The War on Drugs

Posted November 20, 2009

It’s time to get high on common sense – The war on drugs

Grow-ops, meth-labs and all the other slangs used in identifying a burgeoning drug trade are simply no match for conventional policing. Those who participate in the illegal drug trade no longer fit the criminal profile and those who indulge in drugs no longer fit the societal stereotype. Drugs have permeated every level of society and every nook and cranny of our legal system.

Politicians will tell you that the only way to combat drugs is with more policing, more judges and more laws. Building a police state will not win this war nor will lax sentences for offenders and criminals. Our justice system simply does not punish the crime nor understand the impact of drugs on our society.

Drugs have become a major player in youth crime, gun violence, they have transformed responsible citizens into criminal opportunists, created sinister racial stereotypes, infested and corrupted many branches of our judicial system, helped in the spread of virulent diseases, destroyed families (i.e. financially and emotionally) and ultimately have had a huge cost on society.

What many don`t realize is that the economic viability of drugs has impacted the very institutions that purport to protect us. Citizens today are becoming more and more disillusioned with government secrecy, corruption and ill-intentioned propaganda. Let me give you an example. Many believe that the war in Afghanistan is a fight for democracy, but in fact, Afghanistan feeds the economy of war, weapons and chaos for elitist greed and sinister intentions. President Karzai is a well placed political puppet whose family is making billions of dollars from the lucrative drug trade in that country. Wars are expensive and Black Money still flows like water in war torn regions such as this. It has been said that drugs from Afghanistan are benefiting military and intelligence organizations and are helping to fund the perpetual war on terror. Non-conventional news organizations are saying that the drug filled caskets of dead soldiers help satisfy the demand for drugs in North American and provide the aforementioned organizations the resources to continue to indulge in the “War on Terror”. If the latter information is credible then winning the “War on Drugs” would certainly be more difficult.

The real question to ask about our commitment to resolving the war on drugs is the following, “Is government with us or against us?”

Solutions:

Canada as a nation has yet to show global leadership. Harper is just starting to loosen the chains on Anglo supremacist thinking. While we have demonstrated our willingness to be good neighbours and quasi-conservative idealists we have not put our ass on the line on issues of global concern (i.e. drugs, aids, poverty, environment and war).

Could illegal drugs benefit society? The underlying premise is that drugs are here to stay. Pharmaceutical companies have turned conventional drugs into cash cows and made financial markets and shareholders trillions of dollars in the past century. Could the same case be made for illegal drugs?

Simply put, legalizing illegal drugs will fix many societal and economic problems. By dispensing these hallucinogenic forces into a controlled environment we may actually curb their use and be better able to track their consequences.

If a bank can question and trace a $5,000.00 cash transaction made by a depositor, then why are our governments incapable of identifying how trillions of dollars of drug money flow through the global economy? By growing and creating these drugs on home ground we will create industry, creates jobs, collect tax revenue and most importantly, protect the vulnerable, decrease violence, protect individuals who are incapable of helping themselves and set new standards for fighting the war on drugs. Canada should position itself as a leader in this regard because the environment and all the other global issues are secondary when it comes to dealing with a sick society – sick in all senses of the word!

Thank you,
Joseph Pede