How Legalizing Drugs Would Strengthen Democracy From Afghanistan to Mexico

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/world/how-legalizing-drugs-would-strengthen-democracy-afghanistan-mexico

The UN Office of Drug Control (UNODC) has thoroughly documented the violence, crime, and corruption linked with the worldwide heroin and opium trade. The U.S. news media report every day on the mayhem and corruption of government officials caused by the drug wars in Mexico, Colombia, and other points south of our border. In Afghanistan, the Taliban tax the opium trade and protect poppy farmers from eradication, fueling the insurgency and our 11-year war.

However, these problems are all consequences of drug prohibition, not of the drugs themselves. In legal terms, drugs are malum prohibitum (wrong because prohibited by law) rather than malum in se (inherently wrong, such as theft or murder). During the U.S. experiment with Prohibition (1920-1933), alcohol was malum prohibitum; as soon as it was legalized, it again became a normal regulated, traded, and taxed consumer product.

We need to rethink our prohibition of drugs. What problem are we trying to solve by making drugs illegal? Have we chosen the most effective and affordable solution? Are the collateral consequences worth it?

We should start with the premise that neither demand for drugs nor the drugs themselves can be eliminated. UNODC estimates the ultimate street value of drugs originating in southern Afghanistan, primarily Helmand and Kandahar, as $68 billion. Where there is demand, there will be supply. If Afghan supplies were reduced, production would simply move elsewhere—as it did when it moved into Afghanistan in the 1980s after being pushed out of Southeast Asia’s Golden Triangle.

[appal_jack]

1. k&r, n/t

[duhneece]

2. Did we learn nothing from alcohol prohibiton?

One wonders, eh?

I want us to treat substance use and abuse from a public health perspective, just as we do tobacco and alcohol. Yes, there is a need for the law when it comes to driving under the influence, child neglect or abuse, of course.

I can't imagine that it is justice to lock non-violent substance users or abusers in cages like dangerous animal. I'm so done with that paradigm. It never worked.

Consider joining or welcoming the Peace Caravan, I'll be greeting them in El Paso Texas:
http://www.globalexchange.org/mexico/caravan
Javier Sicilia and Mexico’s Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity will lead a caravan across the United States this summer, calling for an end to the drug war. The caravan will begin in San Diego this August and will visit two dozen U.S. cities on its way to Washington, DC.

Read Javier Sicilia's invitation urging you and U.S. organizations to take part in this historic caravan.
The Caravan -- led by victims of Mexico’s drug war who have transformed their losses into moral, courageous, and compassionate action -- will be joined by drug war victims north of the border who also seek peace and an end to the absurd and tragic consequences of drug prohibition.

[duhneece]

3. Caravan route

For the schedule of activities in each city, http://www.globalexchange.org/mexico/caravan/route
visit the Caravan for Peace calendar or click on each city below.

San Diego, CA – Sunday, Aug 12

Los Angeles, CA - Monday – Tuesday, Aug 13 - Aug 14

Phoenix, AZ – Wednesday, Aug 15

Tucson, AZ – Thursday, Aug 16

Las Cruces, NM – Friday, Aug 17

Albuquerque/Santa Fe, NM – Saturday, Aug 18

Santa Fe, NM – Sunday, Aug 19

Rest Day, Santa Fe, NM – Monday, Aug 20

El Paso, TX – Tuesday, Aug 21

Laredo, TX – Wednesday, Aug 22

Harlingen/Brownsville, TX – Thursday, Aug 23

McAllen/San Antonio, TX – Friday, Aug 24

Austin, TX – Saturday, Aug 25

Houston, TX – Sunday, Aug 26

New Orleans, LA – Monday, Aug 27

Jackson, MS Rest Day – Tuesday, Aug 28

Montgomery, AL – Wednesday, Aug 29

Atlanta/Ft Benning, GA – Thursday - Friday, Aug 30 - 31

Louisville, KY – Saturday, Sept 1

Travel Night to Chicago, IL & Rest Day – Sunday, Sept 2

Chicago, IL – Monday - Tuesday, Sep 3-4

Cleveland, OH – Wednesday, Sept 5

New York, NY – Thursday - Friday, Sept 6-7

Baltimore, MD – Saturday - Sunday, Sept 8-9

Washington, D.C. – Monday - Wednesday, Sept 10-12


Live along the route, and want to get involved? Let us know by filling out this volunteer form or e-mailing mexico [at] globalexchange [dot] org.

[pscot]

4. Sorry. This is one of those issues

we can't do anything about. We're fully invested.

[duhneece]

5. I refuse to believe there is anything

about which we can do nothing. I've learned from activists throughout history that we can choose to be on the side of justice..."The moral arc of the universe is long but it bends towards justice" -- Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

[pscot]

6. The universe has no moral arc

It bends toward entropy. There is no justice. There's just us. If we can do something about it, why aren't we doing it?

[duhneece]

8. Many of us are

We march, vote, make phone calls, write letters, have booths at local county fairs, speak to all of our elected representatives, speak at service clubs.

We see justice differently.

[pscot]

11. I honor you for what you do

We need justice and fairness, but the universe offers neither. We make our own reality.

[duhneece]

12. I appreciate your honor.

Since I am part of the universe and I help shape my reality, the universe operates through me.

[spanone]

7. k&r...

[TeamPooka]

9. Prohibition is a failed public policy

again

[Uncle Joe]

10. This is a good analysis.

Thanks for the thread, xchrom.