More Cop Corruption Enabled by the Failed Drug War

Detroit police officer Luke Davis is in hot water after his victim's home recording equipment revealed what he and his team are really about during one of their many drug raids.

Story here.

Video below.

End the Insane War on Drugs

Here is a great report from Cenk Uygar on MSNBC in support of ending the insane war on drugs. It's great to see someone from the Left with this perspective. Could the Right follow suit anytime soon?

Feds Look to Imprison More People

The United States federal government, not satisfied with imprisoning people for putting natural substances into their bodies, have now targeted synthetic marijuana.

Don't you feel safer knowing that the government is watching out for you and the things that you put in your body?

My Suggestion for the Missouri Budget

A friend wrote to inform me that Missouri legislators are asking the public to come up with ways that the state can save money during the current budget shortfall. There is a new link on the senate website called "rebooting government" where senate bureaucrat Charlie Shields allows the public to submit these ideas.

Here is my submission:


Senator Shields,

One of the largest and most ineffective expenditures in the Missouri budget is the "war on drugs". Missouri ranks in the top ten of states with the highest increase in number of prisons between 1979 and 2000. (http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/410994_mapping_prisons.pdf)

These prisons are seeing a large percentage of non-violent drug offenders. How long must we keep deluding ourselves to think this "war" is actually working? Is it worth the cost? More importantly, is it worth the number of lives that are ruined by the unnecessary and ridiculous imprisonment for the simple possession or inhalation of a plant?

Senator Shields, ask yourself this question: “Do I own my body?” If you answered “yes” to that question, then you must take the next logical step to understanding that if you own your own body, then your neighbor owns his. To be free, one must also let others be free to do as they please provided they are not harming others. There are already laws against causing harm to others and theft, which are common crimes that have become part and parcel of the drug culture because of its prohibition.

When any service or product is made illegal, it is pushed underground and thus removes the legal recourse to solve grievances and the access to the desired substances. This is what made Al Capone a very rich man because of his virtual monopoly on the violent means of solving “disputes” and providing a product that the people clearly want.

Legislation does not change behavior – there is no marked decrease in drug usage as a result of its prohibition. End the drug war. Stop caging our sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, friends and neighbors. Let people live how they want to live and do with their bodies as they choose, even if you personally disagree with their choice.

The simple dissolution of the drug war will create a state budget surplus, which means it is the right thing to do morally and financially.

Respectfully,

Jake Smith, St. Louis

And the Insane Drug War Continues...

The writer of this article is lauding the snitch who gave cause for the tax feeding busy bodies with badges in Greensburg, IN to waste more tax payer money to continue the insane war on drugs. As is always the case with these tyrants, it would be easy to laugh at the way this was written if it weren't so tragic. Here are some excerpts:

Another tip from a watchful citizen early Tuesday morning brought the Greensburg Police Department closer to exterminating the drug problem in the city.

[As though the drug "problem" will ever be exterminated. How pathetic.]

In the interim period before the warrant was granted, the GPD kept a secure perimeter around the residence, making sure that no one went in or out of the apartment, Chief Heaton explained.

[A secure perimeter? For the "dangerous" marijuana smokers?]

“It definitely tied up our units (for about two hours),” Heaton said.

“The officers did a great job of identifying the odor and confirming the suspicious activity and suspicious noise,” Heaton said.

The Police Chief stressed again the importance of community involvement in a case such as this. Without the tip from the public, the alleged marijuana den might not have been uncovered and busted.

Legalize Marijuana: Revisited (again)

Apparently the "libertarians" over at Reason are in support of legalizing marijuana and taxing it.

Which is another way of saying "'libertarians' over at Reason are in support of trading one form of tyrrany for another".

See my previous postings here and here.

UPDATED: Decriminalize Marijuana

I wrote this posting in March regarding the decriminalization of marijuana to which Jacob and Black Dude made some good comments in response.

Here is a great article by Daniel Flynn that addresses the concerns I pointed out regarding the introduction of government into the drug business. Flynn argues that legalization and regulation would actually drive the price of marijuana higher, and concludes that decriminalization (the commonly-accepted definition, not mine) is the best (least worst) solution.

Black Dude wrote on March 21, "The State gains power very sneakily with small steps that continually build over time. The more fear they can create, the bigger steps they can take. I think that we're going to have to do the same thing to take that power back. We'll have to start with small, accumulating steps. The more educated the people become, the more willing they will be to take the bigger steps."

I don't believe that small steps against a tyrannical government is effective or approaches any favorable solution. Imagine if small steps were taken against King George in the 18th Century - do you really think that true independence could have been attained? To ask is to answer.

And before the rebuttal is given that they were dealing with a tyrannical monarchy whereas we are living in "fair" system of "democracy", check out Hans Hermann Hoppe's book Democracy: The God That Failed (summarized here).

To conclude, Flynn has done a great job of categorically rejecting the notion of legalization but holds decriminalization as the de facto solution. The only real solution is to completely reject the involvement of the state into the drug (and all other) business altogether. Small steps will not be sufficient to save this fatally damaged ship, but an attainable goal is to save the life boats. To do so, one must first acknowledge that the ship is unsalvagable and allow for the life boats to be deployed.

I'd like to use this piece to open up a dialogue in the comments section with Jacob, Black Dude, and all others.

Mexico Doesn't Have a Drug Problem...

...Mexico has a United States problem.

The following is a great article written by Fred Reed about the futility of the War On Drugs and how America have moved the battle from our soil to Mexico's. (read his blog)

La Rubia y La Droga
March 30, 2009

I read with horror that Hillary Clinton, posing as the Secretary of State, has been in Mexico talking with Felipe Calderon, Mexico’s president, about “the problem of drugs.” Horror is the reasonable response whenever an American official is allowed to pass beyond the beltway. Or stay within it. They never know what they are doing. Oh god.

In fairness, I have to concede that Ms. Clinton is well qualified to talk to Calderon, since he speaks…English. Further, I concede that she does have a grasp of things Latin American, engendered by many years in…Arkansas. Aaagh.

May I suggest that the former First Basilisk had no idea where she was or what she was doing? Oh god, oh god. Oh god.

To show that utter futility can, if not be fun, at least serve to pass an idle hour, let me express the common Mexican and indeed South American view of the, oh god, War on Drugs. It goes thusly:

[Read the entire article here]

Decriminalize Marijuana

One of the increasingly ubiquitous topics saturating the news headlines and postings on this site has been the topic of marijuana legalization. There are seemingly endless reasons to end the war on drugs, specifically the war on marijuana. However, this particular posting will focus on speaking to those who agree that the federal laws on marijuana are repressive and antiquated yet are not ready to take a principled and uncompromising stand against the state which has persecuted users of a plant that was legal until a massive propaganda machine convinced congress to criminalize it in the 1937 Marijuana Tax Act.

Let me first start by saying I have never liked the term legalization applied to the drug topic because it suggests the natural state would be illegal were it not for the permission and access granted by the benevolent government. I prefer the term decriminalization because it correctly asserts it has been artificially forbidden and is now returned to its native state of legality.

A friend recently pointed out there actually is a definitive difference between the two terms. The prime difference is that decriminalization removes criminal charges but leaves intact associated laws and regulations, whereas legalization is the process of removing a legal prohibition against something which is not currently legal.

What good does it do to remove criminal charges and still punish a user with a ticket and a fine? The state gets the best of both evil worlds because it can continue to murder and pillage by means of the expensive and expansive drug war, all the while appeasing the compromising masses who are satisfied with the superficial removal of criminal charges; meanwhile, the state continues to line its coffers with the fine-generated revenue plundered from the "non-criminals". If a "non-criminal" refuses to fork over the booty, will the state not then declare him a criminal?

Notwithstanding the dictionary distinction between the two, I will continue to use my definition of decriminalization and emphasize that my definition includes the removal of any and all prohibition.

I have been pleasantly surprised when reading online news articles to see the number of reader comments supporting the decriminalization of marijuana. However, I find it troubling that there are those who believe marijuana should not be illegal but at the same time maintain the thought process "the law is the law and we should obey it. If you don't agree with the law, it must be changed first before you break it."

This idiom is ridiculous and senseless because it turns everyone into sheep and suggests we must go with the flow and wait for our compassionate leaders to change an oppressive law. Civil disobedience has played a role throughout history and proves that often there must be a pioneer who was not comfortable with the status quo and used the court system to challenge the law, rather than waiting for the legislators.

These trail blazers must be supported and embraced as the heroes and patriots they are, not hypocritically chastised by those who shallowly agreed with their principle but not their practical implementation.

Note: I realize there is a dangerously slippery slope with respect to judicial review, but the ultimate compass in which a law's legitimacy is rooted should be its focus on the preservation of individual liberty (some say the barometer should be its constitutionality, but we see how that document has been bastardized and disregarded).

We must further expunge the proposition that marijuana be legalized and then regulated and taxed. All you have to do is look at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to realize the state is history's worst body of drug regulators. Confidence in the ability of the FDA to effectively regulate the "legal" drug market hit an all-time low by even the state's standards when the Supreme Court ruled drug companies can still be sued despite having received the FDA's blessing. Even the state doesn't trust the state!

And those who truly support the relinquishing of the state's stranglehold of the serfs cannot be taken seriously when they advocate the taxation of marijuana. All this accomplishes is the substitution of one form of tyranny for another. The state will then possess amplified financial means to perpetrate even more oppression against the people, thus perpetuating the vicious despotic cycle fueled by complacency.

Those that support the decriminalization of marijuana must employ a systematic approach that is unequivocal and absolute, and must not yield to those who hold a position open to negotiation. The battle for liberty cannot be half-heartedly fought, for I can assure that that the enemy of liberty, the state, is focused and dedicated in their unrelenting march toward power and totalitarianism.