How to win the war on drugs
March 21, 2016 2:44 PM Subscribe
“... We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.”Legalize It All
This post was deleted for the following reason: Link is still not connecting, and the thread has gotten off on a lengthy tangent, so maybe post this again tomorrow assuming the link comes back up, and we'll just have a do-over maybe with actual discussion of the article? -- LobsterMitten
Is the link refusing to connect for anyone else?
posted by jacquilynne at 2:59 PM on March 21, 2016 [8 favorites]
posted by jacquilynne at 2:59 PM on March 21, 2016 [8 favorites]
It is NOT a war.
Oh! Ok.
Care to expand on that?
posted by clockzero at 3:00 PM on March 21, 2016 [2 favorites]
Oh! Ok.
Care to expand on that?
posted by clockzero at 3:00 PM on March 21, 2016 [2 favorites]
Is the link refusing to connect for anyone else?
the same happened for a friend i linked -- i think the server may just be slammed at the moment
posted by p3on at 3:01 PM on March 21, 2016 [2 favorites]
the same happened for a friend i linked -- i think the server may just be slammed at the moment
posted by p3on at 3:01 PM on March 21, 2016 [2 favorites]
It is NOT a war.
It's a police action?
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 3:01 PM on March 21, 2016 [7 favorites]
It's a police action?
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 3:01 PM on March 21, 2016 [7 favorites]
A buzz-harsh on drugs?
posted by Greg_Ace at 3:12 PM on March 21, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Greg_Ace at 3:12 PM on March 21, 2016 [1 favorite]
Google cache until the slashdotting/fireballing/hug of death stops.
posted by entropicamericana at 3:13 PM on March 21, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by entropicamericana at 3:13 PM on March 21, 2016 [2 favorites]
Maybe the war on drugs is like the war on terror. They are both wars on broad concepts. If one wishes to prosecute a war, one might like to have an actual enemy. YMMV.
posted by Splunge at 3:27 PM on March 21, 2016
posted by Splunge at 3:27 PM on March 21, 2016
How did I not know this? That paranoid bastard, Nixon! And here I was thinking that by comparison, he wasn't as bad as I remembered. This nonsense has to stop.
posted by evilDoug at 3:48 PM on March 21, 2016
posted by evilDoug at 3:48 PM on March 21, 2016
I don't approve on wars on words, even things I'd like to see defeated... Cancer, Terrorism, Drugs...
All bullshit. There is no war on Cancer... There are dedicated scientists trying to find a cure.
War is a word (like all others) that has an actual definition: "a state of armed conflict between different nations or states or different groups within a nation or state."
posted by el io at 4:04 PM on March 21, 2016 [1 favorite]
All bullshit. There is no war on Cancer... There are dedicated scientists trying to find a cure.
War is a word (like all others) that has an actual definition: "a state of armed conflict between different nations or states or different groups within a nation or state."
posted by el io at 4:04 PM on March 21, 2016 [1 favorite]
Well, if the war on drugs was actually a war on poor people, people of color, and dissidents? ROUSING SUCCESS!
posted by ian1977 at 4:05 PM on March 21, 2016
posted by ian1977 at 4:05 PM on March 21, 2016
The War on Overly-Violent Metaphors
posted by beerperson at 4:07 PM on March 21, 2016
posted by beerperson at 4:07 PM on March 21, 2016
The War on Overly-Violent Metaphors
That's the Webstergate controversey.
posted by Talez at 4:11 PM on March 21, 2016
That's the Webstergate controversey.
posted by Talez at 4:11 PM on March 21, 2016
Make No Mistake: Hillary Clinton is a Drug Warrior
posted by T.D. Strange at 4:12 PM on March 21, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by T.D. Strange at 4:12 PM on March 21, 2016 [1 favorite]
What's a "Westphalian system?" Could someone give me an overview?
posted by Bobicus at 4:14 PM on March 21, 2016
posted by Bobicus at 4:14 PM on March 21, 2016
It is NOT a war.
It's not a ham sandwich either, but it's a LOT more like a war than it is a ham sandwich.
posted by doctor_negative at 4:22 PM on March 21, 2016
It's not a ham sandwich either, but it's a LOT more like a war than it is a ham sandwich.
posted by doctor_negative at 4:22 PM on March 21, 2016
Binge drinkers — 20 percent of the drinking population — consume more than half of the alcohol sold, which means that for all the industry’s pious admonitions to “drink responsibly,” it depends on people doing the opposite.
...
Already, legal marijuana in Colorado is following the grim economics of alcohol. Daily smokers make up only 23 percent of the state’s pot-smoking population, but they consume 67 percent of the reefer. That may have been true too when marijuana was illegal; maybe the number of daily stoners is neither rising nor falling. We’ll never know, because one problem with illegal markets is that you can’t track them. But we do know that the legal, for-profit marijuana business in Colorado is already mimicking the alcohol business in its dependence on heavy users. From a public-health standpoint, that’s troubling.
Is it just me or is this a weird way to put it? That the industry depends on heavy users? Is it meant to imply the industry will resist any public health efforts?
posted by Rainbo Vagrant at 4:25 PM on March 21, 2016
...
Already, legal marijuana in Colorado is following the grim economics of alcohol. Daily smokers make up only 23 percent of the state’s pot-smoking population, but they consume 67 percent of the reefer. That may have been true too when marijuana was illegal; maybe the number of daily stoners is neither rising nor falling. We’ll never know, because one problem with illegal markets is that you can’t track them. But we do know that the legal, for-profit marijuana business in Colorado is already mimicking the alcohol business in its dependence on heavy users. From a public-health standpoint, that’s troubling.
Is it just me or is this a weird way to put it? That the industry depends on heavy users? Is it meant to imply the industry will resist any public health efforts?
posted by Rainbo Vagrant at 4:25 PM on March 21, 2016
What's a "Westphalian system?" Could someone give me an overview?
"The Peace of Westphalia established the precedent of peaces established by diplomatic congress,[4][5] and a new system of political order in central Europe, later called Westphalian sovereignty, based upon the concept of co-existing sovereign states. Inter-state aggression was to be held in check by a balance of power. A norm was established against interference in another state's domestic affairs. As European influence spread across the globe, these Westphalian principles, especially the concept of sovereign states, became central to international law and to the prevailing world order.[6]"
The Peace of Westphalia
posted by Mister Bijou at 4:26 PM on March 21, 2016
"The Peace of Westphalia established the precedent of peaces established by diplomatic congress,[4][5] and a new system of political order in central Europe, later called Westphalian sovereignty, based upon the concept of co-existing sovereign states. Inter-state aggression was to be held in check by a balance of power. A norm was established against interference in another state's domestic affairs. As European influence spread across the globe, these Westphalian principles, especially the concept of sovereign states, became central to international law and to the prevailing world order.[6]"
The Peace of Westphalia
posted by Mister Bijou at 4:26 PM on March 21, 2016
For those in power the handy thing about criminalizing drug possession is that it’s a victimless crime. Any time you want to lock up someone you don’t like you can do it with a lie. Criminal asset forfeiture and the ever popular snagging-the-dealer’s-cash are the icing on the cake.
posted by Huplescat at 4:29 PM on March 21, 2016
posted by Huplescat at 4:29 PM on March 21, 2016
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posted by sammyo at 2:46 PM on March 21, 2016