The era 1920-1933, the focus Alcohol Prohibition. Alcohol Prohibition began with the 18th Amendment banning the manufacturing, sale, or transportation of "intoxicating" beverages. What may have seemed a good idea on paper quickly turned into a disaster for law enforcement agencies, the Government, and innocent law abiding Americans. It is estimated in Popular Mechanics that the Illegal Alcohol producers were making $3 billion a year, all untaxed and much of it financing the large amount of Organized Crime that embraced alcohol based on the quick amount of money to be made. In 1930 $3 billion was a lot of money especially in a country struggling with a depression. The powerful crime syndicates quickly began using violence to protect their interests. Before long shootings, massacres, and thug violence became a huge problem. In the South mountain moonshiners began importing their liquor into the larger cities with great profits. The effect of this can still be seen today as a major sport. Many of NASCAR's early drivers illegally ran moonshine. Hard Liquor become much more popular during this era because less was more. With Craft breweries going out of business it was much harder to find quality beer, and Liquor is easier to make and much more potent than Beer or Wine. The Government also ordered the poisoning of industrial alcohol as many 10,000 people died from this poisoning during prohibition.
Now lets skip ahead to the present day where drugs (i.e. heroine, cocaine, marijuana, LSD, Opium, and countless others) are now prohibited. All one needs to do is watch any news outlet and you will find reports of violence surrounding drugs coming across the Mexican-US border, or a local gang shootout where innocent people were killed, or law enforcement agent getting killed by a drug using criminal. The violence surrounding the drug trade is astronomical, not to mention the hundreds of billions of dollars to be made in it's black market. Then there is the billions of dollars that the federal government spends every year not to mention the countless Federal agencies created to stop the trafficking of drugs into this country. Seems like a failure people are still arrested on daily basis for Drug related offenses, innocent people die in gang's turf wars and the American taxpayer is stuck paying Trillions of dollars a year.
One effect of the drug war people don't seem to connect is the use by the drug cartels and gangs of firearms and as a result stricter gun laws are passed and waiting periods are forced onto innocent American citizens while the cartels and gangs are still well armed some of their firearms not even purchased or made in America. A 4 year old child being gunned down playing in the front yard by a gang drive by is an easy way to sway citizens sentiments toward banning guns from lawful people. When in reality the guns play a minor role in what is really a profitable black market.
According to the NY Times the US has less than 5% of the Worlds population yet we have a quarter of it's prisoners. There are currently 2.3 million prisoners in US Incarceration facilities. We have 751 persons in prison per 100,000 thousand people. England has 151 per 100,000, Germany is 88, and Japans is 63. The world average is 125, around a sixth of the American median. From the 1920's through 1975 the US Prison Population held steady with around 110 per 100,000. In 2008 1.5 million people were arrested for drug offenses. 500,000 were imprisoned. Prisons are expensive affairs to run, on top of the cost of the legal system which is also not cheap. In 1990 the US spent $74 billion on it's legal system. If you eliminated the prison populace in jail for victim-less crimes how much tax dollars would that save? The other negative is once someone is in prison they are much more likely to be convicted and sent back to prison creating a horrible cycle.
Finally the Drug War is a war against the minorities in this country. African Americans for instance make up 13% of drug users, yet black Americans accounted for 35% of drug arrests, 55% of convictions, and 74% of people sent to prison on drug charges. African Americans were sent to prison 13 times more often than white men on drug charges.
The Drug War has been a miserable failure. Drugs are readily available today as they were before the war began. Not only are drugs still readily available but tax payers are forced to pay billions for law enforcement and Federal agencies,and billions more in the legal system. It's a racist's policy that punishes not only minorities but those that are poorest among our nations citizens. The violence and crime surrounding the Drug Trade is epidemic and has cost innocent Americans their lives and Freedoms. We must end the Drug War and treat it as a medical condition vs a legal condition. We should strive to trim our prison population, stop prosecuting people for victim-less crimes. You cannot regulate morality it just will not work. I'm going to end with a few quotes I think apply to this situation well.
"The more corrupt the republic, the more numerous the laws" Tacitus
"The greater the number of laws and enactments, the more thieves and robbers there will be" Lao-Tzu
Now lets skip ahead to the present day where drugs (i.e. heroine, cocaine, marijuana, LSD, Opium, and countless others) are now prohibited. All one needs to do is watch any news outlet and you will find reports of violence surrounding drugs coming across the Mexican-US border, or a local gang shootout where innocent people were killed, or law enforcement agent getting killed by a drug using criminal. The violence surrounding the drug trade is astronomical, not to mention the hundreds of billions of dollars to be made in it's black market. Then there is the billions of dollars that the federal government spends every year not to mention the countless Federal agencies created to stop the trafficking of drugs into this country. Seems like a failure people are still arrested on daily basis for Drug related offenses, innocent people die in gang's turf wars and the American taxpayer is stuck paying Trillions of dollars a year.
One effect of the drug war people don't seem to connect is the use by the drug cartels and gangs of firearms and as a result stricter gun laws are passed and waiting periods are forced onto innocent American citizens while the cartels and gangs are still well armed some of their firearms not even purchased or made in America. A 4 year old child being gunned down playing in the front yard by a gang drive by is an easy way to sway citizens sentiments toward banning guns from lawful people. When in reality the guns play a minor role in what is really a profitable black market.
According to the NY Times the US has less than 5% of the Worlds population yet we have a quarter of it's prisoners. There are currently 2.3 million prisoners in US Incarceration facilities. We have 751 persons in prison per 100,000 thousand people. England has 151 per 100,000, Germany is 88, and Japans is 63. The world average is 125, around a sixth of the American median. From the 1920's through 1975 the US Prison Population held steady with around 110 per 100,000. In 2008 1.5 million people were arrested for drug offenses. 500,000 were imprisoned. Prisons are expensive affairs to run, on top of the cost of the legal system which is also not cheap. In 1990 the US spent $74 billion on it's legal system. If you eliminated the prison populace in jail for victim-less crimes how much tax dollars would that save? The other negative is once someone is in prison they are much more likely to be convicted and sent back to prison creating a horrible cycle.
Finally the Drug War is a war against the minorities in this country. African Americans for instance make up 13% of drug users, yet black Americans accounted for 35% of drug arrests, 55% of convictions, and 74% of people sent to prison on drug charges. African Americans were sent to prison 13 times more often than white men on drug charges.
The Drug War has been a miserable failure. Drugs are readily available today as they were before the war began. Not only are drugs still readily available but tax payers are forced to pay billions for law enforcement and Federal agencies,and billions more in the legal system. It's a racist's policy that punishes not only minorities but those that are poorest among our nations citizens. The violence and crime surrounding the Drug Trade is epidemic and has cost innocent Americans their lives and Freedoms. We must end the Drug War and treat it as a medical condition vs a legal condition. We should strive to trim our prison population, stop prosecuting people for victim-less crimes. You cannot regulate morality it just will not work. I'm going to end with a few quotes I think apply to this situation well.
"The more corrupt the republic, the more numerous the laws" Tacitus
"The greater the number of laws and enactments, the more thieves and robbers there will be" Lao-Tzu
