn't jump back! Why? He was just to blind to see that :-)

But...

Alcohol killed WHOM? Cancer from cigarettes killed whom?

1. Why does crack and most drugs mostly go to the impoverished areas?

Why?

A cop stated "it's easier to catch the drug dealer outside" than the drug user inside.

Also quote by a cop "I watched the CIA bring cocaine in myself."

What guy in America has a plane or boat to get the drugs? NONE!!! But they are who get busted!

[CALICOTV301]

Every single drug around you has worse or more of a side effect than crack. Not only that...you get more of a charge simply because it's mixed with baking soda which is a household product.

Crack has no warning...

although Cigarettes do. You see the effects of lung cancer, drunk driving more than you ever will crack or any of the others.

Check your aspirin (which can cause a heart attack, blood thinning), etc. Why do you think it says "Don't Use If You are..."

It's deadly too! All drugs r

[CALICOTV301]

But why isn't crack legal? Because, it's targeting certain ethnic groups. That was also stated in researches I've done. The blacks + the browns they said. That's why it's affordable.

Now... in Holland, they have places that give this out to decrease the misuse and make it a bit more safer. It works. The fact is, that if something so major doesn't go away, help treat it.

I mean...abortion is legal...alcohol causes liver damage, cigarettes lung cancer...

It's America's bs!

[tigerone1970]

Milk and cookies are the gateway drug.

[TomTheDevourer]

@rhugh052

how? studies have show that out of 100 marijuana smokers, on average 1 have used cocaine and less than 1% of marijuana smokers use such drugs as heroin. there is nothing within the drug Cannabis sativa that prompts the user to step forward to use such dangerous drugs.

[swankrecords]

The War on Drugs was not named Solution To The Drug Problem.

[mattghtpa]

Well thats what makes The War on Drugs magnitudes more absurd. What was the point? Obviously not to stop the flow of drugs, but, wait for it, to control it and profit from both ends of the deal.

What a sweet deal that is. They get to not only make profit from the source, but they get to seize and confiscate all the drug dealers loot as well as incarcerate whoever they want, send them to prison, create a federally funded slave labor force, and profit from prisons traded on Wall Street.

[newusername01]

Common sense doesn't belong on Australian shores. NOW GET OUT!

[greenhell666]

the guy speaks truth

[24hrlib]

BRAVO!

[MysteryManoLove]

Well said