AP: "US drug war has met none of its goals"

[solarbird]

An award to the AP for stating the obvious: AP IMPACT: US drug war has met none of its goals. No shit. On the other hand, it has cost around US$1T, militarised the police force, hammered away property rights, and screwed millions of people, so if you're unkind and suggest that the real goal was increasing government power, then, well, mission accomplished! But in terms of stated goals, it's a complete failure. That's not really disputable.

Get this defence of the drug war from former U.S. drug czar John P. Walters:

"To say that all the things that have been done in the war on drugs haven't made any difference is ridiculous," Walters said. "It destroys everything we've done. It's saying all the people involved in law enforcement, treatment and prevention have been wasting their time. It's saying all these people's work is misguided."

Um, yeah. That is what it's saying. That's exactly what it's saying. Well spotted! And why is it saying that? Because it's true.

Comments

[tacky-tramp.livejournal.com]

Well, heaven forbid we suggest that people in law enforcement are misguided.

[kodi]

You know, it's not like I'm not willing to give them a pass. It's not like anyone's asking them to fix everything they broke in the past forty years. All they have to do is stop making things worse, and I'd be delighted and overjoyed beyond any expectation. They don't need to admit that it was obvious this was a bad plan forty, thirty, twenty, or ten years ago - just admit that, with the benefit of forty years' experience, we can see that this does not work.

[stickmaker.livejournal.com]

There's been quite a attention to the anniversary of Prohibition this month. Maybe it's time to use the occasion to stop the drug war.

[pocketnaomi.livejournal.com]

I've always wondered about statements like that. People say it about wars all the time: "to say this was a wrong war to get into is to say that all the people who lost their lives in it died in vain." It's as though, if you don't say it, somehow they will have died less in vain, rather than the truth being exactly the same whether it's spoken or not.

Maybe if one speaks it, there will be fewer people who continue dying, or wasting their time and effort, or whatever it is, in vain.

[avram]

It's a version of the sunk costs fallacy. Plus also lots of people just don't want to be associated with military failure, and figure that maybe if things keep going they'll somehow magically get better.

[lyonesse.livejournal.com]

...not to mention the fact that it's also the war on medicine :/

[westrider.livejournal.com]

Off topic, but: Tigerlily Jones Icon FTW!

[solarbird]

Indeed it is; but I tend to think that's considered "acceptable collateral damage" rather than legitimate potential target. I could be wrong, of course.

[lyonesse.livejournal.com]

i think that being anti-science is a big goal. as is being, say, racist, so it's not alone.

[phillipalden.livejournal.com]

I've been an open and outspoken opponent of the so-called "War On Drugs," which has really been a "War On People Of Color and the Poor."

But no politician or President has the guts to admit it publicly and end the damn thing.