David Sirota: How the drug war hurts everyone

[marmar]

from Salon.com:



How the drug war hurts everyone
From Wall Street to Oakland, recent events prove the campaign isn't just futile. It's a deadly waste of resources

BY DAVID SIROTA


Something as massive and amorphous as America’s War on Drugs can be difficult to imagine in concrete terms. This web of failed policies is so huge, so persistent and so deeply woven into the fabric of our nation that it’s hard to envision an alternative — or even appreciate what the conflict is currently siphoning resources away from.

That’s why the past week has been so important for the cause of ending the drug war — because it has provided three tragic examples of how that war harms not only its dead and/or incarcerated victims, but also how it makes society as a whole more susceptible to horrific crimes.

In Boulder, Colo., for example, the Daily Camera reports that “the University of Colorado announced a new plan to snuff out the Boulder campus’s 4/20 smoke-out, warning that police will ticket pot smokers at this month’s event.” In a state whose police forces have faced serious budget cuts, this decision clearly reflects a hardcore War on Drugs ideology by removing finite police resources from safety and security operations and instead focusing them on punishing pot use.

That’s a key point: Focusing police resources on safety is distinctly different than focusing them on the drug war. As the Camera notes, the new policy is “a more aggressive enforcement tactic than in years past, when officers mostly monitored the crowd for safety reasons.” Underscoring that point, notice that one day after the CU announcement, the same newspaper reported that the area near the university campus is experiencing an intense wave of burglaries. Rather than announce a serious crackdown on that crime wave, though, the university is choosing to spend taxpayers’ limited police resources on stopping pot smokers. .........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.salon.com/2012/04/12/how_the_drug_war_hurts_everyone/singleton/

[xchrom]

1. Du rec. Nt

[PA Democrat]

2. The Pennsylvania prison system will get more taxpayer money this year while

our lovely Governor Tom (Gashole) Corbett once again slashes funding for K-12 education, higher education and programs for the poor and disabled.

And don't even get me started on the money wasted by law enforcement and the court system going after people for possession of pot.

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett Slashes Education, Increases Prison Funding

There may be some twisted logic to Governor Tom Corbett’s decision to slash education funding and redirect those funds to state prisons. After all, the less we fund education the more likely it is our students will end up as criminals. The less we do to prioritize education now, the more money we’re going to end up spending on prison cells.

Here’s Jamil Smith, explaining the latest Republican assault on public education:

“In Pennsylvania, Governor Corbett has a twist on Mr. Scott’s approach, directing the money saved by harsh cuts in education (and state worker rights) to something else: prisons. Public education? Slashed more than any other area. Funding for the state university system, including Penn State? Literally cut in half. Funding for the state’s Department of Corrections? Increased by 11 percent, a total of around $186 million, despite its existing burden on the state’s budget.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2011/03/21/pennsylvania-governor-tom-corbett-slashes-education-while-increasing-funding-for-prisons/

[duhneece]

3. The War on Drugs has hurt millions

Mostly the poor, minorities and liberals.

[Uncle Joe]

4. And then there's the case of Wells Fargo

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002553981

STUNNING! Wells Fargo launders Mexican drug cartel money, then invests in for-profit prisons

Last year, Wells Fargo got hit with a slap on the wrist and a fine they could easily afford for laundering $378.4 Billion dollars of drug money for the Mexican drug cartels. If you're keeping score at home that means if you get busted smoking a joint you go to jail, but if you get busted laundering billions of dollars in drug cartel money you get a slap on the wrist. Now, here's the catch, if you get caught smoking pot and go to jail, Wells Fargo will make a profit off of that too thanks to America's growing for-profit prison system.

The upshot of all this, is that organized crime has or is taking over the government and using the so called "War on Drugs" as a means to enslave the American People.

Thanks for the thread, marmar.