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Ear to the Ground

Drugs Are Sick

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Posted on Jun 24, 2009
Drugs
welt.de

This is what 5.8 tons of cocaine looks like, as captured by Mexican forces with the help of the U.S. Homeland Security Department.

U.N. drug chief Antonio Maria Costa believes drug use should be treated as an illness and not criminalized. Costa says international law enforcement should shift focus to traffickers rather than users, an intriguing (look at the U.S. prison population) but problematic (look at Mexico’s drug war death toll) strategy.

The Guardian:

Drug use should be treated more as an illness than a crime, the head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime said as he claimed a decline in the production of cocaine and heroin worldwide.

“People who take drugs need medical help, not criminal retribution,” said Antonio Maria Costa, director of UNODC, calling for universal access to drug treatment. Since people with serious drug problems provided the bulk of drug demand, treating this problem was one of the best ways of shrinking the market.

His call for international law enforcement to target traffickers rather than users came as it was announced that there is a worldwide growth in synthetic drugs.

Drug law reformers saw Costa’s words as a significant sign in the debate over the “war on drugs”. However, he said that legalisation was not the answer.

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By Rodger Lemonde, July 17, 2009 at 1:44 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

Legalize drugs, talk the medical greed heads at big pharma and HMO’s screw people there and use the gigantic profits to make health care affordable for people with real health problems.
They would think it was a license to steal until they made recreational drugs to pricey for anyone to get addicted. No big profit on street drugs would bring our prison population down to capacity.

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By hippie4ever, June 26, 2009 at 7:50 pm Link to this comment

Coloradokari, is the answer “D”?

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By hippie4ever, June 26, 2009 at 7:14 pm Link to this comment

This is just so much drivel coming from the Puritanical Society Against Pleasure, a.k.a. the Republican/Democratic party; Catholic & Mormon Churches. The people who want to take your money and tell you what to think.

Getting high is a universal pursuit, from pollinating bees to berry-eating birds all the way up to man smoking cannabis, tobacco; drinking alcohol, taking other substances. If you’re Peruvian sure it’s a few leaves of coca or a snort of something stronger; if you’re Irish it’s Guinness; whatever is the custom. I know I paint better & often solve problems after some really good outdoor grown sativa; yeah I know the Christians want to demonise me for that & everything else I stand for.

Whatever gets them through the night; me, I love to shift states of consciousness & clear out the cobwebs from time-to-time. It never gets in the way of anything else. And how many cannabis users have you seen living on the street?

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By Anarcissie, June 25, 2009 at 9:00 am Link to this comment

It seems to me drug use should be a private matter unless something done by drug users or providers, as such, impinges on the lives of others, in which case whatever social pressures are brought to bear should be as constructive and non-coercive as possible.  Doesn’t that sound like common sense?  That’s why they (our lords and masters and their brilliant advisors, like Antonio Maria Costa) will try that method last.

We should, of course, insist that purveyors of drugs state fully and exactly what it is they’re purveying.  No more talcum in the heroin.

I am somewhat dubious about full legalization in a capitalist world, however, since some addictive drugs have already become major vehicles of profit.  There needs to be some limit on the propaganda used, lest millions of not-so-smart people be inveigled into situations they can’t handle.  One thing I’ve thought of is holding advertising sellers responsible for the ill effects of what they advertise, since they are actively and profitably advocating use.  That would eliminate not only propagandizing for opiates and so forth, but also for tobacco and alcohol, and put a nice big crimp in some of the more damaging activities of big pharma as well.

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By Night-Gaunt, June 25, 2009 at 8:24 am Link to this comment

“Drug law reformers saw Costa’s words as a significant sign in the debate over the “war on drugs”. However, he said that legalization was not the answer.”

Wow! Have the answer “legalization” then toss it out again. A loser half-way to nowhere. Till they learn from their mistakes the failures get larger and longer with no end in sight. Isn’t 94 years enough?

The growth of the prison industry, fines, confiscation, tax money, police/military and erosion of our civil liberties are a win for them. The state is heavily addicted to the ‘drug war’ even as pharmaceutical companies make a killing with their own drug war, only we are the ones assaulted by their legal drugs. [Not FDA approved either.]

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By coloradokarl, June 25, 2009 at 5:02 am Link to this comment

{.......} Prey on the weakest of society, they use the newest technology, have large orginizations and are armed with the best weapons. They are in “bed’ with the judges and the politicians. They derive their wealth from the “War on Drugs”

A} Taliban
B} Drug Dealers
C} Law Enforcement
D} All of the Above

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By Howie Bledsoe, June 25, 2009 at 4:39 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

China, for example, treats its addicts as sick, rather than criminal. Addicts undergo a free stint in a clinic until the doctors deem the person healthy enough to join the world again.  Dealers are treated as criminals, as it should be.  The US has the biggest criminal population in the world, a good percentage being drug users, and a good percentage of them, minority groups.

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By richard east, June 24, 2009 at 10:02 pm Link to this comment

If only Obama had not received all that pharmaceutical money during his campaign… or most Congressmen/women and senators during their campaigns for that matter.

(sigh)

Sadly, boggs is quite correct: The “war on drugs” is big business, just like the “war on terror.” Effective or Rational?... no. Profitable?... extremely.

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By boggs, June 24, 2009 at 9:50 pm Link to this comment

“An intriguing strategy”, like its never been considered, contemplated or debated. They wanted to fill the prisons with all the black and brown skin young men they could cramm into them. Its big business. A big part of our CAPITALISM.
They don’t really want to destroy all those big profits, hell don’t you imagine there are some big pay-offs from those drug lords.

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By samosamo, June 24, 2009 at 12:41 pm Link to this comment

““His call for international law enforcement to target traffickers rather than users came as it was announced that there is a worldwide growth in synthetic drugs.”“
***************************************************

Now, I ask you, why would such an agenda work? It won’t. Case in point, just suppose that the accompaning picture with this post is really a huge cache of illegal drugs, would you really believe that much illegal drugs would be destroyed or would the political and law enforcement units think it MORE profitable to ’ just say that it will be destroyed’ but turn around and sell it as would have been for a take for their own profit? Remember, most any government institution today is likely a criminally infested institution out for one thing, MONEY.

And answer me this, when is the last time that a drug cache such as this was verified destroyed?
It would take a lot to convince me that this particular batch will still find its way into the streets illegally.

Thus, I say legalization of certain drugs that are less dangerous than alcohol, absolutely need to be legalized.

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By Smoove, June 24, 2009 at 9:21 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

I sincerely hope Washington is listening because now is the time to move policy towards decriminalization, regulation, and taxation.

The war on drugs has been a disaster in every sense of the word. Our current drug policy is akin to the concept of double jeopardy; if the drugs don’t take(ruin) your life, the government will.

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