Oh, wait…
Today is the 40th anniversary of President Nixon’s declaration of the commencement of the War on Drugs… Not exactly what I would call a “happy” anniversary.
As this front of America’s many wars, both literal and figurative, developed, we’ve seen “war” budgets for state and local governments balloon to $25.7 BILLION, while their federal counterparts spend $15.6 BILLION annually. In 2007, we arrested almost as many people for drug-related offenses that live in Alaska and Hawaii, making up as much as 13% of all arrests nationwide. On average, there is a drug arrest every 19 seconds in this country, 82% of which are for mere possession.
Here’s a video from our friends at the Foundation for Economic Education sharing some of these statistics:
I know that this is not everyone’s issue, but it is a LIBERTARIAN issue. It is an AMERICAN issue.
Governments in this country spend $40 billion annually on the War on Drugs, which in 2011 is almost as much as we will spend in Iraq. When we borrow 42 cents for each dollar we spend, we’re taxing our great-grandchildren to lock up individuals today for a victimless crime. While we knock down doors, seize millions of dollars without any proof it was obtained illegally (often forgetting to comply with laws that require we report it), and kill innocent people, we’re shredding the Constitution (especially the Fourth Amendment) while we spend the equivalent of the Gross Domestic Product of Guatemala or Uruguay.
And what do we have to show for our efforts?
We have a nation where 47% of Americans over the age of 12 have used illegal drugs at least once.
We spend just over $2 billion annually to house drug-related prisoners.
We have one of the highest incarceration rates in the world. Georgia is fourth among the states, where one in thirteen Georgians is behind bars, on probation or on parole.
With all the spending, arrests, unnecessary deaths, and the loss of the Fourth Amendment, you would expect that the rate of drug addiction is this country would be lower than in 1971, right? Wrong. It’s exactly the same then as it is now, 1.3%.
This week, 2008 Libertarian Party Presidential candidate and former Congressman Bob Barr noted in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the drug war, a war he fought for many years as a prosecutor and later as a Congressman, is “insanity.”
Today, former President & Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter penned an opinion piece for the New York Times, calling for an end to the global drug war, citing a new report by the Global Commission on Drug Policy.
Former narcotics officer Neill Franklin, of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, called the War on Drugs the “worst piece of public policy since slavery” in a press conference earlier this week.
I know that I’m not telling you anything that you don’t already know. Please take a moment today to share some of the videos, opinions, facts, and figures online and in-person with someone who may not be as aware of the atrocities of a war that is hurting more people than its intended target.
Keep in mind that the Libertarian Party of Georgia is the only party in the Peach State working for more freedom and an adherence to the Fourth Amendment on this issue. Make an effort today to donate to our efforts.
We’re also sharing a music video titled “No Knock Raid” by Lindy, shared from Reason.tv, about the civil liberties violated by the War on Drugs. I must warn you that it contains GRAPHIC VIOLENCE by the police and some LEWD LANGUAGE by both victims and perpetrators of police militarization as an arm of the drug war.
