Former Narcotics Detective Russell Jones on: "The War on Drugs" - (HIGH DEFINITION)

http://www.Honorable-Intentions.com/

Click on Russell Jones's, (above), website to get a signed copy of his new book: "Honorable Intentions."



Russell Jones has been involved in the "War on Drugs" on various fronts for 40 years. For 10 of those years Russ worked as a San Jose, California narcotics detective. Later he was assigned to a DEA-run task force. As a government intelligence agent, Russ worked in Latin America observing narcotics trafficking during the Nicaragua-Contra conflict. In academia, he conducted studies of the impact of drug abuse on the crime index, wrote training programs for identifying the psychological and physiological symptoms of narcotics use, and developed rehabilitation programs designed specifically for the court-mandated client. He has traveled throughout the former Soviet Union and China to study their drug problems and policies. In the field of drug rehabilitation, Russell implemented and taught courses for various California and Texas counties, as well as for privately run programs. Russell is a court-recognized expert (on both the federal and state levels) in the field of narcotics enforcement.

His journey to the Soviet Union made it clear to Russell that the "War on Drugs" cannot be won. "Drugs were prevalent even behind the Iron Curtain," he reports. "If a country, as controlling of its citizens as the Soviet Union was, still had such a large a problem - drug-dealing on Moscow street corners, meth labs in Leningrad - how could a free society such as ours handle the problem from a law-enforcement perspective?"

Russell rightly attests that from the advent of drug prohibition in 1914 to the declaration of "War on Drugs" in 1970, to our present-day policies and tactics, the US government has not significantly reduced the use and abuse of drugs. Instead we have incarcerated millions, destroyed the lives of countless youths, while corrupting police, judges, and politicians. "We are taxing our population at over 69 billion dollars a year to support this 'War on Drugs,'" he notes, "and the result is the enrichment of drug lords, foreign government officials, and our own government agencies that are involved in this folly." Russell champions a three-pronged approach to reform: 1) treat addiction as a health problem - not a crime, 2) remove the profit motive from the drug trade, and 3) redirect a portion of the billions of dollars in enforcement costs that ending prohibition would save toward real, honest education about drugs. Education programs cut the use of nicotine, the most addictive drug known to humans, in half in a 20-year period and we didn't have to arrest or imprison anyone to achieve that success.

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[snuffcarl]

Amazing. Anybody has a link to written material by Russ? 

[yourmomlied69]

@snuffcarl Just click on his website, (in blue text), directly below this video, and you can get a signed copy of Russ Jones’s book: “Honorable Intentions.”

[coal4life]

I watched this with a friend that's 85yrs old. He was in tears well before it was over. He looked at me and said that the big money being made ruining peoples lives through the enforcement of these crazy laws is a major part of the problem. The people in DC are the ones that should be put in prison. I share his feelings 100%.

[mcapps1]

Who the fuck is FBI agent Diaz anyway? And why should I give a shit if he does or doesn't agree with Russ Jones?

[MrEvilJack]

Excellent talk Russ. Thank you so much for your continued efforts in drug policy reform. I really appreciate what you're doing and it was a pleasure working with you at NCSL in San Antonio. I learned a lot.

[fortuenti]

The single greatest TERRORIST THREAT to Americans comes not from zealous Islamic fundamentalists from afar but rather para-military ninjas with American flag patches on their uniforms engaging in 'dynamic entries' with excessive force against targets not known to be armed and dangerous. Search using keywords "radley balko overkill" and you will find the results appalling. In fact, I am ashamed and embarrassed to be a US Citizen because of such atrocities.

[MendoBud640]

great video thanks for posting, we can all stop all the violence in our streets by simply using common sense, we already know about all the violence that happened during prohibition, we can stop all the drug related violence at once.

[fortuenti]

Outstanding presentation. However, the drug-enforcement "industry" is an important component of the military industrial complex and its special interests are not about to let a nuisance such as The Constitution or the will of the American people interfere with its agenda.

[mkafrog]

This guy really next to sit in front of congress and pitch this. We are in desperate times to save money and be more efficient. If Steven Colbert can get a congressional audience about migrant workers, this guy should definitely be able to get an audience. This individual has so much credibility and so much experience that it would be ignorant to ignore this man's advice.

[22knowa]

any one that supports prohibition has blood on there hands