Spending Priorities
Despite Decrim, California Marijuana Possession Busts Abound [FEATURE]
Weird Drug Politics in the Kentucky Senate Campaign [FEATURE]
California Legislature Passes Marijuana Decriminalization Bill
President Obama's New Drug War Strategy and the Low-Down on 'America's Trillion Dollar Dope Game'
Houston-area journalist Clarence Walker reflects on the occasion of a trillion dollars spent on the failed US drug war.
No other has spent more money on the dope trade than our own U.S. Federal Government. Even the richest of drug barons and associated players, dead and alive, cannot or could not have competed with the avalanche of paperwork doled out by the government in its fight against this monster. Even the once ruthless - and now dead - Pablo Escobar and his Medellin Cartel, the Cali Cartel or the Mexican Drug Cartels cannot match the money they have earned from the drug trade with the amount the Federal Government has allocated for years in its battle to stem the flow of illegal drugs into America.
And what is the cost for our government in its fight against this narcotics epidemic, a war raged now for some four decades? By all means have a guess, but here is the figure according to The White House: One trillion dollars.
The war on drugs is the longest war the American government has ever fought, longer than World War II, the Cold War, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. And even after 40 years, the battle to enforce the laws of the land that prohibits "getting high on dope", this poisonous, addictive trade continues to thrive with the ferocity of an earthquake across the planet. Quite obviously, there is no clear-cut victory in sight.
From the outset, if the intent driving the war on drugs, beginning in 1970 under President Nixon's Administration, was to create a drug-free America, we can see that after the spending of a trillion dollars, culminating in millions of arrests, the creation of a burgeoning health care system with which to effectively treat addicts, and the billions spent on law enforcement's task of arresting drug dealers and the prison system in housing the millions of nonviolent drug offenders alongside thousands who have brought violence and death, the "war on drugs" nevertheless remains a dismal failure.
Pres. Obamaâs Proposed 2011 Budget Bolsters War on Drugs
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â February 9, 2010
Pres. Obamaâs Proposed 2011 Budget Bolsters War on Drugs
Obama administration to expand drug war by tilting funds heavily toward law enforcement and away from treatment
CONTACT: Aaron Houston, MPP director of government relations â¦â¦ 202-905-2009 or [email protected]
WASHINGTON, D.C. â According to 2011 funding âhighlightsâ released this week by the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), the Obama administration is expanding the war on drugs and focusing its funds toward law enforcement over treatment. The budget puts Americaâs drug war spending at $15.5 billion for fiscal year 2011; an increase of 3.5 percent over 2010 and an increase of 5.2 percent in overall enforcement funding ($9.7 billion in FY 2010 to $9.9 billion in FY 2011). Addiction treatment and preventative measures are budgeted to increase from $5.2 billion to $5.6 billion.
        Furthermore, President Obama chose to continue funding the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign, which is run by the drug czarâs office and has for years emptied its coffers on absurd anti-marijuana ads that veer far from the truth. One such ad (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9B-h_bU-uI) released in 2006 insinuates that marijuana use can lead to rape, a particularly dishonest claim considering that alcohol, a legal drug, is a factor in a huge majority of sexual assaults.
        âThis budget reflects the same Bush-era priorities that led to the total failure of American drug policy during the last decade,â said Aaron Houston, MPP director of government relations. âOne of the worst examples is $66 million requested for the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign when every independent study has called it a failure. The president is throwing good money after bad when what we really need is a new direction.â
        With more than 29,000 members and 100,000 e-mail subscribers nationwide, the Marijuana Policy Project is the largest marijuana policy reform organization in the United States. MPP believes that the best way to minimize the harm associated with marijuana is to regulate marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol. For more information, please visit mpp.org
####
DPA Statement: FBI Releases 2007 Crime in the US Report
Clinton Crime Agenda Shortsighted; May Hurt Poor and Minorities, Advocates say
(This blog post was published by StoptheDrugWar.org's lobbying arm, the Drug Reform Coordination Network, which also shares the cost of maintaining this web site. DRCNet Foundation takes no positions on candidates for public office, and does not pay for reporting that could be interpreted or misinterpreted as doing so.)
Ahead of Monday Budget Release, Advocates Urge Gov. to Increase Drug Treatment Funding
AMMA Press Release: VICTORY - Mendocino Supes Add Measure G to County Code
Pagination
- First page
- Previous page
- …
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
- …
- Next page
- Last page