Drug War

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 ...

Drugs and Politicians

by Sheldon Richman December 1, 1999

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 ...

Should the State Punish Drug Offenders?

by Jacob G. Hornberger November 1, 1999

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 ...

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

by James Bovard November 1, 1999

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 ...