Marijuana.com

newgrowerNY

Drug war overhaul
02.27.07|statenews com

For years, the United States has been fighting a seemingly endless battle with no clear solution in sight, against an enemy that threatens to tear our society apart.
No, I'm not talking about the debacle happening halfway around the world in Iraq — I'm referring to the War on Drugs.

In 1971, former president Richard Nixon opened the floodgates for the modern day "war on drugs," declaring illicit substance abuse "America's public enemy No. 1." Thus began America's full-frontal assault to attempt to bring the drug market to a screeching halt.

The Nixon administration may have gotten the message, but its plan for eliminating the problem was completely wrong.

The government believes that the winning formula for the war on drugs revolves around disrupting the production and distribution markets for illicit substances. Its hopes are to a) disrupt the market as much as possible in order to raise the final cost of the product ridiculously high so that users simply cannot afford to continue their habit, and b) enforce stiff penalties so that no one in their right mind would ever dream of using, producing or dealing drugs.

This might work temporarily to bust up drug cartels and impede production, but it really just helps create more setbacks and does not address the root cause of the problem.

I'm not trying to argue whether drug use is right or wrong, but rather that the approach our government has taken is faulty and, in the long run, fails to solve the dilemma at hand.

There are two main flaws I see with this approach to fighting the war on drugs in the United States.

First of all, as long as human beings have walked this planet, there have always been certain people looking to get high. Drug use is not a 21st-century concept; it has been around for thousands of years. The ancient Egyptians were some of the first to brew beer, and the Native Americans cultivated and used marijuana.

That being said, it is impossible to rid the entire population of the desire to use drugs simply because it has been ingrained in our society for so long. For many, the urge to use will always be there no matter how high the price is inflated.

Second, although the punishment for production or distribution of illegal drugs is incredibly high, there are enormous incentives for those who can get away with it. In part, this is due to prices being inflated to incredible amounts, but more importantly, due to a lack of any other opportunity available to those willing to take the chance.

This is where the origin of the problem lies. There will always be a market for drug use. Producers within our country and abroad will always exist so long as there is a market.

So what's the solution? Snip out the middleman.

It's the average, low-level street corner drug dealer who keeps the cycle perpetuating — not the Pablo Escobars of the world or even the casual users and chronic drug abusers.

The solution to the war on drugs, as I see it, is to eliminate the pawns of the drug trade by instead focusing on the war on poverty. Throwing people in jail won't solve the problem, but improving the conditions of their environment and giving them more opportunities and incentives to earn an honest buck will.

With opportunities few and far between, it is no surprise to see that often, the poor get involved with the drug trade. Selling drugs can offer a quick fix to those who struggle just to survive and live from paycheck to paycheck. This can seem like the only way possible to make it out of poverty, and we must work to help change this idea.

Increasing the minimum wage is a good start, and providing tax breaks for those who need it most instead of the wealthy elite would be even better. Eliminating the rising cost of a college education and improving our health care system also are vital in the fight against poverty.

The war on drugs will only be successful if poverty is eliminated in this country.

The deck is already stacked against those who would benefit most from working the drug trade, but there are measures we can take to turn things around.

 

Buzzby

I would say that this is an absurd idea. The market in drugs is driven by the demand of consumers, not the need of street-level dealers to make a subsistence living. People who sell marijuana do so because they can make more money selling drugs than they could reasonably expect to make by any other means. That's the nature of a black market.

Let's say you're a low-level dealer with a high-school education or less. If someone offered you the kind of job for which you're qualified you could expect to make $6.50 - $14.00 and hour, equivalent to $13,000 to $28,000 a year. Working 8 hours a day you could expect to make $112/day at the most. Selling weed you could make $300/day with 2 or 3 hours of "work".

There will always be those who would rather take a risk and make a fast buck than spend more than a third of their lives being bored at a crappy job. This isn't only people who are stuck in poverty because of lack of ambition or education. I know professional people who supplement their already generous incomes by growing/selling weed. Besides the added income, it brings an element of excitement into their lives, gives them a way to "stick it to The Man", and gives them some prestige.

__________________

FitShaced

Isn't that pretty much what the author of the article was saying? Thats how i took it anyways.

SirSmokaALot

Why do people always feel the need to have such control over general population. Why cant they just teach us the facts, and not the lies such as DEA have been telling. If they did that instead, and then most of us Americans will be more capable of making decision to use drug or not. why cant it be like that? If it was like that then we wouldn't have so many of flaws that exists nowadays among our system or lets say the law.

Its government's own fault for not educating us in first place but instead they put money into law enforcement over education. They have to accept their mistake and start making move toward educating us. Education is the key to remove ignorantness among us Americans or lets say human being overall. I strongly believe that Education and awareness of things around us are the key to soothes the friction among different races (people) and drugs of course.

newgrowerNY

It’s not the gov't job to educate us .. they are trying to educate us now .. with lies, but educate us none the less.

Parents are responsible for teaching their children right from wrong. And I think that is where we are failing.

__________________
Posting Guidelines




Disclaimer: I love to grow

 

Buzzby

No. The author said that the solution to the drug problem was finding jobs for the chronically unemployed who become low-level drug dealers. His "reasoning" is that if you get rid of the low-level dealers there would be no more drug trade.

My post pointed out that as long as there is a demand there will always be people willing to take a big risk to make a fast buck. Black marketeering will always pay better than the kind of jobs available to people who lack skills that are in great demand.

SirSmokaALot

I agree with you on that but... Govt should just teach us the facts... based on science. The right and wrong thing should be left to parents. I mean not every parents would know big words and such things like that you know.


i didn't mean it as like Gov't taking over our lives and such =D

dedbr

Buzzby.....

Two thousand a week, Buzzby? A very small herb business with a good, solid supply and customer base can make that much in a day. Been a while since you hit the streets, huh? The profits are well worth it, no doubt. If a twenty five year old can make 2000 a day, it's definately going to have a very strong appeal.........Sure, the ego boost is there, but the money is just phenomenal nowadays, way beyond what it was in our times, old pappa.


Some Where In Ded Land...........

__________________
"We have met the enemy, and he is us" .......... Pogo (for Prez...)

Remember to check out our most wonderful Posting Guidelines!

SmokeyMcPott

I love debates like this!


I believe that in order to succesfully combat the war on drugs, an unbiased education is required, one that teaches the facts and not skews toward the anti-drug side in order to dissuade people from using/selling. In a time like this when people already question and dissapprove of the government and its actions, the new generation of pot smokers is finding out that what they've been told by "the man" isn't true. The government shoots itself in the foot in this manner because when people find out that pot doesn't kill barin cells and generally isn't that bad for you, it gives them more of an interest in use, plus what the government told them isn't true so what else have they been lying to them about? This in turn causes higher demand in the drug market, which gives dealers more incentive to supply more weed to the market and thus, make more money. The fact that marijuana is illegal also does nothing to deter people from using or selling it, because of the thrill generated from doing something you're not supposed to is something that most people enjoy from childhood. In this case, legalization is the only option, eventually eliminating the black market altogether. To the person that wrote this article: If impoverished people need jobs, why not open pot farms and have people work on them rather than sell drugs? The government could also use the funding generated from tax revenues to fund means of keeping people underage from using marijuana. Why waste countless dollars keeping people who were caught with posession of a plant in jail when you could leagalize it and make money off of it. I think the whole concept is absurd and needs to be re-evaluated. Perhaps when the current generation obtains government offices, a more rational approach to the "problem" will be considered.

Thanks for listening to my rant guys lol.

__________________
"When the power of love overcomes love of power, the world will have peace..."