This soldier in the war on drugs doesn’t seem to be putting up much of a fight

I’ve often said that I did my part as a soldier in the war on drugs, but they just kept coming, and I finally had to surrender and stop doing them. Which is part of why I was a little inspired to find out that the White House – although it will probably never end its war on terror – is allegedly ending its war on drugs. Yes, this is old news, but I think it kind of got buried what with that little global economic collapse and health plan business of the last few months. This NYT piece about A. Thomas McLellan, Deputy Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, seems to be getting a little traction the last couple of days though, and I find it inspiring that the current administration seems to be taking a radical new approach to the drug problem in America. You don’t have to be a genius (or a conspiracy theorist) to figure out that there are a lot of powerful people (including US intelligence services) who want the drug trade to thrive. So it makes sense that the current administration’s strategy is no more focused on stopping the drugs at the source than previous administrations, but is instead focused on dealing with the realities of the problems that drugs create once they’re here. It’s been widely acknowledged for some time that the biggest enemies of the war on drugs were American women (especially black women) and that filling jails with drug addicts is ultimately not a solution. This Drug Policy Alliance article for instance, points out that almost 80% of the US female prison population is serving time for drug-related offenses. If you’re interested in how the war on drugs has affected our culture and you haven’t seen PBS Frontlines’ Drug Wars, you should check it out, it’s fairly balanced in its approach. Maybe even too gentle, but who wants to end up like Gary Webb, right?

The ongoing cost of the war on drugs: