The War on Drugs and sound science.

[Oldenuff]

When it comes to the EPA, President Obama recently said that "rigid ideology has overruled sound science" as he implemented some well-needed science back into the department. I just want to know how soon we can apply this to the War on Drugs, which has wasted so much money, ruined so many lives and has kept a black market thriving because demand hasn't dropped at all. We have a full-on narco war across the Mexican border, which is spilling into our cities and national parks. We have more people in prison for non-violent drug possession than most other countries do for all crimes combined. And the DEA continues to raid medical marijuana dispensaries in states that have approved them, even though Obama has said these raids will stop under his administration. To wit: On Jan. 22, the DEA - assisted by the Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement, the South Lake Tahoe-El Dorado County Narcotics Enforcement Team and the South Lake Tahoe Police - raided Ken Estes' Patient to Patient Collective in Lake Tahoe. It occured just two days after the Inauguration. Estes, a 44-year-old quadriplegic and single parent, had nine employees and had paid over $51,000 in sales taxes to the state in the past three months. One more fact: in 2007, over 800,000 people were arrested on marijuana-related offenses, 89% for simple possession, according to NORML. The US has the highest level of marijuana use despite having some of the strictest anti-marijuana laws. The fact that the laws are doing nothing to undermine demand should be a huge red flag that our drug policies are not working for us. Well, they are working for the Prison Industry and for the Law Enforcement budget and for the Black Market, but certainly not for US Citizens individually or collectively.

More at the click:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robbie-gennet/sound-science-and-the-war_b_162117.html