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06-17-2005, 11:59 AM
By Norm Stamper (http://www.alternet.org/authors/7269/), AlterNet (http://www.alternet.org/). Posted June 15, 2005 (http://www.alternet.org/ts/archives/?date[F]=06&date[Y]=2005&date[d]=15&act=Go/).
In an excerpt from his new book, 'Breaking Rank,' a former police chief describes how America is losing its fight against drugs -- and why we should consider decriminalization.
I say it’s time to withdraw the troops in the war on drugs.
For a jaw-dropping illustration of drug enforcement’s financial costs, take a look at DrugSense.org’s Drug War Clock (http://www.drugsense.org/html/modules.php?name=Wodclock). To the tune of $600 a second, taxpayers are financing this war. For the year 2004 the figure added up to over $20 billion, and that’s just for federal enforcement alone. You can add another $22 to $24 billion for state and local drug law enforcement, and even more billions for U. S. drug interdiction work on the international scene. We’re talking well over $50 billion a year to finance America’s war on drugs.
Think of this war’s real casualties: tens of thousands of otherwise innocent Americans incarcerated, many for 20 years, some for life; families ripped apart; drug traffickers and blameless bystanders shot dead on city streets; narcotics officers assassinated here and abroad, with prosecutors, judges, and elected officials in Latin America gunned down for their courageous stands against the cartels; and all those dollars spent on federal, state, and local cops, courts, prosecutors, prisons, probation, parole, and pee-in-the-bottle programs. Even federal aid to bribe distant nations to stop feeding our habit.
[continued (http://www.alternet.org/drugreporter/22227/)]
It should be noted here that Opiophile.org was unable to get a response in asking for permission to reprint this article. For this reason, we've only printed a small excerpt with credit to the source. The rest of the article can be found by clicking the 'continue' link above....
In an excerpt from his new book, 'Breaking Rank,' a former police chief describes how America is losing its fight against drugs -- and why we should consider decriminalization.
I say it’s time to withdraw the troops in the war on drugs.
For a jaw-dropping illustration of drug enforcement’s financial costs, take a look at DrugSense.org’s Drug War Clock (http://www.drugsense.org/html/modules.php?name=Wodclock). To the tune of $600 a second, taxpayers are financing this war. For the year 2004 the figure added up to over $20 billion, and that’s just for federal enforcement alone. You can add another $22 to $24 billion for state and local drug law enforcement, and even more billions for U. S. drug interdiction work on the international scene. We’re talking well over $50 billion a year to finance America’s war on drugs.
Think of this war’s real casualties: tens of thousands of otherwise innocent Americans incarcerated, many for 20 years, some for life; families ripped apart; drug traffickers and blameless bystanders shot dead on city streets; narcotics officers assassinated here and abroad, with prosecutors, judges, and elected officials in Latin America gunned down for their courageous stands against the cartels; and all those dollars spent on federal, state, and local cops, courts, prosecutors, prisons, probation, parole, and pee-in-the-bottle programs. Even federal aid to bribe distant nations to stop feeding our habit.
[continued (http://www.alternet.org/drugreporter/22227/)]
It should be noted here that Opiophile.org was unable to get a response in asking for permission to reprint this article. For this reason, we've only printed a small excerpt with credit to the source. The rest of the article can be found by clicking the 'continue' link above....