We Have Lost The War And Should Give Up
Timothy Sandefur on Feb 17th 2006
It has been thirty five years since Richard Nixon declared war on drugs, and ten years since National Review declared the War lost. And today, marijuana is one of the top ten agricultural products of Washington State. Every year there’s another “biggest drug bust ever,” and yet the prices continue to fall and availability continues to rise. Even if you don’t believe, as I do, that people have the right to do what they want with their bodies, it is simply not reasonable any longer to believe that the Drug War can be won, or that victory is worth the war crimes and civilian casualties that we commit in its service. It is time to sign the treaty.
Update: Hm. Good point. I should say they have lost the war, not we.
Filed in The Basement
They Lost the War
They have lost the “war” and they should give up… the war on drugs, that is. The link is a summary of recent statistics and developments in this war of the American people on itself, including the fact that “marijuana is one of the top ten agricul…
[...] Surrender: I agree wholeheartedly with Sandefur’s post on drug prohibition. If anything, it actually understates the case a bit: Not only is marijuana the tenth-largest cash crop in Washington state, it is the fourth-largest cash crop nationwide, besting both wheat and rice, and outranked only by corn, soybeans, and hay. According to the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, Marijuana stands as the largest revenue producing crop in Alabama, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Kentucky, Maine, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. It ranks as one of the top five cash crops in 29 others. Increases in state and federal spending since 1980 to reduce marijuana cultivation demonstrated little effect in limiting overall production. [...]