Start with the war on drugs

Let me give you a an Narcotics supervisors ideas. First, No money, aid, nothing from the U.S. to countries who allow drug manufacturing. No U.S. travel for it's citizens to these countries (no tourists). Any country who wants our money and help MUST allow our military (narcotics officers) into it's country to stop the manufacting of drugs if they cannot do it. This also means stopping the manufacture of drugs in Afganastand unstead of allowing it because it's the countrys main product.

Next, in the U.S. stop wasting money on telling the kidds No to Drugs as you can see IT JUST DOES NOT WORK. Next, for any tho manufactures or sells drugs first offense 10years. Second offense Life..........3rd offense Life w/o parole. Now this is for a larger quanity. Lastly, for juveniles selling we set up a School/prison where they go for high school and have no one to sell drugs to.

Next, No drugs in prison and any Guard, Attorney, ets who is caught bringing it in gets 25 years.......No time off.

Think about this! Drugs are brought into this country with no problem yet we think small weapons of mass destruction cannot come in easily. How about spending the time, money and energy to sniff out drugs that we have on stopping the terrorists.

I could go on put there are a lot of businesses in America that do not want drugs to go away because it is American big business like oil.

Bob

Good letter, but I must say the war is not a "failed war". Sadaam is gone and the peace process is under way, although it is a really rocky road. The troop surge was a total sucess but most of the media won't cover it. The problem now is Iran who is sending terrorists and other fighters and weapons into Iraq. Bush is not handling that situation very well. As time goes on further we will see continued improvement - as long as the democrats are kept out of the White House.

How about the drugs that are really hurting our society. The ones "pushed" to us by pharmaceutical companies and their commercials.

Legal drugs can be just as bad, if not worse.

Smoke a joint or pop a pill that can lead you to suicidal tendencies?

The problem is that drug users in the US no longer have to rely upon heroin from Afghanistan, or cocaine from Bolivia- the two biggest drug problems plaguing us right now are home grown - prescription drugs such as oxycontin and vicodin, and methamphetamine.
I think that the only rational approach to containing this is through harm reduction policies http://www.drugpolicy.org/reducingharm/
The current policy of incarcerating non-violent drug users has proven itself to be a failed approach that does nothing but cost billions of dollars every year.
Unfortunately, I don't see anything changing, there are too many people make big bucks off of the 'war on drugs' Correctional Officers unions, politicians who are lobbied by those unions, construction companies who build prisons, etc. None of them will sit by and allow any sort of rational approach to the problem of drug abuse,it's 'big business now'

The only good DRUG NAZI
IS A DEAD ONE

Bob, I can agree with some of your statements. Why is there punishment for a person who possesses a small amount of recreational use marijuana? What great harm are we avoiding through this policy?
It has become widely recognized that marijuana has medicinal qualities (see Marinol), yet it remains a Schedule I drug (no medicinal value). Why is this?

Re Bob's post...Isn't the US boycotting supposed drug export countries an absurd concept when the US is a major producer of cannabis, MDMA, meth, LSD, alcohol, pharmaceuticals and the MOST deadly drug, tobacco?

If you are genuinely worried about WMD being smuggled into US, you can't logically support prohibition laws that create and maintain the furtive channels of illicit drug smuggling.

If govt was the answer, the 'iron curtain'(pause for laughter) of the aerostat balloons in FL/TX/NM/AZ since the early 1990s would have stopped the drugs you fear.

Let go...let the marketplace speak...trust your fellow citizens (knowing that a tiny percent will abuse their freedom).

They won't classify pot as medicinal for several reasons (from everything I've learned and read). Marijuana can be grown anywhere by anyone and therefore cannot be controlled. If it can't be controlled in production and use, the government can't tax it. Another reason is it can be used as a fossil fuel and from what I've heard the agencies supplying various fuels see it as a threat to their futures. Pot does relieve pain, but don't let the Fed's catch you using it or selling it.

Maybe this is crazy thinking, but look at what we're paying for gas! We have reserves right here in America and offshore and also in the Alaskan reserves -- Why aren't the oil companies drilling in those areas? Why isn't the government urging the immediate tapping of new oil sources so we can get the middle east baboon off our backs? The government knows $3.00 per gallon is cripling America in every aspect..Why?

The answer is money. greed. If we started serious talks about actually doing it, just like in the past, the middle east would suddenly drop the price wayyyy down to make it more affordable for us to not drill. And for once, "Bushy" in D.C. would be pushing the Arabs to drop the price as he doesn't want to lose his wealth from the oil industry. It's all greed. You don't see the democrats doing anything about it either.