Presidential Candidates Slam the Drug War

At Tuesday night's third-party debate on C-SPAN, Larry King asked the four candidates a question that neither Romney nor Obama has been willing to address: "How does the war on drugs affect Americans?"

Three out of the four candidates agreed the drug war does more harm than good -- calling for not just a public health approach to drug policy but also legal regulation of currently-illicit drugs like marijuana.

Former Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson of the Justice Party, former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson of the Libertarian Party and Green Party candidate Jill Stein spent more than ten minutes discussing the failures of drug prohibition and the urgent need for reforms. It's rare to see such truth and honesty from politicians talking about the failed drug war. All three candidates received rousing applause -- so you might be wondering, why don't more politicians speak out against the failed war on drugs?

"We don't just need to legalize marijuana," said Anderson. "We need to end drug prohibition just like we ended alcohol prohibition and treat drug use and abuse as a public health and education issue, and get it entirely out of the criminal justice system."

Johnson added, "Ninety percent of the drug problem is prohibition-related, not use-related... that should be the focus. So let's legalize marijuana now. Right now in this country, we are at a tipping point on this issue." He later went on to say, "Look, this is not about advocating drug use. Fifty percent of kids graduating from high school have smoked marijuana -- that's an issue that belongs with families, not in the criminal justice system."

Stein, a physician and internist who graduated from Harvard Medical School, said "the most important thing we can do to get rid of the health problems associated with marijuana is to legalize it."

In the final debate for President Obama and Mitt Romney, moderator Bob Schieffer referred to the war in Afghanistan as America's longest war. But America's longest war is actually the war on drugs, which turned 40 last year. We've spent more than one trillion dollars fighting this unwinnable war, thousands have lost their lives for it, and the madness will only continue until the public leaves elected officials no choice but to pull their heads out of the sand.

Some mainstream politicians like Obama and Romney still feel the need to distance themselves from drug policy reform. But that dynamic is rapidly shifting, as local, state and national politicians who support drug policy reform win elections while those who support the drug war pay an increasingly steep price at the polls for their narrow-mindedness.

Fifty-one percent of Americans support taxing and regulating marijuana and well over seventy percent support legalizing marijuana for medical purposes. By excluding third party candidates from the presidential debates, not only are Americans limited to the two parties, but urgent issues that the two main parties refuse to address -- like the war on drugs -- are silenced. It's time to join courageous leaders like Gary Johnson, Rocky Anderson and Jill Stein in calling for a different approach.

- huffingtonpost

Drugs no worse than junk food - report

London - Taking drugs is just like eating junk food, a controversial report has claimed.

The UK Drug Policy Commission says drug-taking is simply another “moderately selfish” or “risky” behaviour, similar to gambling or a diet of burger and chips.

It also says it should not be a criminal offence to grow cannabis for personal use.

And rather than trying to ban drugs completely, the British government should concentrate on ensuring that addicts take substances “responsibly”, the report’s authors say.

The commission’s findings were condemned by campaign groups.

Mary Brett, of Cannabis, Skunk, Sense, which aims to prevent the use of drugs, said: “They just haven’t thought it out. Drugs are illegal because they are dangerous. Cannabis is getting stronger each year.

“People haven’t grasped how cannabis affects the brain. It contains chemicals within the plant that stick in the brain cells. This impairs the transmission of all the other chemicals that carry out functions in the brain.”

According to the commission, the Government’s efforts to ban drugs have not reduced their availability – and may have even worsened the situation. So rather than trying to prevent their use “entirely”, ministers should focus on limiting the damage.

The report states: “Just like with gambling or eating junk food, there are some moderately selfish or risky behaviours that free societies accept will occur and seek to limit to the least damaging manifestations, rather than to prevent entirely.

“Seeing all drug use as invariably problematic can reduce the cost-effectiveness of policy.

“Taking drugs does not always cause problems, but this is rarely acknowledged by policy makers.

“We do not believe that pursuing the goal of encouraging responsible behaviour requires the prevention of all drug use in every circumstance.”

Controversially, it also recommends changing the law to allow people to grow small amounts of cannabis in their homes. This would help “undermine” the mass production of the drug illegally.

Professor Colin Blakemore, who helped write the report, said: “The overwhelming consensus now is that it is unethical, inefficient and dangerous to use untested and unvalidated methods of treatment and prevention. It is time that policy on illicit drug use starts taking evidence seriously as well.”

The commission is an independent charity set up in 2007 to analyse drug policy in the UK. It is not funded by the government and claims not to have any particular “standpoint”.

This is the final report from the charity, which will shut-down in December.

Although drug use in Britain has fallen in recent years, it is still higher than most other countries. About one in ten adults has taken an illegal substance in the past year compared to a global average of one in 20, the report states.

A Home Office spokesman said: “We remain confident that our ambitious approach to tackling drugs – outlined in our Drugs Strategy – is the right one.

“Drug usage is at its lowest level since records began.’”- Daily Mail