Time to Stop the Real Reefer Madness

[marmar]

from YES! Magazine:



Time to Stop the Real Reefer Madness
Since its inception, the War on Drugs has cost millions of dollars and thousands of lives. The civilians caught in the crossfire say it’s time for change.

by Laura Carlsen
posted Sep 16, 2011


In the 1930s, a church group commissioned a film "to strike fear in the hearts of young people tempted to smoke marijuana." But it was not until the 1970s that Reefer Madness—billed as “the original classic that was not afraid to make up the truth” due to its grotesque portrayal of the supposed dangers of marijuana—obtained cult status.

After the scare tactics of the 1930s, U.S. marijuana policy varied depending on the political climate, even as scientific research consistently debunked extreme claims that the plant caused uncontrollable violent behavior, physical addiction, and insanity.

Then on June 17, 1971, President Richard Nixon launched his signature “war on drugs.” The new crackdown on illegal drug use shifted the issue from a local health and public safety problem to a series of federal agencies under the direct control of the president. President Ronald Reagan later doubled down on the drug war, ushering in an age of mass incarceration.

The drug war model not only criminalized but also, like teh film before it, demonized illegal drug dealing and use—and the individuals involved—in moralistic and military terms. In many states, selling marijuana carried longer sentences than murder. Although the abuse of legal drugs now kills more people than illegal drugs, the architects of the drug war continues to promote the view that it is some inherent evil of the substance, rather than the way individuals and groups use it, that determines whether a drug is a threat to society or an accepted social custom. ............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.yesmagazine.org/peace-justice/time-to-stop-the-real-reefer-madness

[Shandris]

1. I watched that movie. Or maybe it was one based off of it, or...

...something. Anyway. The woman at the piano going hysterical, the guy who runs out a plate glass window at 10 stories after a SINGLE HIT (!)...it was priceless! You want to deny people the opportunity to get absolutely baked and laugh at propaganda?! OH THE INHUMANITY! ;)

:hi:

Legalize it. Legislate it. If I want to get high in my own home, why is 'small, unobtrusive government' directly in my way every time?

[Doc Holliday]

9. As a musician

I like to remind people who've seen the movie that the only person at those wild and crazy weed-fests who didn't have his life destroyed by the Evil Weed was.....


....Anyone?



The piano player.

[Overseas]

2. K&R.

[rurallib]

3. I always refer to the federal drug policy as "Nixon's Revenge"

wasting money, wasting people, wasting time and talent of our law enforcement. That is one fucked up policy.
And in 40 years there has been but a few politicians with enough guts to stand up to the idiocy.
Like so many Republican policies, sounds great on a bumper sticker, works like shit in reality.
'No Child Left Behind' anyone.

[Warren DeMontague]

4. Legalize it, regulate it, tax it.

Fucking ENOUGH, Already.

[Merlot]

5. Legalize it, regulate it, tax it.

I second that.

[CrispyQ]

10. Re-legalize it, regulate it, tax it.

:thumbsup:

:smoke:

[bertman]

6. Bad policy, but good business if you want to make humongous profits off a plant,

create another quasi-military, right-wing branch of government that is armed to the teeth, funded in BILLIONS, and can bust your door down based on an 'informant's' word.

Oh, and don't forget the BILLIONS in donations to the Prison Industry.

Or, the BILLIONS spent by the accused to pay lawyers and judges and anyone else in the 'system' who might help get them freed from a weed charge.

For further enlightenment read "Drugs, America's Holy War" by Arthur Benavie.

REC.

On edit: I almost forgot protecting Big Pharma's ability to push so-called 'safe' designer medical drugs on us when a simple plant that Mother Nature provided will heal the illnesses.

[devilgrrl]

7. The Lumber, Cotton and Pharmaceutical industries won't have it.

eom

[Mendocino]

8. Plus the brewing and

liquor industries, unless they could gain profits. Legalization would give new meaning to "Pass me a Bud".

[BadDog40]

11. Number of deaths from marijuana use

TOBACCO …………………… 400,000
ALCOHOL …………………… 100,000
ALL LEGAL DRUGS ………….20,000
ALL ILLEGAL DRUGS ……….15,000
CAFFEINE …………………….2,000
ASPIRIN ………………………500
MARIJUANA …………………. 0

[RainDog]

12. the war on drugs and the "southern strategy" go hand-in-hand. both are racist n/t

[jeaps]

13. Amen....nt

[HowHeThinks]

14. The numbers are a bit off..........

"Since its inception, the War on Drugs has cost millions of dollars and thousands of lives".

The monetary costs are well into the hundreds of billions, not millions. The "thousands of lives" should be changed to MANY thousands of lives.

The war on drugs has been, is, and will continue to be, an abject failure. But most Americans hardly bat an eyelash at this staggering waste of money.

I can't think of anything our government wastes more money on (save their numerous military wars) than the insipid "war on drugs". Perhaps bailing out our "free market" banking industry and corporations, but that should be considered theft, not a "war".

How long can our government continue this failed policy? The old saw, "insanity is defined as doing the same thing over and over, and expecting different results" certainly applies here.

[Texano78704]

15. war on drugs = new Jim Crow

eom