Drug War

DEA Snake Oil

by Jacob G. Hornberger August 18, 2006

Don’t ever suggest that federal bureaucrats are not smart. Take, for instance, the DEA, the federal agency that has the responsibility of waging the war on drugs, a war that has obviously failed to achieve its objective after 30 years of warfare, not to mention all the collateral violence that the drug war has ...

The Drug War’s Immorality and Abject Failure

by Anthony Gregory July 1, 2006

If the idea is to create a drug-free America, then we can safely say that after hundreds of billions of dollars spent, millions of arrests, and decades of escalating police and military efforts, the war on drugs is a complete failure. The reason is clear if you think about it. The ...

Free Cory Maye

by Sheldon Richman May 1, 2006

Where are all the celebrities and human-rights activists? Where are Mike Farrell and Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon? Bianca Jagger, call your office! I watch cable news a lot, but I have yet to see one word about death-row inmate Cory Maye. Why not? You haven’t heard of Cory Maye? Few people have, despite the best ...

Conservative Nonsense in the War on Drugs

by Jacob G. Hornberger February 17, 2006

Conservatives never cease to fascinate me, given their professed devotion to “freedom, free enterprise, and limited government” and their ardent support of policies that violate that principle. One of the most prominent examples is the drug war. In fact, if you’re ever wondering whether a person is a conservative or a libertarian, a good litmus-test question is, How do ...

The Most Absurdities per Kilo

by James Bovard February 1, 2006

The war on drugs has produced more absurdities per kilo than any other federal policy. Drug warriors have had high-profile belly flop after belly flop. Yet most of the media and the vast majority of American politicians continue to treat this war with deference, if not reverence. One of the biggest farces of the George W. Bush-era war on drugs ...

More Drug-War Victims

by Sheldon Richman December 28, 2005

Opponents of the so-called war on drugs (it’s a war on people) have long cautioned that enforcement of victimless-crime laws is by nature a mockery of justice. We have a vivid example in Cory Maye. You haven’t heard of Cory Maye? Few people have, despite the best efforts of blogger-journalist Radley Balko (TheAgitator.com). Maye, 25, ...

Treating Sniffles with a Jail Term

by Doug Bandow November 9, 2005

Drug abuse is never-ending but ever-changing. Periodically public officials warn that the use of heroin, LSD, PCP, cocaine, crack, and now methamphetamines is sweeping America. Eventually each crisis ebbs, only to be followed by another well-publicized addictive fad. Unfortunately, in each case tabloid-like publicity generates increased pressure on authorities to ...

Muddle at the Supreme Court over Medical Marijuana

by Sheldon Richman June 20, 2005

When the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against medical-marijuana users, many critics of the decision thought the six-justice majority failed to show compassion for severely ill people. But the Supreme Court doesn’t sit to dispense compassion. It’s supposed to ensure that Congress respects the Constitution and, by extension, individual ...

Medical Marijuana Is Not a Libertarian Cause

by Sheldon Richman March 1, 2005

“Medicine by regulation is better than medicine by referendum.” U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer said that during arguments in the much-watched medical-marijuana case, Ashcroft v. Raich. Breyer, in other words, prefers that any change in the government’s prohibition of marijuana use be accomplished by an appeal to federal drug-enforcement authorities rather than by a public vote in the ...

Ashcroft v. Raich: Whither Federalism?

by George Leef March 1, 2005

Article I, Section 8, of the U.S. Constitution provides that “Congress shall have the power to prohibit citizens from consuming or ingesting any substance that it deems hazardous to the health, safety, or morals of the people.” On the basis of that grant of authority, Congress has carefully investigated the effects of numerous substances and has chosen to ban ...

The War on Pain Sufferers

by Sheldon Richman February 14, 2005

A good deal of air is exhaled over the state of medical care in America. Open state worshipers want a complete government takeover, while a more subtle band of state worshipers, those who call themselves advocates of limited government, propose instead to use “market incentives” to accomplish their aims. What ...

Gun Control and the War on Drugs

by Anthony Gregory February 1, 2005

Many opponents of gun control support the war on drugs, and many critics and reformers of America's drug laws tend to believe in gun control. Conservatives tend to fall into the first category and liberals into the second. In reality, these two issues are more similar than many people might think. In both cases -- laws that restrict which guns people ...