Cafferty out with Drug Legalization article

[Arklatex]

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/03/31/cafferty.legal.drugs/index.html


NEW YORK (CNN) -- Here's something to think about:

How many police officers and sheriff's deputies are involved in investigating and solving crimes involving illegal drugs? And arresting and transporting and interrogating and jailing the suspects?

How many prosecutors and their staffs spend time prosecuting drug cases? How many defense lawyers spend their time defending drug suspects?

How many hours of courtroom time are devoted to drug trials? How many judges, bailiffs, courtroom security officers, stenographers, etc., spend their time on drug trials?

How many prison cells are filled with drug offenders? And how many corrections officers does it take to guard them? How much food do these convicts consume?

And when they get out, how many parole and probation officers does it take to supervise their release? And how many ex-offenders turn right around and do it again?

So how's this war on drugs going?

Someone described insanity as doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result each time. That's a perfect description of the war on drugs.
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The United States is the largest illegal drug market in the world. Americans want their weed, crack, cocaine, heroin, whatever. And they're willing to pay big money to get it.

The drug suppliers are only too happy to oblige. The Mexican drug cartels now have operations in 230 American cities. That's 230 American cities!

And we're not just talking about border towns, but places such as Anchorage, Alaska; Boston, Massachusetts; Atlanta, Georgia; and Billings, Montana. They're everywhere. And they don't just bring drugs, but violence and crime as well -- lots of it at no extra charge.

They have been able to infiltrate those 230 cities because we have not bothered to secure our borders. In addition to illegal aliens who come here to work and avail themselves of our social programs, we have criminals from Mexico bringing drugs in, taking money and guns back, and recruiting American kids into their criminal enterprises while they're here. iReport.com: Is it time to legalize pot?

What do you suppose the total price tag is for this failed war on drugs? One senior Harvard economist estimates we spend $44 billion a year fighting the war on drugs. He says if they were legal, governments would realize about $33 billion a year in tax revenue. Net swing of $77 billion. Could we use that money today for something else? You bet your ass we could. Plus the cartels would be out of business. Instantly. Goodbye crime and violence.

If drugs were legalized, we could empty out a lot of our prison cells. People will use this stuff whether it's legal or not. Just like they do booze. And you could make the argument that in some cases alcohol is just as dangerous as some drugs. I know.

Like I said ... something to think about. It's time.

[ClayTrainor]

great article.

Indeed, it is time :cool:

[torchbearer]

Wasn't Cafferty on his knees on live tv giving Obama a blowjob?
How can this guy before for legalization and still be all about Obama?

[ClayTrainor]

Wasn't Cafferty on his knees on live tv giving Obama a blowjob?


:confused:



How can this guy before for legalization and still be all about Obama?

I wasn't aware of Cafferty's support of Obama...

[He Who Pawns]

Hussein, legalize now!!!!!!!!!!1

[torchbearer]

:confused:



I wasn't aware of Cafferty's support of Obama...

Yeah, he was all over Obama and how great he is...a lot over the past couple months.

[ClayTrainor]

Yeah, he was all over Obama and how great he is...a lot over the past couple months.

very disappointing.

I don't really watch TV News at all, so i haven't been following along. I was still under the impression that Jack was on our side :o

[He Who Pawns]

We should send Jack a nice note about this. Positive reinforcement, you know.

[fr33domfightr]

A lot of talk about this in the news these days. I think its good to raise awareness of the idea.

How do you all see something like this being implemented?

I'd first like to see that all plants aren't considered illegal anymore. It wouldn't matter if it was MJ, Poppies, mushrooms, or whatever.

Do you favor any type of hoop someone might have to jump through such that it would be evident to themselves they might be getting addicted? This isn't done for cigarettes, so I guess most would be against this.

For plants, would you think there should be any restriction on concentrating the extracts? MJ is widely used in the Dam in Hash form, so that doesn't seem to be an issue. For growing, do you think there should be any restriction on how much one could grow? In the open?

I don't want to debate this, I'm only asking for ideas on how you think distribution and legality would be implemented. Do you think we should follow some model like we use for alcohol? I think most of us would agree we like quality control, so we know what to expect when we purchase our favorite beverage.


FF

[Arklatex]

I've known old men who grew their tobacco right in there front yard here in Texas. I don't know if i'd put my plants right in the front though, just asking for trouble.

I'd like to see people grow their own tax free just like people can grow strawberries or anything else. $1 for a packet of 30 seeds.

[fr33domfightr]

I've known old men who grew their tobacco right in there front yard here in Texas. I don't know if i'd put my plants right in the front though, just asking for trouble.

I'd like to see people grow their own tax free just like people can grow strawberries or anything else. $1 for a packet of 30 seeds.


That's certainly an interesting idea. Growing your own would reduced demand from the current Black Market dealers.

This got me to thinking, if drugs were legalized, such that they're sold like alcohol, would these waring factions competing in Mexico still be fighting if drugs were legalized here? Wouldn't they still be fighting to be the main importer to the U.S. (via Mexico)? It almost seems as though we'd need to be protectionist or not allow cheap imports, to irradicate the fighting in Mexico. Could any producer manufacture drugs here cheaper than Mexico?


FF

[Imperial]

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/03/24/miron.legalization.drugs/index.html

Cafferty got all of his article basically from that I think, which is alot more of an academic article.

[Imperial]

Text of the article...pretty good; have I heard of this guy?


Jeffrey A. Miron is senior lecturer in economics at Harvard University.

Economist Jeffrey Miron says legalizing drugs would greatly reduce violence.

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts (CNN) -- Over the past two years, drug violence in Mexico has become a fixture of the daily news. Some of this violence pits drug cartels against one another; some involves confrontations between law enforcement and traffickers.

Recent estimates suggest thousands have lost their lives in this "war on drugs."

The U.S. and Mexican responses to this violence have been predictable: more troops and police, greater border controls and expanded enforcement of every kind. Escalation is the wrong response, however; drug prohibition is the cause of the violence.

Prohibition creates violence because it drives the drug market underground. This means buyers and sellers cannot resolve their disputes with lawsuits, arbitration or advertising, so they resort to violence instead.

Violence was common in the alcohol industry when it was banned during Prohibition, but not before or after.

Violence is the norm in illicit gambling markets but not in legal ones. Violence is routine when prostitution is banned but not when it's permitted. Violence results from policies that create black markets, not from the characteristics of the good or activity in question.

The only way to reduce violence, therefore, is to legalize drugs. Fortuitously, legalization is the right policy for a slew of other reasons.

Prohibition of drugs corrupts politicians and law enforcement by putting police, prosecutors, judges and politicians in the position to threaten the profits of an illicit trade. This is why bribery, threats and kidnapping are common for prohibited industries but rare otherwise. Mexico's recent history illustrates this dramatically.

Prohibition erodes protections against unreasonable search and seizure because neither party to a drug transaction has an incentive to report the activity to the police. Thus, enforcement requires intrusive tactics such as warrantless searches or undercover buys. The victimless nature of this so-called crime also encourages police to engage in racial profiling.

Prohibition has disastrous implications for national security. By eradicating coca plants in Colombia or poppy fields in Afghanistan, prohibition breeds resentment of the United States. By enriching those who produce and supply drugs, prohibition supports terrorists who sell protection services to drug traffickers.

Prohibition harms the public health. Patients suffering from cancer, glaucoma and other conditions cannot use marijuana under the laws of most states or the federal government despite abundant evidence of its efficacy. Terminally ill patients cannot always get adequate pain medication because doctors may fear prosecution by the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Drug users face restrictions on clean syringes that cause them to share contaminated needles, thereby spreading HIV, hepatitis and other blood-borne diseases.

Prohibitions breed disrespect for the law because despite draconian penalties and extensive enforcement, huge numbers of people still violate prohibition. This means those who break the law, and those who do not, learn that obeying laws is for suckers.

Prohibition is a drain on the public purse. Federal, state and local governments spend roughly $44 billion per year to enforce drug prohibition. These same governments forego roughly $33 billion per year in tax revenue they could collect from legalized drugs, assuming these were taxed at rates similar to those on alcohol and tobacco. Under prohibition, these revenues accrue to traffickers as increased profits.

The right policy, therefore, is to legalize drugs while using regulation and taxation to dampen irresponsible behavior related to drug use, such as driving under the influence. This makes more sense than prohibition because it avoids creation of a black market. This approach also allows those who believe they benefit from drug use to do so, as long as they do not harm others. iReport.com: Do you think it's time to legalize marijuana?

Legalization is desirable for all drugs, not just marijuana. The health risks of marijuana are lower than those of many other drugs, but that is not the crucial issue. Much of the traffic from Mexico or Colombia is for cocaine, heroin and other drugs, while marijuana production is increasingly domestic. Legalizing only marijuana would therefore fail to achieve many benefits of broader legalization.

It is impossible to reconcile respect for individual liberty with drug prohibition. The U.S. has been at the forefront of this puritanical policy for almost a century, with disastrous consequences at home and abroad.

The U.S. repealed Prohibition of alcohol at the height of the Great Depression, in part because of increasing violence and in part because of diminishing tax revenues. Similar concerns apply today, and Attorney General Eric Holder's recent announcement that the Drug Enforcement Administration will not raid medical marijuana distributors in California suggests an openness in the Obama administration to rethinking current practice.

Perhaps history will repeat itself, and the U.S. will abandon one of its most disastrous policy experiments.