War on Drugs

[ballen0351]

Based on your..."logic"... and I use the word loosely... someone with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitis should be denied care and thrown under a bus because they won't stop eating cheeseburgers. It's the same thing.

Im not sure what Diabetes has to do with getting AIDS froma dirty needle but yes I think your responsible for yourself if you have diabetes then you need to be responsible in what your eatting

But you're the type of person that would support Mayor Bloomberg's decision to ban soda. I suppose you support making sugar illegal as well?

Naa sugar doesnt cause people to murder others to get a fix. Sugar doesnt cause mothers to turn partially comatose from heroin on the couch leaving there kids to fend for themselves for hours while the mom is high on the couch. Sugar does not make people eat the face off strangers. Sugars ok in my book.

 

[billc]

Apparently, the autopsy of the man who was eating the homeless man's face only had pot in his system. No other drugs or alcohol. Sooo...

 

[celtic_crippler]

I dont care about other countries I care about this country and you can walk into any CVS, Rite Aid, Walmart, or any other pharmacy and buy clean needles. Most larger citys also have free needle programs as well. Instead of blaming the law how about if you dont want AIDs dont shoot up dope.

Way to demonstrate a narrow view from a tiny mind. Sure, the only way to contract HIV/AIDS is from dirty needles, right? ...wow. Don't want AIDS, don't use a dirty needle... GENIUS! ROFL... problem solved... LOL

Im not sure what Diabetes has to do with getting AIDS froma dirty needle but yes I think your responsible for yourself if you have diabetes then you need to be responsible in what your eatting

Naa sugar doesnt cause people to murder others to get a fix. Sugar doesnt cause mothers to turn partially comatose from heroin on the couch leaving there kids to fend for themselves for hours while the mom is high on the couch. Sugar does not make people eat the face off strangers. Sugars ok in my book.

Of course you're incapable of seeing the corelation between the two. Don't know what I was thinking even trying to point it out. Think I'll go on over to Mr Bill's thread and screw with him... Have a nice day!

 

[ballen0351]

Way to demonstrate a narrow view from a tiny mind. Sure, the only way to contract HIV/AIDS is from dirty needles, right? ...wow. Don't want AIDS, don't use a dirty needle... GENIUS! ROFL... problem solved...

well of course there are other ways to get AIDS but the article YOU posted and the topic we are discussing is about DRUGS. Sorry I was trying to stay on topic here

Of course you're incapable of seeing the corelation between the two. Don't know what I was thinking even trying to point it out. Think I'll go on over to Mr Bill's thread and screw with him... Have a nice day!

Of course your incapable of knowing the difference between sugar and crack. Have fun screwing with Bill I'm off to work now and try to prevent someones face being eaten off.

 

[celtic_crippler]

More facts for you to ignore, complete with actual citations!!! Exerpts from "The War on Drugs: A Failed Social Policy" by Susan P. Robbins, PhD, LMSW-ACP
Entire article here: http://www.susanrobbins.com/cv/warondrugs.html ...in the event your mind is mallable enough to open a bit.

"Even though a vast amount of money has been spent to reduce drug use and keep illicit drugs out of this country, the war on drugs has done neither, despite claims to the contrary. In fact, the data indicate that the availability of illicit drugs has not only increased in the last two decades, but the drugs themselves are cheaper and purer than they were twenty years ago (Department of Health and Human Services, 1999; Lindesmith Center, 2000; National Institute of
Drug Abuse, 1999; Office of National Drug Control Policy, 1999). In addition, there has been an increase in drug overdose deaths as well as an increase in
emergency room drug episodes (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 1996).

Not surprisingly, marijuana has consistently been the most commonly used illicit drug, accounting for at least four fifths of all current drug use, and with the
majority of marijuana users using no other illicit drugs (National Institute of Drug Abuse, 1998. 1999, 2000). Earlier data such as these prompted Baum (1996,
p. 126) to observe that: “Were marijuana legal, the country's problem with illegal drugs would shrink to the tiny number of heroin and cocaine users, obviating a federal drug enforcement budget the size of the DEA's.” Drug war rhetoric notwithstanding, the failure to significantly and consistently reduce either casual or steady drug use despite our ever-increasing expenditures led Sweet, a federal judge and former prosecutor, to conclude that “Our present prohibition policy has failed, flatly and without serious question” (Sweet in the National Review, 1996 p. 11).

However, current drug policy funding ensures that those who are most in need of treatment are least likely to receive it, despite the fact that treatment upon
request has been Federal law since 1988 (see the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988). According to the Office of National Drug Control Policy (2000a), 57% of Americans who need drug treatment receive none. Although some have debated the efficacy of treatment (see Bender & Leone, 1998), an important study by the RAND Drug Policy Research Center found that each dollar invested in drug abuse treatment saves taxpayers more than $7 in societal costs (such as drug related emergency room visits and crime committed to support a drug habit).

The abysmal failure in achieving the stated goals of reducing supply and demand is only part of the picture, however. The ever-escalating war on drugs
has had a profoundly negative impact on society as a whole in a variety of ways. The prison population grew from 200,000 in 1970 to 1.7 million in 1997, with over 60 percent of federal prisoners being jailed for non-violent drug offenses, many of them first offenses. (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1997). According to Friedman (1998) and Walker (1998), drug prohibition is the major source of the tremendous growth in our prison population.
This has led to a disproportionate imprisonment of minorities, especially Black men, with one out of three either in prison or on some form of supervised release. Current drug policy has been racist in its effect, even if that was not its stated intent and the federal sentencing guidelines that impose differential penalties for crack and powder cocaine have been cited as “the most blatant aspect of bias in the system”(Austin, et al., 2001; Walker, 1998).

Not only does drug prohibition lead to increased crime, but it leads to corruption in law enforcement, the criminal justice system, and interdiction efforts as well. McNamara (1996), points to grave instances of corruption in the police force, the Federal Bureau of Investigations, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Coast Guard. He points out that the violence and corruption stem from the competition for illegal profits rather than drug use itself and notes that “the drug war is as lethal as it is corrupting” (p. 9).

Of major significance is the fact that drug prohibition compounds the harm to the individual user. Friedman (1998) notes that in addition to making drugs dangerously adulterated and more expensive than if they were legally produced, users are forced to associate with criminals to purchase drugs, they are at constant risk of infection from unclean needles (which is responsible for the unnecessary spread of disease), and many must admit to criminally using drugs in
order to qualify for treatment.

As the November Coalition notes, “In thirty years of 'The War On Drugs,' our government hasn't even managed to accomplish even a small reduction in drug dealing and abuse, yet we have spent almost a trillion dollars. ONE TRILLION DOLLARS!” In order to address the very real problems associated with drugs, especially that of acute and chronic drug abuse, we must refocus our efforts and seriously examine a wider and more rational choice of policy options if we are to achieve a more effective allocation of taxpayer dollars. Clearly, it is time to rethink drug policy."

Ya think?!?!?!

 

[Grenadier]

Ladies and gents,

This is a pretty good discussion over a touchy subject, and I'd like to keep it open. Keep this civil, attack the messages, and not the messenger, and we can keep it this way, OK?

 

[geezer]

Apparently, the autopsy of the man who was eating the homeless man's face only had pot in his system. No other drugs or alcohol. Sooo...

Sooo... For reals??? That's got to be the worse case of the munchies I ever heard of!