The War On Drugs

This "war" has been going on for a very long time. Zero tolerance for certain types of plants is not only difficult to enforce, it's basically impossible.

I'm not arguing for drug usage, however. Drug usage of any kind, legal or illegal, comes with a price that is cleverly concealed in the legal drug market with the phrase "side effects."

My attention on this subject is basically a matter of how our taxpayer dollars are spent. I object strenuously to any money being spent on the Orwellian "wars" that have been cooked up from outright lies and media manipulation. Much like the "War On Terror" which has succeeded amazingly well at making the world a more dangerous place, the "War On Drugs" has accomplished a similar negative effect. The illegal drugs are just as plentiful and available as they ever were, only now they're purer and more effective.

This song I'm singing, however, isn't a pro-legalization perspective from the drug-using periphery. It's a conservative viewpoint of long standing credibility. The most recent writing on this subject comes in an op-ed in Foreign Policy magazine by Nathan Nadelmann, which I found through Thomas P.M. Barnett's blog. People whose intellect and perception I admire greatly have continued to examine this issue with similar conclusions, year after year.

But I've always referred back to one of the most credible of the conservative voices in our society, William F. Buckley, Jr., to tell us what the situation really is with this "War On Drugs." His response to the New York Bar Association's request for his (and others') views on this subject are over a decade old, and archived at the National Review at this link.

Anyone arguing for the continuation of the status quo regarding "controlled substances" is either making money from it, or else they've failed to fully inform themselves on the subject.