War On Drugs; Why?

by Barry T

Did you know that the war on drugs causes crime and incarceration rates to soar? Did you know that murder rates increased during alcohol prohibition and during the war on drugs? Did you know that the countries which have decriminalized drugs have lower crime rates? Did you know that America, "The Land of the Free," has the highest incarceration rate of any other country in world history including Stalin's U.S.S.R.? Did you know that America only has 4% of the world's population, but 25% of the world's prisoners? Did you know that America has more prisoners than China and Russia combined with only 1/5th the population? Are "We the People" that bad, or is something wrong with our current government policies? The war on drugs causes over-dose deaths to increase by forcing drug users to buy unregulated drugs from the underground. The U.S. spends more taxpayer money and resources fighting the war on drugs and yet has the worse overdose death rates of any other country. In 2015, the U.S. had 245 overdose deaths per million people which is over 6 times worse than the world average of 40 overdose deaths per million population. Portugal, which decriminalized drugs in 2001, had only 3 per million which is almost the safest percentage in the world. So far, no one has overdosed and died at any government free heroin clinic in Vancouver, Switzerland, Germany, or the Netherlands. The war on drugs is very expensive to U.S. taxpayers. For the same cost of the war on drugs we could afford to house and feed all the homeless in America, pay off our national debt, decrease our crime and incarceration rates, create legitimate jobs, decrease our tax burden, keep our money within our borders, and make our country stronger financially. America was founded on Liberty and Freedom. Is fighting a broken war on drugs worth giving up many of our Civil Liberties? Politicians base their platforms on popular themes, not necessarily themes that are practical, make sense, or that are based on facts. For example, consider the causes of death in the year 2000 are as follows; tobacco caused 435,000 deaths or 18.1% of all deaths; poor diet and physical inactivity caused 400,000 deaths which was 16.6% of all deaths; alcohol consumption, including car accidents was 85,000 deaths or 3.5% of all deaths; motor vehicle accidents accounted for 43,000 deaths; sexual behaviors accounted for 20,000 deaths; and illicit drug use accounted for 17,000 deaths. When you logically look at this data, which subjects should politicians focus their attentions on? What would happen if the politician tried to outlaw tobacco, forced a certain diet on you, made you exercise, outlawed alcohol, lowered speed limits, or outlawed sex? I would guess that the politician would not get elected. So why do we keep electing politicians who push for drug laws? We need drug policies based on science and compassion rather than political hysteria Driving fifteen miles over the speed limit or accidently running a red light are all more dangerous than taking a recreational drug. So why do people who speed or run red lights get a fine while drug offenders go to prison for many years? Shouldn't the punishment be equal to the crime? Would you want a jaywalker to go to prison for a year? If someone does a recreational drug in their own private area without hurting anyone else, why are they subject to many years behind bars at taxpayer expense? We are not advocating drug use; just ending the war on drugs. Sign the petition to end the longest war in U.S. history at www.warondrugswhy.com

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1725036088
• ISBN13: 9781725036086
• Release Date: October 2018
• Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
• Length: 492 Pages
• Weight: 1.69 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.0" x 9.0"