Thoughts From a GangWar Reader About the Drug War
From Steve: We got this from a GangWar Blog reader. It is apparent he's put a lot of thought into this and some of it makes some sense. Thoughts?
It seems everywhere you turn these days you are either hearing or reading about how the gang problem is plaguing America. Our law enforcement leaders, our religious leaders and our political leaders are all declaring how the problem of gangs and related crime are running rampant everywhere.
Ask our police chiefs, our sheriffs, top cops, our local DEA agents, our political leaders or our religious leaders why the gang problem is growing in this area. They will shrug their shoulders and tell you nobody has figured that out yet. They just know it’s a growing problem, and they don’t know what to do about it.
The truth is they don’t want to tell you the reason for the increase in gang activity. To do so would require them to acknowledge the dismal failure of a policy they’ve been supporting for over 30 years.
Gangs, gang activity, gang violence and gang recruiting of our youth is all a direct result of the 34 year old War Against Drugs. It’s the prohibition of certain drugs that fund and allow gangs to prosper. Our public officials know this, they know the gargantuan profits realized from the Black Market sales of a handful of prohibited substances, which are in great demand by the public, fund these gangs.
When I speak of profits I am not referring to a 50 percent markup or 100 percent markup on these substances. I am talking about seven hundred to ten thousand percent markup. It’s this stupendously huge profit margin that motivates individuals to risk arrest for the sale and distribution of these sybstances.
When law enforcement finally decides to take one of these dealers off the street another entrepreneurial individual has taken his or her place before the police car has left the neighborhood. Due to the outrageous profits the Black Market provides law enforcement faces a never-ending, never winnable battle.
We have been locking up non-violent drug offenders at an unprecedented rate, costing the American taxpayer an average of $25,000 per inmate per year. Last year over 755,000 arrests were made in the United States for marijuana alone. In 2004 marijuana arrests accounted for 86% of all drug arrests.
The United States is the largest jailer in the world. At the end of 2003 we taxpayers were footing the bill to keep over two million individuals locked behind bars. The United States has more people incarcerated for drug offenses alone than all the nations of the European Union, combined, have locked up for all crimes. The United States comprises five percent of the world’s population yet we incarcerate twenty five percent of all the worlds’ prisoners.The majority of this inmate population is a direct result of the War Against Drugs. The prison building industry has been one of the fastest growing industries in America for the past ten years. Most states have built more prisons than institutions of higher education. Violent criminals are being released early to make room for non-violent drug offenders who are being sentenced under mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines.
Drug treatment costs between $3000 and $15,000 dollars per patient. Even if we sent all our drug offenders to the finest treatment centers in the world we taxpayers would save half the cost of incarceration. The United States is the only first world nation that treats individuals with drug problems as criminals rather than as patients.
As great a threat as gang violence presents there is a far more damaging byproduct of the prohibition of certain substances, easy access to these substances by our children. It is infinitely easier for a young person to purchase a myriad of illegal substances, many of which can kill them, than it is to purchase tobacco or alcohol. Tobacco and alcohol are regulated and controlled. To purchase these drugs a buyer must prove their age to the seller who would suffer legal penalties for illegal sales of these substances. Drug dealers are not bound by these same regulations.
Today illegal drugs are cheaper, purer and more available than ever before. Heroin costs less than a six pack of beer and is easier for children to obtain.
The only way to get illegal drugs away from our children is to get the drugs off the street and into a controlled and regulated environment.
In 1920, the national policy of Prohibition began. The 18th Amendment to the Constitution had been officially ratified: It sought, by law, to make the whole Nation into enforced teetotalers and to put an end to all evils associated with drinking.
Along with the inception of prohibition came the largest, most violent, wealthiest gangs ever known in America. Organized crime was born. The price of alcohol skyrocketed overnight, the supply of alcohol to the willing consumers barely slowed. The high prices brought huge profits which made the gang leaders very wealthy, wealthy enough to “buy” public officials, law enforcement personnel and judges. Gang wars to protect coveted areas or “turf’s” ensued. Today the gangs protect “the hood”. Wars broke out between rival gangs. Shootings on the streets of all the major American cities was common. Innocent bystanders died more often than the intended gang target.
Prohibition ended in 1933 after being widely viewed as a dismal failure causing more problems than it originally set out to correct.
"The prestige of government has undoubtedly been lowered considerably by the prohibition law. For nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced. It is an open secret that the dangerous increase of crime in this country is closely connected with this." Albert Einstein, "My First Impression of the U.S.A.", 1921
Prohibition didn’t work then, it’s not working now, and it will never work because it is unenforceable. Prohibition isn’t the solution, it’s the problem.
Why is it then that despite all the evidence available our leaders choose to maintain a course that has shown no significant positive results and has demonstrated grievous damage to individuals and society as a whole? Money!
Sitting political leaders facing a reelection year have their law enforcement bureaus get tough on drugs. Raids with lots of arrests, all conveniently covered by the 6 and 11 o’clock news, make for great political propaganda.
Does this do anything to stem the flow or usage of drugs in the raided areas? Possibly, for 12 to 24 hours but after that the dealing in the raided area is most likely just as prevalent as prior to the raids. Drug dealers from areas surrounding the raided area know there is a demand for their products and move in to supply this need.
Law enforcement doesn’t want the war against drugs to be won or end. Most law enforcement organizations receive more funding from the federal war against drugs coffers and through seizures than they receive from their municipal or state budgeting. This independent funding has created many autonomous law enforcement agencies that need not answer to the administrative bodies they are supposedly serving.
Should prohibition end tomorrow most law enforcement organizations would need to downsize by at least ½ their staff.
Lawyers don’t want the drug war to end; the courts are log jammed with drug cases. Providing a lifetime of job security.
It is time to try something different, throwing more tax dollars into a failed system will never fix the system, it can only become a greater failure.
Henry Koch
Blythewood, SC
3/23/2006
Additional Information:
US War on Drugs: elusive victory, disputed statistics (Reuters)
Drug War Success Claims Challenged (Join Together)
Note: The above letter is reader contributed and does not necessarily represent the thoughts of www.GangWar.com or its contributors.
It seems everywhere you turn these days you are either hearing or reading about how the gang problem is plaguing America. Our law enforcement leaders, our religious leaders and our political leaders are all declaring how the problem of gangs and related crime are running rampant everywhere.
Ask our police chiefs, our sheriffs, top cops, our local DEA agents, our political leaders or our religious leaders why the gang problem is growing in this area. They will shrug their shoulders and tell you nobody has figured that out yet. They just know it’s a growing problem, and they don’t know what to do about it.
The truth is they don’t want to tell you the reason for the increase in gang activity. To do so would require them to acknowledge the dismal failure of a policy they’ve been supporting for over 30 years.
Gangs, gang activity, gang violence and gang recruiting of our youth is all a direct result of the 34 year old War Against Drugs. It’s the prohibition of certain drugs that fund and allow gangs to prosper. Our public officials know this, they know the gargantuan profits realized from the Black Market sales of a handful of prohibited substances, which are in great demand by the public, fund these gangs.
When I speak of profits I am not referring to a 50 percent markup or 100 percent markup on these substances. I am talking about seven hundred to ten thousand percent markup. It’s this stupendously huge profit margin that motivates individuals to risk arrest for the sale and distribution of these sybstances.
When law enforcement finally decides to take one of these dealers off the street another entrepreneurial individual has taken his or her place before the police car has left the neighborhood. Due to the outrageous profits the Black Market provides law enforcement faces a never-ending, never winnable battle.
We have been locking up non-violent drug offenders at an unprecedented rate, costing the American taxpayer an average of $25,000 per inmate per year. Last year over 755,000 arrests were made in the United States for marijuana alone. In 2004 marijuana arrests accounted for 86% of all drug arrests.
The United States is the largest jailer in the world. At the end of 2003 we taxpayers were footing the bill to keep over two million individuals locked behind bars. The United States has more people incarcerated for drug offenses alone than all the nations of the European Union, combined, have locked up for all crimes. The United States comprises five percent of the world’s population yet we incarcerate twenty five percent of all the worlds’ prisoners.The majority of this inmate population is a direct result of the War Against Drugs. The prison building industry has been one of the fastest growing industries in America for the past ten years. Most states have built more prisons than institutions of higher education. Violent criminals are being released early to make room for non-violent drug offenders who are being sentenced under mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines.
Drug treatment costs between $3000 and $15,000 dollars per patient. Even if we sent all our drug offenders to the finest treatment centers in the world we taxpayers would save half the cost of incarceration. The United States is the only first world nation that treats individuals with drug problems as criminals rather than as patients.
As great a threat as gang violence presents there is a far more damaging byproduct of the prohibition of certain substances, easy access to these substances by our children. It is infinitely easier for a young person to purchase a myriad of illegal substances, many of which can kill them, than it is to purchase tobacco or alcohol. Tobacco and alcohol are regulated and controlled. To purchase these drugs a buyer must prove their age to the seller who would suffer legal penalties for illegal sales of these substances. Drug dealers are not bound by these same regulations.
Today illegal drugs are cheaper, purer and more available than ever before. Heroin costs less than a six pack of beer and is easier for children to obtain.
The only way to get illegal drugs away from our children is to get the drugs off the street and into a controlled and regulated environment.
In 1920, the national policy of Prohibition began. The 18th Amendment to the Constitution had been officially ratified: It sought, by law, to make the whole Nation into enforced teetotalers and to put an end to all evils associated with drinking.
Along with the inception of prohibition came the largest, most violent, wealthiest gangs ever known in America. Organized crime was born. The price of alcohol skyrocketed overnight, the supply of alcohol to the willing consumers barely slowed. The high prices brought huge profits which made the gang leaders very wealthy, wealthy enough to “buy” public officials, law enforcement personnel and judges. Gang wars to protect coveted areas or “turf’s” ensued. Today the gangs protect “the hood”. Wars broke out between rival gangs. Shootings on the streets of all the major American cities was common. Innocent bystanders died more often than the intended gang target.
Prohibition ended in 1933 after being widely viewed as a dismal failure causing more problems than it originally set out to correct.
"The prestige of government has undoubtedly been lowered considerably by the prohibition law. For nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced. It is an open secret that the dangerous increase of crime in this country is closely connected with this." Albert Einstein, "My First Impression of the U.S.A.", 1921
Prohibition didn’t work then, it’s not working now, and it will never work because it is unenforceable. Prohibition isn’t the solution, it’s the problem.
Why is it then that despite all the evidence available our leaders choose to maintain a course that has shown no significant positive results and has demonstrated grievous damage to individuals and society as a whole? Money!
Sitting political leaders facing a reelection year have their law enforcement bureaus get tough on drugs. Raids with lots of arrests, all conveniently covered by the 6 and 11 o’clock news, make for great political propaganda.
Does this do anything to stem the flow or usage of drugs in the raided areas? Possibly, for 12 to 24 hours but after that the dealing in the raided area is most likely just as prevalent as prior to the raids. Drug dealers from areas surrounding the raided area know there is a demand for their products and move in to supply this need.
Law enforcement doesn’t want the war against drugs to be won or end. Most law enforcement organizations receive more funding from the federal war against drugs coffers and through seizures than they receive from their municipal or state budgeting. This independent funding has created many autonomous law enforcement agencies that need not answer to the administrative bodies they are supposedly serving.
Should prohibition end tomorrow most law enforcement organizations would need to downsize by at least ½ their staff.
Lawyers don’t want the drug war to end; the courts are log jammed with drug cases. Providing a lifetime of job security.
It is time to try something different, throwing more tax dollars into a failed system will never fix the system, it can only become a greater failure.
Henry Koch
Blythewood, SC
3/23/2006
Additional Information:
US War on Drugs: elusive victory, disputed statistics (Reuters)
Drug War Success Claims Challenged (Join Together)
Note: The above letter is reader contributed and does not necessarily represent the thoughts of www.GangWar.com or its contributors.
posted by Steve Nawojczyk at
4:42 PM
2 Comments:
$$GREED$$GREED$$GREED$$
Why Things NEVER Get Any BETTER-
They CAUSE the PROBLEM--
2 CREATE the SOLUTION!
$$GREED$$GREED$$GREED$$
:o
Vote 4 HENRY 4 PRESIDENT!
:)
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