The Third War

We have been at war for so long that we pretty much forget about it. Since 1971 the US has been at war with itself and most of South America. That's right it was Nixon, not Reagan that started the war on drugs.

Now this has been a drain on resources and the economy for decades. But with the implementation of mandatory minimums the nations youth has been drained as well. Drug dealers didn't want to face a 10 year sentence for selling pot, crack, etc., so they enlisted the youth to sell for them. That way if they got caught they would be out by age 18.

Now what has America gained from the trillions and trillions of dollars spent on this war? I am not sure. I know that it's broken, that is easily discerned by the sheer volume of drugs available to anyone in an urban environment. Hell, I could buy anything I could think of within 20 minutes.

I'm not smart enough to figure out what we need to do. I do know that some drugs should never be allowed to be used "recreationally" those being Heroin, Meth, Cocaine, PCP, and some designer drugs I'm not too knowledgeable about. These drugs have a high first-use addiction, and conversely these drugs are also the leading factors to higher crime.

So what is the best solution? I think some people should be allowed to decide for themselves. Pot LSD, Peyote, Shrooms, etc are no worse than alcohol if used responsibly. Does that mean they should automatically become legal? I don't think so. But it is a discussion we should be having at higher levels of government.

The states should be deciding some of these matters, but that's a sticky situation, because Big Pharma can bully states easier than the Feds, so a drug not ready could be pushed through for human trials when it shouldn't be because the states don't have the resources to keep Big Pharma in check. But I also feel that since medicine wasn't spelled out as a federal responsibility then it has to be the states responsibility. Perhaps medical use could be given up to the feds with an amendment tot he constitution, and recreational use still governed by each state.

The problem is that we are too soft on the people bringing it into the country. There is so much money to be made doing it that anyone will take the chance to make big cash. This is where it gets sticky. Do we execute drug smugglers? It's the only way we can guarantee they won't smuggle drugs in. Do we use black ops to geek foreign nationals organizing smuggling operations?

There is no easy solution, but anything is going to be better than what we have now. Maybe our borders wouldn't be wide open if we didn't blow vast sums of money to corrupt South American governments to keep the pressure on the drug Czars.

Mexico is about to tear itself to shreds. the Federales and the Cartels are going to throw one down pretty soon. How much of that will spill over into the US?

I do know the Fed wastes a lot of time and money on this war. A lot of OUR money. With the economy in the shitter, I think it's time we sat down and talked about it, and did something about it.