Does Prohibition Work?
Some people are still functioning under the illusion that drug use can be stopped by government violence and threat of violence. Is prohibition a sensible, logical, or reasonable way to deal with drug misuse? Before you answer that question, consider the following:
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The Source of Organized Crime:
Overwhelming evidence shows that: 1) The prohibition of alcohol during the 1920's was passed into law as a direct result of the activities of ultra-conservative Christians. 2) It was a complete failure. 3) It spawned the birth of what is now a global-level, semi-secret, organized-crime network.
In the face of overwhelming evidence that the prohibition of alcohol was a social disaster and in the face of equally compelling evidence that the present prohibition of certain drugs is a disaster of far greater proportions, politicians are still waging war against the of use of certain declared-to be-illegal drugs. Before we answer the question, "WHY ?" let's look at what drug prohibition is costing us:
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The Cost:
The prohibition of certain (declared-to-be-illegal) drugs:
* Has made the most unethical people on the planet the wealthiest people on the planet,
* Is responsible for 70% of all criminal activity in the U.S.,
* Has allowed right wing ultra-conservatives to transform our formerly free government into a highly organized and highly funded, fascist police state,
* Has created a multi-billion dollar prison system which presently warehouses millions of people convicted of drug-law violations,
* Has cost and is now costing the public directly and indirectly, billions of dollars each year,
* Has corrupted high-level government officials in every country on the face of the planet -- including the United States,
* Has provided criminals with enough money to buy government officials and to literally own some governments,
* Has funded and is funding countless secret criminal activities, including terrorism,
* Is responsible for the destruction of vast areas on the tropical rain forests,
* Has literally caused the near extinction of several native cultures,
* Has severely restricted everyone’s social and political freedom,
* Has brought misery to the lives of billions of people,
* has made criminals out of millions of people who would otherwise never engage in illegal activity.
* Has compelled millions of children to get their friends and acquaintances hooked on drugs because selling drugs is the only way they can get enough money to support their own drug habits.
* Has done absolutely nothing to stop illegal drugs coming into the United States.
* And has done absolutely nothing to stop people from using illegal drugs.
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Alcohol and Tobacco:
Even though nicotine is more addictive than heroin and even though selling alcohol, and nicotine results in over five-hundred- thousand deaths each year and cost billions of dollars in damages each year, it's perfectly legal to advertise, promote, sell, and openly use these two drugs. Did you ever wonder why it's perfectly OK to sell alcohol and nicotine which kill over five- hundred- thousand people each and every year, and at the same time, it's illegal to sell marijuana which has never, directly killed anyone in all the years of recorded medical history?
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Follow the Money Trail:
In the United states alone, the illegal drug industry is a 250-billion-dollar-per-year business. ($250,000,000,000) And that doesn't even count the vast police, military, and prison industry that, for it's own survival, vitally needs to keep drugs illegal. If you want to know why selling alcohol and nicotine are legal and marijuana is not, simply follow the money trail. Ask yourself these questions:
Who is rich because certain chemicals are illegal?
Who would lose money if they became legal?
What would happen to the economy if drugs became legal?
One of the main reasons why certain drugs are illegal is because there is an incredible price markup between production cost and final sale price. For example, cocaine sells to the consumer for about 170 times its production cost. Heroin sells for up to 2,000 times its production cost. And until the recent, American Corporate Dictatorship assault on our financial system, the leaves and flowers from a plant that grows profusely on its own almost anywhere (marijuana) sold for more per ounce than gold.
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Political Power:
A second major reason why certain drugs are illegal is that drug money buys political power and political power is the only thing keeping drugs illegal. Imagine that every year you had several billion dollars that you needed to launder, to whom would you turn? If your business brought in several billions of dollars every year and you could secretly and indirectly support the political campaigns of those who would keep your business profitable, would you do so.?
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Silver or Lead:
The third major reason why drugs are still illegal is that those responsible for drug peddling offer politicians and those who might oppose them "an offer they can't refuse." They say, "Do you want silver of lead?" (money or bullets) "Take this money and look the other way or we will kill you and your entire family." If offered such a choice, how would you respond?
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Marijuana:
Marijuana which grows like a weed almost anywhere is (at the time of this writing) more expensive per ounce than gold. It costs $400 per ounce only because it is illegal. In a free market that same ounce of marijuana would probably cost between $2 to $4 per ounce. It could also be home grown completely free of any costs by almost anybody who has a flower pot and a little water.
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Quotes of Legislating Morality:
"Prohibition goes beyond the bounds of reason in that it attempts to control a man's appetite by legislation and makes a crime out of things that are not crimes... A prohibition law strikes a blow at the very principle upon which our government was founded."
____________________ Abraham Lincoln -- 1840
"You've probably heard the famous quote. 'Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.' Well, here it is in somewhat different words, "Money Corrupts. Secret money corrupts absolutely.""
____________________ Quote from "An Interview with the Devil" by R. Robin Cote'
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The Scene Depicted on Film:
For a glimpse into what keeping drugs illegal is doing to the world, see the feature length film titled “The Untouchables," about the prohibition of alcohol, staring Sean Connery and then multiply the criminal activity seen in that film by about ten thousand --- change the date to today --- expand the setting from just the United Sates to a global setting --- and you have an excellent symbolic description of the present-day criminal activity that is directly funded by the billions of dollars from the sale of illegal drugs --- drugs that the public will buy even at outrageous prices.
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Political Instability:
In many of the countries where illegal drugs are produced, the governments are politically unstable. For example, in Columbia, South America, anti-government forces are being financed by money from the sale of illegal drugs, and any politician opposing the drug lords is subject to assassination. The man presently running for president in Columbia (May 2002) has been the subject of approximately fifteen assassination attempts.
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To Stop a Behavior:
What is the most efficient way to change someone else's behavior? Any psychologist worth his salt will tell you that people always take actions that they perceive to be in their own best interest, and that to change a person's behavior, all you have to do is take away the incentive and the behavior will automatically change.
People sell drugs because they perceive that it is in their own best interest to do so. They sell drugs because doing so is highly profitable. It's ten to one hundred times more profitable than a normal job. People sell drugs out of desperation. If your child's well being or even his/her life was on the line, what would you do to obtain the money needed to care for him/her?
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What Would Happen if
the Presently Illegal Drugs Became Legal?
* The price would drop.
* The profit would disappear.
* The incentive to sell drugs would disappear.
* The clandestine sale of the presently illegal drugs would stop.
* The drugs presently illegal would become available in safe, and pure forms, thus ending the thousands of deaths and injuries presently caused by impure and mislabeled illegal drugs.
* Drug misuse would be left to the medical profession where it belongs.
* Millions of people would no longer be considered criminals.
* The phenomenally versatile and useful hemp plant (marijuana) would be used for a variety of purposes. Hemp would become a billion dollar industry for fiber, for medical uses, and for producing altered states of consciousness.
* Millions of children would no longer need to get their friends and acquaintances hooked on drugs in order to support their own drug habits.
* Terrorist would be deprived of their major source of money. Terrorist activities would be severely curtailed.
* Secret government agencies would be deprived of their major source of money.
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And Here's Why the Presently Illegal Drugs
Will Not Became Legal in the Near Future?
* The price of marijuana would be drastically reduced. The criminal sanctions against marijuana use would disappear. Many people would switch from consuming alcohol to using marijuana. This would cause profits from the sale of alcohol to be significantly reduced.
* Some people who have never used an illegal drug would experience LSD, Magic Mushrooms, or one of the other spiritual awakening substances in the context of a spiritual journey under the watchful eye of a qualified guide, and they would come off their journey with an entirely different perspective of life. They would see the absurdity of our present social, economic, religious, and political structures and would begin calling for changes.
* Most of the people engaged in police and prison professions would be looking for new jobs. The prison industry would shrivel to a tiny fraction of what it is today. The need for police would be drastically reduced.
* The people who presently make millions of dollars every year supplying the anti-drug hardware and technology would loose a very profitable market.
* The drug lords who own politicians would be out of business.
* A major tool for political control and manipulation would cease to exist. Governments could no longer justify spending billions of dollars creating and supporting their (disguised) fascist police states.
* The billions of dollars that are annually laundered and inserted into otherwise legal businesses would no longer be available.
* As a result of the combined effect of all the economic factors mentioned above, the present economic structure on the entire planet would collapse and have to be re-structured.
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The Bottom Line:
In every country in the entire world where drugs are illegal, who do you suppose (indirectly, secretly) finances and promotes the election of the politicians who keep drugs illegal?
If you:
were spiritually ignorant,
were a secret atheist in your core belief,
had absolutely no concern for anybody but yourself,
had absolutely no concern for future generations,
had the ethics of the devil,
had morals equal to a bucket of slime,
had an ego the size of the moon,
were making billions of secret dollars every year, and
could easily acquire anything in the world that money could buy,
what would you do to preserve the status quo?
Rabu, 09 Mei 2012
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