Help In These Times reach its five-week $10,000 online fundraising goal! With two weeks left, we're only halfway there. Donate now!

Antidote to Drug War Madness

By Susan J. Douglas

So I was making dinner, and on NPR I hear, to my amazement, a report by Robert Siegel and Michele Norris marking April 20 as Marijuana Observance Day. “We’re hearing more talk about legalizing marijuana,” noted Norris, “and not just from those who are lighting up.” I, myself, lit up —metaphorically—over this. Aside from the fact that this is a policy… return to article

  • subscribe to print magazine

  • Zoom OutZoom In Reader Comments (2)

    Page 1 of 1 pages

    I see no need for Republicans to be even mentioned in the article. I have long believed the War on Drugs is a total waste of money, lives and a huge contributor to crime in general.

    The Republicans have nearly zero power to initiate or prevent any legislation.

    Instead of putting the onis on them, go after the Democrats to end this stupidity. A look at the dollars which financed organized crime during prohibition should give a clue about how to solve our southern border problems today.

    It would be more effective and far less costly to offer treatment to anyone who wishes to quit an addictive habbit. If legalized those who decide to keep on taking drugs would no longer need to steal to finance it.

    Now there’s a change I can believe in.

    United States Posted by whattheheck on May 14, 2009 at 11:22 PM

    In 2007, I retired.
        In my former life, I taught in an inner city high school in South Los Angeles in ‘hood so dangerous that it earned the nickname of “the Killing Fields.” I can remember the gang-related killings that took place right around the periphery of my campus. I remember the afternoon that our school was put on lockdown because of a gun battle between two rival gangs a quarter mile away. Even though our students were NOT involved, our school always got blamed. I am well-aware of the ineffectiveness of the war on drugs.

        But I am also aware of the carnage that legalized drugs,  tobacco and alcohol, wreaked upon the community I served.  Many of my students came from homes and families ravaged by alcohol.  Some of autobiographical essays my students wrote heart-wrenching accounts of their experiences as part of their college portfolio, stories that would make you want to weep. For years I taught J. D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye. My students were quick to notice that every time Holden Caulfield had a problem he’d light up a cigarette. However, the cigarette did not make the problem go away.

    I might buy into Susan J. Douglas’ argument that the war on marijuana is futile. She is also quite right about the political; risks President Obama faces were he to try to legalize pot. (Chekc out an old photo on the internet of Obama when he was a 20 year old college student.)
        Let’s be frank about another reality. Marijuana is a drug, just like alcohol and tobacco. The drugs we have already legalized are wreaking havoc on our society. Marijuana will simply add to the problem. In short, we are trading a criminal problem with a medical and social problem. And the money that marijuana supposedly will generate will be more than wiped out by costs in other areas.

        In the old Humphrey Bogart films, all the main characters needed to think straight was a good stiff drink. The Bush Administration operated on that philosophy. I am sure that future historians will agree that Bush was on the wagon most of the time he was president. (Limbaugh and Cheney are probably under the influence of the various pain killing medicines they’re addicted to.) In Catcher in the Rye, all Holden Caulfield needed was a cigarette. The flower children, baby boomers, and hippies all believed that smoking a bog would automatically bring peace and love into the world. Who’s deluding whom?
        Perhaps it is time to at least decriminalize pot and end the costly drug war. But let’s not kid ourselves, legal pot will not solve our problems, any more than alcohol or tobacco. To achieve that goal, we a sober society - and we need sober drivers at the wheel. Druggies of any kind need not apply.

    United States Posted by William Joseph Miller on May 25, 2009 at 7:22 PM
    Page 1 of 1 pages

  • register a new account »Posting Security

    To participate in our forums, please register for a free account.
     

    Retreive lost password »

Article Appeared in this Issue

Full contents
Past issues

Popular Discussions