MSD

I came across the Libertarian Party's official stance on Drugs the other day, and was delighted to find that an organized political party saw the problem exactly as I do. My philosophy is that those who hurt themselves should be helped, not punished, and that those who hurt others should be punished accordingly while simultaneously making an attempt to reform them (which is not always possible.)

I disagree. If substances are decriminalized and made into legitimate cash crops, those widely distributed powerful and dangerous groups of international lawbreakers will lose a significant part of their business, and the remaining portions of that business can be dealt with directly.

The war on drugs in the US mainly targets small-time offenders whose only crime is having a good time. Dealers and drug runners are occasionally caught, but the end result is that we stuff our prisons full of nonviolent drug users who get 20 years for smoking a joint while murderers, rapists, and abusive parents and spouses walk out after 5.

At the same time, we ship military equipment abroad along with billions of dollars that are used sporadically to attack drug crops, but mainly (esp. in South America) to fight off opposition groups who are forced to resort to guerilla and terroristic strategies to be heard. The real problems, the dangerous crime synidcates, simply go where the money is. To dust crops with herbicides and kill off the workers in the fields who are just desparate to feed their families in an attempt to stop these syndicates is like trying to kill someone by sending a pack of rats to bite at his toes.

What better way to shrivel the bank accounts of drug lords than to take their business from them and turn it into jobs for Americans that produce a safer (not safe) alternative to street drugs that are contaminated with fillers and laced with every substance known to man? I agree with Peetster that the legalization of marijuana will give a legitimate cash crop back to unemployed tobacco farmers.