Marijuana Prohibition and the War on Drugs: It Doesn't Make Cents

What is wrong with the War on Drugs?

Six recent reports - from the American Enterprise Institute, Citizens Against Government Waste, Taxpayers for Common Sense, The Sentencing Project, a Harvard University economics professor, and the U.S. Department of Justice - point out the failures and steep costs of marijuana prohibition and call for a new approach.



I. Its almost certainly unconstitutional: 
Unlawful searches and seizures are not permitted - unless cops are searching for drugs, which are not legal property and therefore not protected. No self-incrimination - unless it's a drug test. No cruel and unusual punishment - unless you were caught with cocaine. And so our two greatest bulwarks against tyranny, checks and balances and the Bill of Rights, are out the drug war window.  More than 700,000 Americans were arrested on marijuana charges last year, and more than 5 million Americans have been arrested for marijuana offenses in the past decade. Almost 90 percent of these arrests are for simple possession, not trafficking or sale. This is a misapplication of the criminal sanction that invites government into areas of our private lives that are inappropriate and wastes valuable law enforcement resources that should be focused on serious and violent crime.

II.  It is not working:

This little seven-leafer causes us all so much consternation.

Credit: legalizationofmarijuana

Copyright: www.legalizationofmarijuana.com