Wednesday, November 12, 2008

War on Drugs. BUST?!


Does the war on drugs work? In 2005 it was estimated that the government spent 12.1 billion dollars on drug control alone. They spent an addition 30.1 billion incarcerating drug law offenders. Is this a waste of our tax money? Could they better be spending it on our economy? Do you think marijuana should be legal? What actions do you think the government could take to help the war on drugs actually work?
Carter Boyce (9:00)

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

There is only one thing in my book lower than a drug lord and I won't go into that. These creeps feed on our children and turn decent people into thieves and killers. They have no morals and no standards. They kill innocent children and are the cause of many other deaths because of what they sell.

Even a small difference in getting drugs off the street is a good thing. So no, I would say it is not a waste of tax-payers dollars. I would love to see more but there are so many ways of sneaking it past authorities that this is a never ending battle.

I am all for protecting our children and whatever it takes in tax dollars to slow it down, I am willing to help with.

I believe to help curtail pain and to help with AID victims marijuana should be made legal, but for those purposes only.

If it was up to me, I would have all drug lords and dealers put away never to see sunshine or sunset again. Unfortunately that is illegal.

English student said...

i dont think some drugs are as harmful as most people make them out to be. if you could go buy a pack of joints like you could a pack of cigarrettes do you really think people would go to drug dealers especially if it was still illegal to buy it from them? i dont think they would. other drugs on the other hand are an entirely different story. cocaine and meth for example, bad life ruining things. those should stay illegal at all costs and fortuneatley they probably will. in my opinion it should be ok to use if it grows out of the ground. and isn't synthasized. of course cocain comes from a plant but its when you start synthisizing it that it gets more dangerous. its kinda like weaponizing anthrax.
Jesse Meyer

English student said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
English student said...

I think that the war on drugs is failing and is a waste of money. I think that the money they use on trying to control drugs should be cut back and more money should be put into intervention programs. I think that the money should be used for the people who want to get better. I dont think marajuana is a bad drug and i think it should be leagal. It would bring down the cost when controling drugs.

Anonymous said...

I would first like to disagree with Pam on one thing, these drug lords don't turn people into thieves and killers. People undergo a decision making process and choose their own path. If your ignorant enough to fall into drugs so heavily that your way of life is stealing and killing, that is no ones fault but your own. That said, stop wasting money on drug control. It's not working. Marijuana should only be legal for medicinal use, but you have crooked doctors who will easily bend the use. There's nothing scary about the government, that's why things don't manage the people. When I was little and did something bad my parents whooped my ass, you think I ever did that again...nope. But our government can't be scary because that would erase the thought of how good we have it here in America.

Anonymous said...

Pot should be legalized and heavily taxed in my opinion.I also think the so called war on drugs as it is now is a complete joke.I think its a source of unaccountable funding that politicians pilfer at will.If they want to wage a war it should be on drug users.Drugs like any commodity only sell if theres a demand for them and if you stop the demand for drugs the supply will soon go elsewhere.I think the billions wasted on the "war" would be better spent on rehab facilities,and aftercare services for those that are already casualties of this so called war

Anonymous said...

I think to an extent the war on drugs is working. However, if you go into inner cities in towns like Chicago or New York City, or even L.A., drug trafficing is everywhere. People are killed every day because of money owed or perhaps drugs stolen.

Police are never going to be able to stop drugs completely, but I think that they make an OKAY effort. However, people could help by reporting drug trafficking if they hear of it.

Anonymous said...

I don't think the war on drugs in necessarily a waste of money or time. I don't know any real statistics that show a difference within a country with drug control and then without it. I would think that the controlling has helped with crime thats related to drugs. I really don't think that government should have any interference with our economy so I'm against having them try to spend money on the economy. But I think that marijuana should be legal for medical purpose. It seems like when laws or rules are set against something that problem just gets worse.
To really help the war on drugs is making thsoe drugs unwanted and not needed. When you stop people from demanding those things, then supply will reduce and drugs won't be as big of a problem. So how do you stop the demand of drugs...I have no idea! (Sorry I'm not much help on this one Carter!)

Anonymous said...

Ok you open the box, I think the drug war is a way for the government to spend money on drug and ship them into the U.S. and have their own people sell them to the armed serves. When I was in the Army I was to help off load a airplane that came on to the base I was at. After I was done doing what they told me to I had some R and R. I took my money and ran off to my coke dealer where the same bag that I was taking off the plan was. He had one of them it was a kilo of cocaine that the U.S. brought in. So is the war working? That deepens on your view if your are the government yes. As for the people we are foolish to think that drug will go away. I do not think that we should just make pot legal but all drugs. Most of the people that I know would have never started doing drugs if they were legal. I know this bring up new question. But if we look at other counties and their drug policy they have no problem with their people get high on whatever they want. It might kill some people, but drug do that already. If you ask me I think that thinning the herd of weak willed individuals is not a bad thing but needed to keep control of the population of the plant. If we made drug legal we could tax the crap out of it and pull are self out of det. Then we could do some good and stop bitch about being in det.

English student said...

Let's talk about the people that's behind the MASSIVE buisness we call America. The home of the brave (which mean muderers & thieves) The home of the free which means (only 4 them in position of power) & not Us the citizens which is another name for (controled slaves in America)America believe in big buisness and that means power, drugs, inmates, babies, guns, murder & money. How ever these things come about on the soil is still benefitual to the people in control of every large massive wide stretched out body of land on earth & WHO EVER BRINGS PEACE 4 A SHORT AMOUNT OF TIME THE BIBLE SAY THAT COULD WELL BE THE ANTI-CHRIST... classmate T ware

English student said...

Think about it is drugs really an issue here? I feel that we have other things to worry about! I mean seriously it is a waste of time. People have choices that they have to make in life...No i do not like drugs but we can only do so much because people are going to do what they want to do regardless. I say spend the money wisely help people that want to be helped!!!
*Joyful*

Anonymous said...

i'm not that aware of the war on drugs, but i have to admit i've seen or heard no change about drugs in the last couple of years. so therefore, it's obviously not worth our tax money. i think if the government could actually get these people selling drugs it would be worth it though, i agree strongly with pam. someone cna be the nicest of people and then they have pot once and they're suddenly someone you don't want to be around. drugs ruin lives, it's proven. i still can't see why people would want to ruin their life. it just doesnt make sense to me.

hell no marijuna shouldn't be legal! you know how stupid that would be?! this country would go mad. keep that stuff for medical purposes only. that stuf is not only addictive but highly dangerous too.

the governmen just needs to keep doing their job and try to stamp out drugs all together. i'm convinced that no drugs equals happy america.

English student said...

the war on drugs can be best described like a parent telling their child not to do something. most likely that child will end up doing whatever it is that the parent told them not to do, its human nature to rebel against the higher power. the tax money used to fight the war on drugs could be better used to fix the economy. marijuana could be used to give the country a little extra money if it was legalized and then regulated liked alcohol or tobacco. and after the initial surge of the legalization of the drug the use would probably slow down, since there isn't much of a thrill in doing something if your not gonna get busted for doing it.
Derek Diesburg

Anonymous said...

When it is put that way it does seem like a waste of money. I don't think necessarily getting caught with marijuana is going to make anyone stop using it, even after going to prison or paying fines. I think that legalizing marijuana would be a step towards making it a smaller problem. I think the focus should be put more on meth, cocaine, and other drugs that are more deadly and can affect your life. Meth and other strong drug users can be dangerous when they're high, because they're paranoid and sometimes kill people to get supplies. The drugs slowly eat at their bodies until they are nothing but a skeleton. Most of the people who use marijuana are just normal people who want to escape their normal life for awhile. I don't think they're hurting anyone. If it was legal, the government could focus their time on more important issues.

Anonymous said...

That is definitely a lot of money being spent when the government isnt making that big of a difference at stoping drugs in our country, but I think it is money well spent. Drugs are always going to exist and there is nothing any one can do to stop that, no matter how hard you try. However we still need to fight it; murder will always exist too but does that mean we should just give up and let people go on killing people as they please with no punishment, absolutely not! Drugs are wrong and we need to do something about it. If we stop fighting drugs they will only become worse then they are now. Every person associated with drugs that is taken down by the police is a little success and bunch of little successes together makes a big difference!

Anonymous said...

If you think that spending millions of dollars to put drug offenders in jail is a waste of money then ask yourself would you rather have them on the streets? The money that is spend on these drug offenders is to help them make a better life. Some people do change and i think people deserve a second chance. Marijuana isn't the concern of the war on drugs. If you want to make a system to rid the nation of drugs and drug dealers dont you think that they would need to start with getting them off the streets?

English student said...

I do think it is a waste of time and money. All that's being put into it is only hindering a small fraction of the drug trafficking that goes on. If someone gets involved in that, then it's their fault. Marijuana should definitely be legalized; I don't smoke it or anything else but legalize it and tax it high. It would give a serious boost to the economy.

Brittany Clapper 9:00

English student said...

I think the war on drugs works for the most part. If the government was not pushing against drugs, there would be a lot more people out there doing them. I think that our tax money does not fully go to waste on the war against drugs, but some of it does. Marijuana should be legalized because it is not that harmful of a drug, and people do not become violent like you see with alcohol. If our government legalized pot and put a huge tax on it, then they would make a ton of money. There is nothing really much more the government can do to help better the war against drugs.

Kevin Dozier 9:00

English student said...

the war on drugs has been and always will be a never ending battle. spending all that money is a bad and a good thing. first of all like i said it will never stop drug use and trafficing. But it does slow it down and to an extent keep it away from places it shouldnt be such as schools. as far as marijuana goes, there are 2 to that also. for one it really isnt any worse than alcohol and everyone know how popular that is, but at the same time people say that it is a "gateway drug", and i do believe that, if it was legal and people could readily get it, i think there would be a bigger problem with other (worse) drugs.
randy bustle

Anonymous said...

I think that the war on drugs is a never ending battle and yes it's working even though there are still people out there that choose to use and sell drugs. No I don't think that tax money is being wasted because there are still pleny of adults and children that need to be educated about the effects drugs have on people's lives. I think that marijuana should only be legal for medical use. I just think that the goverment should keep promoting any program possible to educate people on how bad drugs really are and the short and long term effects the have on a person and their family.

English student said...

i think more of the money spent on war on drugs should go other places, but whos really going to listen. no matter how hard people try and fight angainst drugs, people are still going to do them no matter the consiquence. i say if they want to do drugs let them, its there life not yours.
colin h.

Anonymous said...

i think that the war on drugs work to a point. when secuirty gets more tighter and tighter the people get smarter also. It is just like rasicm its something that is extremely hard to control. i dont think it is a waste of the tax money, it is a problem but we dont have a effiecent way to stop it.

English student said...

yes and no it just depens how you look at it.



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