Over the decades of the drug war we have seen countless headlines reporting "drug-related" crimes of violence and drug-induced frenzy. What is not reported, and perhaps never even considered, is that the madness and violence being reported almost always arises not from a person too high to realize what they are doing, but rather from implementing the mechanisms of the drug war. Dean Becker, Houston, Texas [end]
Following the release of the report from the Global Commission on Drugs, the U.S. drug czar's office sought to challenge the intellect of current and former presidents of foreign nations as well as esteemed U.S. officials with the response that these high-echelon leaders from around the world were "misguided." The drug czar and his fellow drug war addicts must find the courage to debate this issue in an open, public venue. The Chronicle, by way of their editorial, has hastened the arrival of that glorious day. Thank you! Dean Becker, Houston [end]
Would that the editorial writer, who applauds the efforts of Texas Congressman Michael McCaul in seeking to double down in fighting the Mexican drug war, had heard the speech of Mexico's former president, Vicente Fox, recently at Texas A&M University. Fox posed a simple question: "Why do you expect us to stop the drug flow across the border when you can't stop the same drugs from crossing multiple state borders and being distributed all over the U.S.?" He also said there was more marijuana grown in California than in Mexico. [continues 100 words]
Those who support drug prohibition are the best friends the drug lords could ever hope for. Drug warriors stand in eternal support of Osama bin Laden and worldwide terrorism; they are the wind beneath the wings of the barbarous cartels in Mexico and serve as home boys to the violent gangs that run roughshod in our neighborhoods. Drug war proponents have crafted policies that ensure ever increasing numbers of deaths from overdose, street corner shoot outs and from diseases that could have been prevented via a more intelligent policy. [continues 504 words]
(Re: Dec. 28 letter, "Drug legalization isn't the answer," by Wayne C. Williams.) As another former law officer, I understand the need to justify helping send people to prison for decades. Williams' statement, "Surely (former Officer Howard J.) Wooldridge has worked cases where lowlifes commit crimes in order to feed their habit," misses the point. The criminal justice system treats drug-users like lowlifes whether they have committed other crimes or not. Dec. 17 marked 93 years since the passage of the Harrison Narcotics Act. Since then, more than 38 million Americans have been arrested for plant products in their pockets. [continues 130 words]
Over the lifetime of the drug war, we have given U.S. law enforcement more than $1 trillion to stop the flow of drugs. And over that same time frame terrorists, dangerous cartels and violent gangs have received more than $10 trillion to continue the flow. How can we possibly believe that this basically feeble amount will work to circumvent drug sellers when they make $10 for every $1 we spend trying to stop them? The money that has been frittered away on this drug war would fill a string of boxcars nine miles long stuffed with hundred dollar bills. How much more? Dean Becker Houston [end]
The Dec. 19 Chronicle article "Houston's rise in violent crime outpaces U.S." said that "violent crime in Houston increased at nearly twice the national level." Certain deductions about this near doubling of violent crime in Houston are obvious. Houston and Harris County lead the world in the incarceration of our citizenry; mostly for drug charges, minor amounts, empty bags, empty pipes or for failing a urine test for drugs. Our jails are so overcrowded that prisoners sleep underneath bunks and next to toilets, and we are contemplating building additional jails to house more drug users. Our jails and prisons are so swamped with drug prisoners that we find it necessary to provide early release to violent criminals to make room for these minor drug offenders. [continues 201 words]
The questions I pose in response to the 90 plus years of anti-drug propaganda, hysteria and vicious and ugly war are simple and yet no response has ever been received from the drug warriors the true outlaws of the drug war: Is it possible to curtail our children's easy access to drugs? What can we do to destroy the cartels, terrorist groups, violent gangs and the institutional corruption that thrives because of drug prohibition? How can we cut back on the number of overdoses and diseases caused by drug use? [continues 520 words]
The Drug War is NOT for the children. It is for cowards who wear badges It is for charlatans who wear black robes It is for politicians afraid of losing your vote Prohibition is a scam that robs our society at every level Prohibition ensures that every year, our law enforcement community wastes a hundred million man-hours, busting little Johnny's for bags of reefer. Millions and millions of man-hours searching trunks, under the seat, rifling through ashtrays. The effort, wasted on this drug war is enormous, outrageous. Cops, sheriffs' deputies, DEA, CIA, FBI, justice department, state police, rangers, US military, Interpol, customs, border patrol, IRS agents, forestry service, the list is endless, of those involved in "fighting" the first of the eternal wars, the war on drugs. [continues 644 words]
The United States now exists and has existed for approaching one hundred years as the most overall prosperous nation on the planet. Our people have, in comparison to the vast, overwhelming majority of the peoples of earth, thrived, like no other nation in history. We did it by managing the world's economic system in a way that ensured our dominance in three specific areas: Guns, Oil & Drugs. Those now in power, at the executive, congressional and judicial positions, at both the state and federal level, have sold the rights and financial futures of their constituents for less than a penny on the dollar in a brazen theft of public funds, "legally" given over to corporate charlatans and their lobbyist pimps. [continues 602 words]
Who are the drug lords? The administrators of the smuggling cartels live lives of luxury in Bogota, Kabul and Mexico City. The upper echelons, the enablers, live in D.C., New York, London and Houston. Who are the drug lords, the REAL kingpins? They are bankers, pharmaceutical houses, oil companies, construction companies, weapons manufacturers and a thousand other corporate interests whose very existence depends on violence, hatred, distrust and deception. The prohibition of drugs is the ideal means to continuously ratchet up the rhetoric. [continues 609 words]
I monitor the news about the drug war on a daily basis. I've become somewhat jaded to the ever escalating number of arrests and killings, but the City and State cover story on Friday, "Teen killed in shooting laid to rest / Mourners asked to remember not how he died but how he had lived," tugged at my heart. Perhaps it hurts more because it's local or because Jonathan Finkelman was only 16 years old, but no matter the details, it hurts every time one of our children is laid to rest because of drug prohibition. [continues 115 words]
December 17th makes 91 years of success in the drug war. Ninety-one years since the signing of the Harrison Narcotics Act. We have spent more than 11 TRILLION dollars in making prohibition a success. We have arrested and destroyed the lives of tens of millions of Americans for possessing flowers or other plant extracts. We have sentenced young people to prison terms totaling more than 100 million man-years behind bars. Drugs are cheaper now, more pure than ever before and our children have easier access to drugs than at any time in our history. [continues 529 words]
If this country is going to allow federal authorities to prosecute sick people whose doctors prescribe marijuana to ease pain, then the so-called conservative Supreme Court has shown itself as something other than conservative and far from compassionate. True conservatives would strive for a smaller federal reach into our lives. Yet this court wants to use a sledge hammer to kill a firefly. The court's decision to allow surveillance and control of America's gardens and windowsills is ludicrous. Perhaps 100 million Americans have used marijuana in their lifetimes, and 15 million use it at least once a month. There is still no death toll from using marijuana. Houston [end]
I want to thank Ron Maloney for addressing the problem of drug prohibition. For more than 90 years this "drug war" has wrought havoc on our communities, our nation and indeed the whole world. We have invested more than half a trillion US tax dollars for absolutely zero results. Despite the arrest of tens of millions of our fellow citizens for baggies of powders, flowers and pills, drugs are cheaper, purer and more freely available to our children than ever before. [continues 320 words]
To the editor: By God, it was wonderful to see such bold and evident truth in The Monitor regarding the failure of the drug war ("Nothing to show: U.S. anti-drug policy fails in Colombia," April 12). Your editorial stated cleanly what has become ever more obvious. The U.S.-mandated/world drug policy does indeed correlate to your phrase: "Insanity has been described as doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results each time." Ninety years, more than half a trillion dollars frittered away, tens of millions of non-violent U.S. citizens' and their families' lives destroyed by drug arrests, needless overdose deaths, black-market purchases funding the terrorists, cartels and violent gangs that mean us harm. [continues 61 words]
Fear... could make this drug war... last forever! Without the superstition, demonization and the public's blind acceptance of our venerable witch doctor's pronouncements, drug prohibition would easily be seen as the utter failure... of all time. Our shaman, our keepers of the public morals... in this case, the Attorney General, the Drug Czar, the administrator of the DEA, these are the chief shaman, our witch doctors if you will. "Give one of these Mexican beet workers a few puffs... from a marijuana cigarette, and he'll think he's just been elected president of Mexico... and set out to kill all his enemies." ... That's an actual quote from the legislative "proceedings" just before the first marijuana law was passed in the state of Wyoming.... What we have been doing in the US, for the last 100 years or so, is vilifying certain of our brethren, because they do drugs. Somewhat like the US civil war, which pitted brother against brother, father against son, so too does the drug war; pit us against one another over ideologies. [continues 585 words]
Violent enforcers of the drug cartels are rampaging on both sides of the Mexican/US border killing cops, journalists and innocent civilians. Osama bin Laden and the Taliban are harvesting tens of millions of dollars each year from their control of the Afghan drug trade. Drug gangs in the US are responsible for needless and countless deaths, mutilations and other violent and reprehensible acts designed to ensure their sales turf remains intact. Each year hundreds of thousands of Americans contract HIV, Hep C or other deadly diseases because government policy will not allow for easy exchange or sales of hypodermic syringes. [continues 663 words]
Your March 23 editorial, "Meth dangers far outweigh illogical claims of legalization," states that "(m)ethamphetamine is everywhere," and you rally for the continuation of this 90-year-old policy that now ensures our children have "convenient" access to drugs. Those who support our current drug war are in effect mandating the continuance of the financial bonanza that nourishes terrorist organizations, drug cartels and street corner vendors, who annually rake in a total of $500 billion worldwide. It is because of drug prohibition (in effect, the world's largest multi-level marketing organization), that we have problems of overdose deaths, the spread of AIDS and Hepatitis C, violent gangs and easy access to drugs for our children. [continues 79 words]
Dear Editor, Your editorial entitled `We'll remember' (March 8) stated: "It's our responsibility to support the men and women dedicating themselves to protecting our communities from the pitfalls of a destructive culture. Mayerthorpe's horror must not be forgotten. We must collectively support the community and stand behind law-enforcement heroes still carrying the torch that four of their associates died believing in." There are none who would argue your point. These gentlemen died in support of community, future and freedom, and we could best serve their memory by truly opening the dialogue regarding the origins, the underlying premises that make prohibition an eternal and unwinnable war on ourselves. [continues 99 words]
