A very long and detailed article - well worth reading

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/17438347/how_america_lost_the_war_on_drugs

Rolling Stone Magazine.

How America Lost the War on Drugs

After Thirty-Five Years and $500 Billion, Drugs Are as Cheap and Plentiful 
as Ever: An Anatomy of a Failure.
Ben Wallace-Wells Nov 27, 2007


Original noted on http://www.dvorak.org/blog/

"This story is quite a detailed account of how literally every aspect of the 
drug war has not only failed, but made things worse while looting our 
coffers and turning cops, the military and the judiciary into thugs and in 
some cases, accomplices."


"All told, the United States has spent an estimated $500 billion to fight 
drugs - with very little to show for it. Cocaine is now as cheap as it was 
when Escobar died and more heavily used. Methamphetamine, barely a presence 
in 1993, is now used by 1.5 million Americans and may be more addictive than 
crack. We have nearly 500,000 people behind bars for drug crimes - a 
twelvefold increase since 1980 - with no discernible effect on the drug 
traffic. Virtually the only success the government can claim is the decline 
in the number of Americans who smoke marijuana - and even on that count, it 
is not clear that federal prevention programs are responsible. In the course 
of fighting this war, we have allowed our military to become pawns in a 
civil war in Colombia and our drug agents to be used by the cartels for 
their own ends. Those we are paying to wage the drug war have been accused 
of ­human-rights abuses in Peru, Bolivia and Colombia. In Mexico, we are 
now ­repeating many of the same mistakes we have made in the Andes."

-----------------------------------------
Slatts

On Sun, 2 Dec 2007 16:47:44 -0000, "Sla#s" 
wrote:

>A very long and detailed article - well worth reading
>
>http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/17438347/how_america_lost_the_war_on_drugs
>
>Rolling Stone Magazine.
>
>How America Lost the War on Drugs
>
>After Thirty-Five Years and $500 Billion, Drugs Are as Cheap and Plentiful 
>as Ever: An Anatomy of a Failure.
>Ben Wallace-Wells Nov 27, 2007
>
>
>Original noted on http://www.dvorak.org/blog/
>
>"This story is quite a detailed account of how literally every aspect of the 
>drug war has not only failed, but made things worse while looting our 
>coffers and turning cops, the military and the judiciary into thugs and in 
>some cases, accomplices."

The drug war was meant to be the revenge of Tricky Dicky Nixon on the
counterculture.

It turned out to be his revenge on the whole USA instead.

Well done, Dicky, you left quite a legacy. Although it wouldn't have
worked if Americans weren't suckers for it.

Svenne