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For someone who hasn't followed closely, what exactly is meant by "War on Drugs" in the article? Is it a specific policy they are referring to or do they mean c

For someone who hasn't followed closely, what exactly is meant by "War on Drugs" in the article? Is it a specific policy they are referring to or do they mean combatting illegal drugs in general? I think we can all agree that illicit drugs can cause damage to societies. Even the article mentions it in regards to the opioid crisis, which continues to decimate Americans across the nation. Maybe it would be wiser to call out the failure of the strategy and execution by the US government and not the original premise.

setpatchaddress 5y ago
"War on Drugs" refers specifically to the series of laws and actions and attitudes that began with the Nixon administration, the publicly stated intent of which was to combat illegal drug use. The actual intent was to demonize the perceived political enemies of the Nixon administration. Despite that, this is still the core of America's drug policy today. > I think we can all agree that illicit drugs can cause damage to societies Can we? So what's the root cause of illicit drug use? We have one major suspect with correlation but not causation established: https://www.addictionhope.com/blog/child-abuse-substance-abuse/ https://www.addictionhope.com/blog/child-abuse-substance-abu... > Research shows almost two-thirds of all patients in treatment for substance abuse report physical, sexual or emotional abuse during childhood. “The sheer weight of the many reports over the years certainly implicates child abuse as a possible factor in drug abuse for many people,” said Dr. Cora Lee Wetherington, NIDA’s Women’s Health Coordinator. “But we lack hard data that clearly establish and describe the role of child ‘abuse in the subsequent development of drug abuse. Is child abuse indeed a cause of drug abuse, or is child abuse a marker for other unidentified factors?”
whydoineedthis 5y ago
You will need to exit the internet if you want a civil conversation that goes beyond punishing buzz word narratives and could possibly lead to useful changes in policy. But to answer your question, by "war on drugs" they mean the heavy handed nature of police enforcement of drug related laws. Petty drug crimes become life ruining felonies and leave poor families struggling even more than they already were. There is some very legitimate police activity stopping major drug dealers though, and there are many criminals whom can't be convicted of the crime they committed because of lack of evidence, but can be nailed to the wall for possession of drugs. Overall, the landscape of how to treat drug offenders becomes very muddled.
pmoriarty 5y ago
"I think we can all agree that illicit drugs can cause damage to societies." Abuse of drugs (whether legal or not -- remember, plenty of opioid abuse was perfectly legal) can be harmful, but that doesn't mean the aim should be trying to stop the use of the specific drugs that are currently illegal, or even of any drugs. That aim is misguided, from a cognitive liberty standpoint [1]. The aim is also misguided for other reasons, but those are hard to disentangle from the implementation. For example, the reason of injustice when the drugs that are targeted for prohibition being associated with minorities, dissidents and the counterculture, while drugs associated with the wealthy and powerful being given a free pass. It's also tied up with the injustice of the legal system, where the wealthy and powerful can often get off with a slap on the wrist in the rare cases they are charged, while the poor and marginalized are often forced to accept plea deals because they can't afford good legal representation even if they're innocent, etc.. which leads to a disproportionate number of minorities and marginalized groups in jail. Not sure how you can divorce the reality of the implementation of the War on Drugs from its aims here. [1] - By cognitive liberty I mean the right of people to decide what they put in to their body and what states of mind they can achieve.

setpatchaddress 5y ago

"War on Drugs" refers specifically to the series of laws and actions and attitudes that began with the Nixon administration, the publicly stated intent of which was to combat illegal drug use. The actual intent was to demonize the perceived political enemies of the Nixon administration. Despite that, this is still the core of America's drug policy today. > I think we can all agree that illicit drugs can cause damage to societies Can we? So what's the root cause of illicit drug use? We have one major suspect with correlation but not causation established: https://www.addictionhope.com/blog/child-abuse-substance-abuse/ https://www.addictionhope.com/blog/child-abuse-substance-abu... > Research shows almost two-thirds of all patients in treatment for substance abuse report physical, sexual or emotional abuse during childhood. “The sheer weight of the many reports over the years certainly implicates child abuse as a possible factor in drug abuse for many people,” said Dr. Cora Lee Wetherington, NIDA’s Women’s Health Coordinator. “But we lack hard data that clearly establish and describe the role of child ‘abuse in the subsequent development of drug abuse. Is child abuse indeed a cause of drug abuse, or is child abuse a marker for other unidentified factors?”

whydoineedthis 5y ago

You will need to exit the internet if you want a civil conversation that goes beyond punishing buzz word narratives and could possibly lead to useful changes in policy. But to answer your question, by "war on drugs" they mean the heavy handed nature of police enforcement of drug related laws. Petty drug crimes become life ruining felonies and leave poor families struggling even more than they already were. There is some very legitimate police activity stopping major drug dealers though, and there are many criminals whom can't be convicted of the crime they committed because of lack of evidence, but can be nailed to the wall for possession of drugs. Overall, the landscape of how to treat drug offenders becomes very muddled.

pmoriarty 5y ago

"I think we can all agree that illicit drugs can cause damage to societies." Abuse of drugs (whether legal or not -- remember, plenty of opioid abuse was perfectly legal) can be harmful, but that doesn't mean the aim should be trying to stop the use of the specific drugs that are currently illegal, or even of any drugs. That aim is misguided, from a cognitive liberty standpoint [1]. The aim is also misguided for other reasons, but those are hard to disentangle from the implementation. For example, the reason of injustice when the drugs that are targeted for prohibition being associated with minorities, dissidents and the counterculture, while drugs associated with the wealthy and powerful being given a free pass. It's also tied up with the injustice of the legal system, where the wealthy and powerful can often get off with a slap on the wrist in the rare cases they are charged, while the poor and marginalized are often forced to accept plea deals because they can't afford good legal representation even if they're innocent, etc.. which leads to a disproportionate number of minorities and marginalized groups in jail. Not sure how you can divorce the reality of the implementation of the War on Drugs from its aims here. [1] - By cognitive liberty I mean the right of people to decide what they put in to their body and what states of mind they can achieve.