Drug War

The Drug War’s Assault on Liberty

by Jacob G. Hornberger March 1, 2001

ROBERT DOWNEY JR. is a perfect example of the war on drug’s tremendous assault on liberty. Downey is the famous Hollywood actor who has a drug problem. To punish him for being a drug addict, the state has arrested him, prosecuted him, incarcerated him, released him, and arrested him anew. The state won’t leave ...

Fox Should Lead Way on Drug Legalization

by Jacob G. Hornberger March 1, 2001

Another Latin American president is talking about ending the war on drugs. First, there is Uruguay's president, Jorge Batlle, who openly calls for drug legalization. And now there is Vicente Fox, Mexico's newly elected president. Last Monday, (March 19) in an article entitled "Fox Talks Drug Legalization," the Associated Press reported, "In an interview ...

Fox Should End Drug War

by Jacob G. Hornberger February 1, 2001

"When President Bush travels to Mexico this week, Mexican President Fox has the opportunity to help lead the world out of one of its most immoral and destructive wars -- the war on drugs. The drug war, as Fox well knows, has produced nothing but failure, death, destruction, and corruption within the Mexican government. ...

A Nation of Children

by Sheldon Richman February 1, 2001

President Clinton took some flak in the closing weeks of his administration when he told a Rolling Stone interviewer, “I think that most small amounts of marijuana have been decriminalized in some places and should be.” The negative reaction was so strong that a Clinton spokesman said that the president was not ...

Let’s Retire the Drug War

by Jacob G. Hornberger January 1, 2001

Retired army general Barry McAfree has announced that he is now retiring from his position as America’s drug czar. If only he would take the war on drugs with him. Of all the domestic wars that the U.S. government has waged in the last several decades, the war on drugs has got to be the most immoral and destructive of ...

DARE’s Dying Gasp

by James Bovard September 1, 2000

The nations most popular drug education program may be on the ropes. The Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program is increasingly being tossed out of school systems as the evidence of its failure to deter drug use becomes overwhelming. DARE was the brainchild of Los Angeles Police Department chief Daryl Gates, who launched the program in the early 1980s. More ...

Crime Creation

by Richard O. Rowland August 1, 2000

THE HAWAII TAX on cigarettes is the highest in the nation; $1 per package, $10 per carton. That’s after the federal government applies its tax. If you want to display your protest to a mindless drivel of government laws and rules, one way to do it is to smoke. So, cigarette smoking is appealing to teenagers, many of whom are ...

The War on Drugs Rots America

by Sheldon Richman July 1, 2000

President Clinton may have found a legacy, and the Republicans in Congress are backing him. His legacy? Taking the United States into the civil war raging in Colombia by an injection of $1.3 billion in money and military equipment, including combat helicopters, not to mention hundreds of American pilots and "advisors." And why is ...

Clinton’s Coming Colombia Catastrophe

by James Bovard May 1, 2000

The Senate will soon consider President Clinton's proposed $1.6 billion package to bankroll the government of Colombia's war against leftist guerillas. The aid windfall purports to help staunch the flow of drugs from Colombia. But there is no reason to expect further U.S. anti-drug aid to be any more effective than past aid. Even ...

Crack Down in the War on Drugs … or End It?

by Jacob G. Hornberger February 1, 2000

In a proposal termed SABRE (Substance Abuse Resistance Effort), Virginia Republican governor James Gilmore III is asking the Virginia legislature to get tough in the state's war on drugs. The governor's proposals include harsher penalties for drug users and drug sellers. No one, including Governor Gilmore, would argue that the decades-long ...

Let’s Retire the Drug War

by Jacob G. Hornberger January 1, 2000

RETIRED ARMY GENERAL Barry McAfree has announced that he is now retiring from his position as America’s drug czar. If only he would take the war on drugs with him. Of all the domestic wars that the U.S. government has waged in the last several decades, the war on drugs has got to be the most immoral and destructive of ...

Crack Down in the War on Drugs… or End It?

by Jacob G. Hornberger January 1, 2000

In a proposal termed SABRE (Substance Abuse Resistance Effort), Virginia Republican governor James Gilmore III is asking the Virginia legislature to get tough in the state's war on drugs. The governor's proposals include harsher penalties for drug users and drug sellers. No one, including Governor Gilmore, would argue that the decades-long war on drugs has ...