U.S. and Mexico Add 1.4 BILLION to Drug War

According to this CNN story Mexico and the U.S. are gearing up to spend over a billion dollars in the "War on Drugs".

I hope that a big portion of this money is used in Prevention, Intervention and Treatment rather than just the suppression and enforcement side.

Until the use problem is addressed, any money spent will be lost in the abyss of what is currently labeled "The War on Drugs".

Rehab clearly works. It might not work on the first try or even the second or third, but there are a lot of rehab programs that are quite successful, and not just the celebrity kind. Rehab, like most therapy, should be an entire family event.

Even with the slow progress of some addicts, it is much cheaper, and better for our country, than locking them up. I strongly urge everyone reading this to read the book, Gates of Injustice by Alan Elsner. It is an amazing journey into the reality of America's prison system where you will learn facts like; there are more people in prison in the U.S. than occupy the cities of Boston, San Francisco and Washington D.C. combined.

The statistics on the numbers of people in prison for drug crimes is overwhelming...and expensive. You can click here to view the "drug clock" and see how much is being spent on the war on drugs.

Here is PBS' timeline of the war on drugs.

Here are some interesting stats from the Bureau of Justice.

It's time to move on. To change the way we've been doing things. Hopefully the new federal administration will strive to make things different, and better.

What are your thoughts about all of this? Comment or email them to me.