This has all been a boon to the penal industry and to lawyers who defend and prosecute dealers, but it has not made a dent in the availability of drugs or drug use. With billions at stake every year in the drug war, however, it is going to take the hardliners, the ones with impeccable credentials, to reverse strategy. It was President Richard M. Nixon who opened the door to new relations with communist China. Interdiction, for example, has proven to be a joke. Treatment is eight times more cost-effective than long sentences in removing cocaine from the market.
Drunk drivers cause far more accidents that stoned drivers.
The war on drugs, like the war in Vietnam, never had achievable goals. Drugs are always going to be with us, and what we ought to be doing is finding ways to minimize the harm they cause individuals and society. We should be talking about legalizing certain drugs, selling them and taxing just like we do cigarettes and alcohol, standardizing content and regulating distribution. You can put the Peter Halls out of business by taking over the business. He's gotten an amendment passed on the Senate bankruptcy bill that would double the mandatory minimum to 10 years for having 500 grams of powder cocaine.