end prohibition/decriminalize drugs

Drugs are bad. This is not a pro-marijuana post. I know the medical literature and how damaging the substance is. Most other drugs are worse.

But criminalizing them is worse. Currently the world is (rightly) upset at Gadaffi for making war on his own people. A government should not make war on its people-- so who is the enemy in the 'war on drugs'?

Drug abuse is a medical problem. Why do we try to treat it with the criminal justice system?

If you are a believer in small government, or in market forces, then how do you justify using immense police powers to regulate one of the largest markets in the US (in terms of sales)? The market is real; criminalizing it is only an extreme form of market regulation.

What in the Constitution gives the government the right to tell people what they can or cannot put in their bodies? What they can or cannot eat, drink, smoke?

Look also at the harm caused by criminalization. Organized crime was created in the US during the alcohol prohibition. The ongoing criminalization of drugs provides a major source of income for criminal gangs, which is then a gateway for its members into serious crime. Not to mention the utter destruction of societies south of our border.

Criminalization of intravenous drugs means that the addicts have a much harder time seeking treatment, making it much harder to get them off the drug. It also leads to needle-sharing and other risky practices which increase the spread of disease. Why should you care? Because it is our police, our emergency medical techs, our heros, who get infections when they have to go rescue some junkie. Happened to a friend of mine.

Many studies show that intravenous drug users contribute greatly to the spread of HIV-- which costs you money, because we all pay to treat this.
And guess what, immunocomprimised people (i.e. HIV positive) who lead unstable lives and engage in risky behavior (i.e. drug users) are much more likely to pick up new diseases, say from animals, which would otherwise not be able to pass into humans.

But back to the US. My grandfather, a admiral in WWII, spent the 50s and 60s fighting the evil that was the soviet union. One of their worst crimes was how they locked up so many of their citizens. The US today jails a larger percentage of its citizens than the russians did, and the majority of these are drug 'crimes' (i.e. possession).

If the purpose of the government is to secure the rights of the people, how can that same government keep over 1% of the population in jail for 'crimes' with no victim other than the perp?

What is the other argument for criminalization? Ah, yes, that drugs are wrong (agreed), and the law is an expression of the morality of the people. The problem with this is that our last three presidents have all used drugs; our current president has even admitted it. We are not talking about a fringe behavior here.

Look, I just agreed that drugs are wrong. But taking them isn't immoral, just stupid. Addiction is not a moral failing, it is a medical issue.

Prohibition of drugs is against the principles of the constitution/declaration of independence. It is expensive. It is extremely harmful to society. And it doesn't work. Time to put the madness to an end