Momentum Builds to End Failed Drug War: 1,000 to Attend Upcoming Conference

[RainDog]

http://www.alternet.org/story/152688/momentum_builds_to_end_failed_drug_war%3A_1%2C000_to_attend_upcoming_conference/

...there is a growing movement bubbling up across the country that will help us find an exit strategy to this unwinnable war. Do you want to feel the momentum for change and be a part of the solution? Join the more than 1,000 people from around the world who will come together in Los Angeles at the International Drug Policy Reform conference on November 2nd - 5th.

The movement to end the drug war is a very big tent that emcompasses people across the political spectrum. Gavin Newsom, the former Democratic Mayor of San Francisco and current Liutenent Governor of California, will share the stage with the libertarian former Governor of New Mexico Gary Johnson. Dozens of people who have spent years behind bars for a nonviolent drug offense will participate in conversations and panels with dozens of police officers who saw the futility of the drug war and are speaking out against drug prohibition. Students who are just beginning their activism will appear alongside veterans of the movement who have worked for decades against drug war hysteria.

...For the first time at the Reform Conference, we are staging a mass public protest acknowledging President Nixon's declaration of the drug war 40 years ago this year, demanding health-centered alternatives and celebrating this incredible, diverse movement. "No More Drug War: A Rally & Concert to End the War on Drugs" is taking place Thursday, November 3rd at the Levitt Pavilion in historic MacArthur Park. The event will feature international reform leaders, live music, spoken word artists, and a host of gourmet food trucks. This will be the largest event of its kind ever!

someone here was asking why people who want to end the war on drugs are not out protesting - well, here's the chance.

these sorts of moments are good signs, to me. the time to bring some sanity to the U.S. (and thus, the world since we force our drug policy on the rest of it) is now. Economically, we simply cannot afford this failed policy. The Ken Burns "Prohibition" series has hopefully reminded a lot of people that some things are folly, even when we think we're "fixing" a problem. Let states that want to collect tax revenue from dispensaries do so w/o interference from the "uber police" who ignore the democratic act of making something legal within state borders - the rationale for legality is far more compelling than the rationale for a continued war on drugs.

[truedelphi]

1. Unfortunately, just as the masses of people are awakening to the

Notion that prohibiting marijuana is downright silly, Big Pharmaceutical Firms that own our politicians are intent on keeping it illegal so they can have their Big Profits from patenting all the cannibinoids.

It is yet another issue in which the 99% are going to have to gear up to battle the One Percent.

[RainDog]

3. The people in this nation have been way ahead of the politicians on this one

The problem is that there are groups that exercise their power to ignore the votes of Americans to change the law of the land. Not new. With the economy as it is and with the violence that prohibition has created in our next-door-neighbor's house - and when THEY also want to stop the violence by ending the prohibition - well, maybe the wants of the few just aren't as important as the wants of the many.

We're at a tipping point in all sorts of ways.

Our society is out of balance. Too few have too much power.

[msongs]

2. war on drugs is a huge welfare jobs program for law enforcement, they want to keep it that way nt

[RainDog]

4. not all of them. - and there are plenty of other problems to address

like, oh, I dunno, looking into fraud in the practices of Wall Street over the last decade. The feds can put the money into making deals with banksters to pay fines rather than go to jail, for instance. The biggest crime that this nation is ignoring right now is the Wall Street fraud.

Why not put law enforcement to work on that issue?

[Ichingcarpenter]

5. The Obama Administration officially supports legal MMJ

figured I'd put this bullshit line up before someone else did.....LOL

kick nominated.

[RegieRocker]

6. Lol, oh hell yes !

[RainDog]

8. LOL

what gets me is this is said and then the 2009 Holder statement is referenced.

...and then I guess the last two years are just forgotten.

What the Attn General said and what Attns Generals have done are two different things. But, until the law is changed, well, that's the law. Of course, if there was REAL support for mmj, the Attn. General would call for the DEA to hold rescheduling hearings. But we haven't heard a word about that.

Education is key - when people realize the govt would rather put a husband in jail for growing cannabis for his cancer-stricken wife rather than look at the inanity of cannabis laws - well, maybe that's when that statement will have some substance behind it. Who would think a husband should be jailed for growing cannabis to help ease his wife's cancer pain?

[Upton]

7. K&R

[Tsiyu]

9. But, but we don't have money to educate kids

or provide any more health care for poverty-ridden Americans, or buy mental health facilities so people with PTSD and other disorders can get treatment. Or to create jobs. Or fix rotting bridges and sewers.

However, we have BILLIONS to put all these people in prison if they use cannabis.

Why can't you fools understand? Priorities man! Land of the never gonna really be free...

:sarcasm:

[RainDog]

10. check out this post : What the drug war cost us

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x631607