First off, I think Eudora's right---The "Drug WAr" ain't about keeping drugs off the streets and away from your little snot-nosed brats. I can score about six different drugs within a five minute drive, more if you wanna take a twenty minute ride.
The was is about criminalizing a whole subculture, about drug testing in the workplace and probation offices, big $$$$ from seizures and forfeitures, a continuous supply of inmates for the now-prvatized prison industry, a bunch of clients for the drug treatment industry and the subsequent $$$ it generates, the ability to go fuck with other countries under the guise of "keeping drugs out of America" and other horseshit like that. It ain't about keeping little Janie off the shit, hell they want her to do 'em! THen she enters the whole system I described above.......
Do you think the government gives a flying fuck about your kids health? Yeah, that's why they fucking subsidize tobacco and let fast food chains advertise on TV during kid's shows. These are the same people that won't test beef cattle for mad cow disease, weakened environmental laws, etc. Trust me, they don't care if your kid is on hard drugs or not, they'd actually kind of prefer they were, then sought "treatment" at a state-approved reeducation center.
Look at how much money changes hands over DRUGS.....not the drugs themselves, or even the money spent on drugs themselves, but the money that changes hands because of drugs....the prison industry, the lawyers, the drug testing, the drug treatment, the ability to deny workman's comp insurance because of a positive test for marijuana, etc. etc. If you think those assholes are just gonna go away over somethng as trivial as YOUR CIVIL RIGHTS, well, I got a bridge in NY that I'd like you to invest in.
And let's look at how the government has used the "war on Drugs" to subvert or eliminate the constitution of the United States.....warantless searches and seizures, wiretaps, etc. , etc. All of that shit was going on per-9/11, as a pretext to "keep you safe from drugs", now, with the "WAr on Terror", they 've got even more power. Give 'em an inch.....
A little word on mandatory minimums---back in the 80s, the feds were weighing the carrier the acid came on (paper, sugar cube, liquid) when it came to determining the amount of LSD for sentencing purposes. A few hits of thick blotter paper, let's say 10 hits, just became a gram of LSD (the equivalent of 10,000 hits), and if you put a few drops of liquid in a gallon jug, well, fuck , you just create deight pounds of LSD!!!! enough to get everyone on the planet high about six times!! This completely fucked-up method of determining sentencing guidlines was eliminated after enough rich kids and yuppies with money got busted and were able to enact a change. I believe Sen. Joe Biden had something to do with overturning those guidlines.
