The drug war is a class war

[mdmc]

Only the poor are prosecuted in the drug war.
The rich use their power and influence to have their crimes treated as an illness. Addiction is an illness.
That is the benefit of being rich and powerful.
That is why the rich and powerful never oppose the drug war. It doesn't bother them at all.

To think that Cindy McCain's drug use will bring down the GOP is silly. To think that Obama should go to jail for his use of cocaine is silly.

The rich and powerful are above the drug war. The poor are victimized.

Now stop the giddy bs and GOTV (Get Out The Vote)! The campaign needs workers in swing states. Lets get fired up and ready to go!

ps- if you were rich and powerful and discovered that a loved one had an addiction problem would you use your wealth and power to send them to jail or to help them fight their illness? What would you do?

[Union Thug]

1. Yes, it is one of the multiple arms of the class war that was escalated

under Raygun. And it's not stated enough. Thanks for the post.

[Romulox]

5. Bill Clinton's DOJ put more people in jail for drug offenses than Reagan and Poppy Bush COMBINED. nt

[Union Thug]

12. Bill Clinton: Best republican president ever. n/t

[Romulox]

16. Nope. Joe Biden is as big (if not bigger) drug warrior than Bill. It's not just Bill. nt

[mdmc]

42. Biden is a good old democrat

[High Plains]

20. And even more under Bush Jr. It's a bipartisan effort.

[EOTE]

2. Not to mention the wealthy are very unlikely to ever get caught.

They can use within the comfort of their mansions and get hooked up by many various means. The poor typically have to use in places where they're far more likely to get caught. If you want another example of how the drug war is classist, take a look at how cocaine offenses are treated compared to crack offenses. If that's not racist, I don't know what is.

[the other one]

3. This should be reposted every day. K & R

[Romulox]

4. I wish the Democrats were against the Drug War. It would help dispel the "they're both the same!"

argument.

With Biden in the VP spot, expect a redoubling of the War on (people who use) Drugs.

[tbyg52]

8. Ouch. Keep repeating: "Supreme Court, Supreme Court."

Nobody's perfect, but R's are scary.

[reggie the dog]

13. FDR

banned cannabis in 1937

[Romulox]

17. He also authorized internment of Japanese Americans. We've learned from ONE of these mistakes...nt

[Festivito]

21. No. It won't. They'll still say it. I tell them about Reagan/ Bush...

Reagan and Bush had OVER A HUNDRED people indicted and convicted from their administrations.

Clinton had ONE, and there the fine was smaller than the cost of flying back to fight the charge.

They both do it! My left butt cheek they do!

And I tell this story each time, and the same people forget it, over and over. It's just a way to dismiss having to think and grab for the cognitive dissonance.

[Romulox]

25. This thread is about the War on Drugs. "They both do it!" is COMPLETELY ACCURATE in this case. nt

[Festivito]

32. Yup, in the 'war on drugs' they both do it, but

if Dems were to quit the war on drugs, people would still say: 'they both do it.'

Perhaps I'm too conspiratorial. My view is that we used our CIA in Central America decades ago, that CIA bought media time, learned media, retired, came back to the US, and now work in what they know: media. Senator Church did not eradicate the bad CIA elements, e.g. Bush, et. al. that went on to Iran-Contra, running drugs to pay for covert actions, running drugs that needed laws to make the drug trade profitable.

Pubbies do it to keep the rogue CIA elements funded, Dems do it because the media eats Dems for lunch if Dems don't do it.

Had we respected this country's foundation in justice when the FDR coup happened, or when JFK was killed, or when Iran-Contra broke, or after 9/11,... we'd be able to drop the war on drugs.

Hope you enjoyed the nice rain today. I garage sailed West Dearborn today. Nice warm fine rain.

[PeaceNikki]

6. In many states, it's a racial war.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3252960

The "Drug War": Wisconsin leads nation in racial disparity for arrests and imprisonment

http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2008/05/05/usint18754 /
US: ‘Drug War’ Unjust to African Americans

Two National Reports Detail Racial Disparity in Arrests and Imprisonment

(Washington, DC, May 5, 2008) – Ostensibly color-blind, the US “war on drugs” disproportionately targets urban minority neighborhoods, Human Rights Watch and The Sentencing Project said in two reports released today. Although whites commit more drug offenses, African Americans are arrested and imprisoned on drug charges at much higher rates, the reports find.

In the 67-page report, “Targeting Blacks: Drug Law Enforcement and Race in the United States,” Human Rights Watch documents with detailed new statistics persistent racial disparities among drug offenders sent to prison in 34 states. All of these states send black drug offenders to prison at much higher rates than whites.

“Most drug offenders are white, but most of the drug offenders sent to prison are black,” said Jamie Fellner, senior counsel in the US program at Human Rights Watch and author of “Targeting Blacks.” “The solution is not to imprison more whites but to radically rethink how to deal with drug abuse and low-level drug offenders.”

Key findings in the Human Rights Watch report include:
Across the 34 states, a black man is 11.8 times more likely than a white man to be sent to prison on drug charges, and a black woman is 4.8 times more likely than a white woman.

In 16 states, African Americans are sent to prison for drug offenses at rates between 10 and 42 times greater than the rate for whites. The 10 states with the greatest racial disparities in prison admissions for drug offenders are: Wisconsin, Illinois, New Jersey, Maryland, West Virginia, Colorado, New York, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Michigan.

[tbyg52]

7. >>would you use your wealth and power to send them to jail or to help them fight their illness?

>>What would you do?

Quite likely the same thing. But I'm not running for President, especially not in a "our family values are better than yours" party. It's the hypocrisy, mostly, that I'm tired of watching them get away with.

Edited to add that from what I've seen so far it looks to me like he was not so much trying to help her fight her illness as just trying to hide it.

[bryant69]

9. Yep. No questions

The poor are punished the wealthy are coddled.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[endless october]

10. treatment is a better solution than incarceration.

i'm not a fan of the drug war.

[reggie the dog]

11. I am middle class and had to spend ten thousand dollars

to get off of a ten year charge for forty grams of cannabis.

[Romulox]

15. Thank god that society has been protected from your reign of Twinkies and Star Trek reruns!

:sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm:

I'm glad you were able to get out of prison time! Nobody should have to go through that. :grouphug:

[reggie the dog]

33. I was bustedin 1999 and would still be in jail today

were I convicted in Virginia, thankfully I was saved by illegal search and seizure.

[mdmc]

22. glad to hear that you are free my friend

:grouphug:

[FatDave]

30. Good thing you were able to come up with $10000

Your story is a great illustration of the OP's point.

[reggie the dog]

34. exactly

lucky for me my mom and dad had ten grand to loan me.

[slay]

14. Indeed. Check out Kevin Booth's excellent documentary - American Drug War: The Last White Hope

Here is link to website: http://americandrugwar.com/

And here is link to 7 min preview: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rb4nr9ndYrA

I've seen the movie and HIGHly recommend it. One of the best "drug" documentaries I've ever seen.

[pokerfan]

18. Racist origins

The country's first drug ban explicitly targeted the opium of "the heathen Chinee." Cocaine was first banned in the south to prevent an uprising of hopped-up "cocainized Negroes."
-DAN BAUM (The Nation)

http://www.mcwilliams.com/books/books/aint/303a.htm#illegal">How and Why Drugs Became Illegal

[1Hippiechick]

19. Hell, the entire ELECTION is a class war! n/t

[AndyTiedye]

23. and the Theocracy that Palin Would Bring Us Would Include Hundreds More Laws Like That

as they turn every pleasure into forbidden fruit, only allowed to the rich and powerful.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=3982303&mesg_id=3983117

[Fumesucker]

24. How is talking shit about the drug war "supporting Democrats"?

Democratic politicians support the drug war in overwhelmingly large numbers.

Obviously they know something that we do not.

We should trust our Democratic politicians, they know what they are doing, they are only doing this for our own good.

[Lyric]

26. Are you insane?

We should trust our Democratic politicians, they know what they are doing, they are only doing this for our own good.

Please tell me that you forgot the sarcasm tag.

Otherwise--whatever you say, Britney.



"Honestly, I think we should just trust our president in every decision he makes and should just support that, you know, and be faithful in what happens."

[Fumesucker]

29. Funny, I just went and reread Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal"..

Swift must have been serious, I didn't see a sarcasm smiley anywhere.


http://art-bin.com/art/omodest.html

A Modest Proposal


For Preventing The Children of Poor People in Ireland
From Being Aburden to Their Parents or Country, and
For Making Them Beneficial to The Public


By Jonathan Swift (1729)

[Kitty Herder]

37. LOL

[mdmc]

27. most excellent

well played.

[reggie the dog]

35. we should just eat

their kids....;

[Fuzz]

28. It's not a war against drugs, it's a war against personal freedom.

Remember that at all times. Bill Hicks

[Kitty Herder]

38. It's a war against the personal freedom of the lower and middle classes.

The rich can get away with drug use and hardly anyone raises an eyebrow. They know they won't go to jail for it.

[FatDave]

31. And who's getting drug tested?

I got tested as a cook. I got tested as a customer service phone jockey. I've never been tested as a programmer. I've never known anybody in management who got tested.

Pilots, ship captains, train engineers, they get tested of course, but I consider them a special case. They should be tested daily, including for alcohol.

[Kitty Herder]

36. Good point.

It's almost always the low-wage, shitty jobs that require testing.

[Greyhound]

39. Yes it is, but then so is everything here.

:kick: & R

[Brewman_Jax]

40. Not accurate

From the History Channel mini-series Hooked: Illegal Drugs and How They Got That Way, drug laws and enforcement had racist origins. Laws targeted minorities to protect white society. The negative stereotypes like "marijuana-smoking" Mexicans, "cocaine-crazed" Negroes, and "opium-smoking" Chinese were used as justification for passing drug laws. Hasn't changed much, see the present-day sentencing disparity for crack versus powder cocaine, and disparity in prosecution rates of whites versus non-whites.

[judasdisney]

41. The "Drug War" is a dress-rehearsal

The DEA are a Federalized Police force with military weapons & training.

Enjoy.