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Drug War

Drugs and Politicians

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What do you call it when one person threatens violence against another unless he obeys? How about "extortion"? Consider this sentence from the New York Times on Christmas day: "Brandishing new data showing that the drug industry earns higher profits and pays lower taxes than most other ... [click for more]

Should the State Punish Drug Offenders?

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Republican presidential contender George W. Bush's refusal to deny cocaine use raises some fundamental, moral questions: Why should the state be punishing adults for drug offenses? Why shouldn't people be free to engage in self-destructive behavior as long as their conduct is peaceful? Why should anyone be put in jail, fined, or have his property confiscated for simply engaging ... [click for more]

Drug-Courier Profiles: Or, Why We Are All Guilty

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Police using drug-courier profiles are bringing the best of Third World authoritarianism to American airports and highways - with narcs constantly waiting to leap out and shake down any passenger or driver they think looks suspicious. And the definition of "suspicious" includes almost anyone over the age of four. The next time that you make a phone call after getting ... [click for more]

Time to Rethink the War on Drugs

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Eighty-four percent of Americans say that possible cocaine use in his 20s should not disqualify Texas governor George W. Bush from being president. But if a cocaine user can go on to be president, why should we put young people in jail for using cocaine? Maybe the voters' indifference to Bush's possible past indicates that ... [click for more]

Time to Curb SWAT Rampages

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SWAT teams are finally getting some overdue bad press. Usually the SWATers are starring in some TV pseudo-docudrama where they go smashing into someone's home and discover him with a dumb look and a bong. However, people are now beginning to ask questions about the wisdom of the routine use of massive police force. Prof. ... [click for more]

Drugs and George W. Bush

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Oh, I was like that when a lad! A shocking young scamp of a rover, I behaved like a regular cad; But that sort of thing is all over. I'm now a respectable chap And shine with a virtue resplendent And, therefore, I haven't a scrap Of sympathy with the defendant! Those words were penned mor than a century ago by the great satirist W.S. ... [click for more]

It’s Time to End the War on Drugs

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Hardly a week goes by without some mention in the media of the war on drugs. Record drug busts, money-laundering schemes, increasing drug abuse, gang warfare, thefts and robberies, political corruption, infringements on bank privacy, searches and seizures, confiscation of assets, arrests, convictions, and incarcerations. If the overall situation - both with drug usage ... [click for more]

Should the State Punish Drug Offenders?

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Republican presidential contender George W. Bush's refusal to deny cocaine use raises some fundamental, moral questions: Why should the state be punishing adults for drug offenses? Why shouldn't people be free to engage in self-destructive behavior as long as their conduct is peaceful? Why should anyone be put in jail, fined, or have his ... [click for more]

Booze Busting: The New Prohibition

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Sixty-odd years after the repeal of Prohibition, a new anti-alcohol fervor is sweeping the nation. The anti-alcohol mentality is leading to absurd practices: An elementary school in Brandon, Vermont, forced sixth-graders to undergo breath tests to see whether any of them had been consuming alcohol. As lawyer Richard Berman recently noted, "Last Christmas in Georgia, 13-year-old honor student Cosmo Zinkow was ... [click for more]

Policy Overdose

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From 1990 to 1996 heroin use among high-school seniors was up one hundred percent. Imagine how bad things would be if the war on drugs weren't succeeding! A report published in the journal Pediatrics attributes the increase to the falling price and higher purity of heroin, and to the belief that snorting or smoking heroin ... [click for more]

The Bipartisan Drug Warp

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President Clinton promised recently to cut drug use by 50 percent over the next 10 years with the more than $17 billion--nearly a 7 percent increase--he's asked from Congress. Predictably, Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich said the effort isn't enough. Those who hate partisan bickering might take comfort that each ... [click for more]

The Drug War vs. Public Health and Safety

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Many Americans recognize that the drug war has jailed hundreds of thousands of people whose sole crime was to possess substances that politicians did not approve of. However, this is only the start of the casualty list of the drug war. Many other Americans have suffered who themselves had little or nothing to do with narcotics. Foolish drug regulations are ... [click for more]
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