The War on Drugs: Trigger to a Violent Society

For many Americans that are decedents of Mexican families, such as myself, the drug war has affected us personally more than most other Americans; many of us have some family residing in Mexico. The violence that has been escalating recently in Mexico makes many of us nervous for our families in Mexico. However, it should not only be Americans with family in Mexico that should be nervous about the escalating violence. The situation in Mexico has clearly demonstrated that the war on drugs has been a disastrous failure. If the American government continues the status quo, then Mexico serves as a glimpse of what may happen in the near future in the United States; escalating violence with many innocent human lives lost. The United States should change its drug policies for the protection of American civilians.

The United States incarcerates people at a rate four times higher than the Netherlands, a country that has much more liberal drug laws than the United States. It is also much more expensive to incarcerate a drug addict than it is to give them treatment. If a person is given a misdemeanor for marijuana possession, even if it is for their own personal use, they are considered an addict for life by the government. Such a misdemeanor makes it impossible to get a student loan, a job with the city, state, or federal government, and it makes it near impossible to get a well paying, decent job. This makes a person that committed such a “crime” to become an unproductive member of society, therefore they would have to find alternative ways to survive. If this person becomes desperate, they may turn to a life of crime and violence. This is why the current drug policies of the American government have been such failures.

The demand for drugs is within the United States. Due to much of the violence, the escalating war in Mexico, and the cost of trafficking drugs past the border, some of the Mexican cartels have decided to begin drug production operations within the United States. The Mexican cartels have shown that they are ruthless and violent and that nothing will stop them. Now that they have began some of their drug production operations within the United States, it is only a matter of time before the violence begins.

I would rather live in free and peaceful society, than one in where my personal freedom is limited within a violent atmosphere. It is time for us to demand change, and search for more peaceful and humane alternatives to the forty year old War on Drugs.

The Tea Party: Who Are They and What Are They Protesting Against?

Tomorrow, the 15^th of April, the Tea Party will hold a rally in Washington D.C., but why are they holding that rally? Against who or what are they protesting? Taxes? And, who are these people that have joined the Tea Party movement?

The Tea Party has been making headlines throughout the country for about a year now. They claim that they want to reduce the size of government and return to fiscal responsibility. They are constantly active, protesting and rallying against health care reform and taxes. Some of the people that have joined the Tea Party movement may really believe that, but lets look at the facts; they did not begin protesting against taxes, they did not demand returning to fiscal responsibility, and they did not demand a reduction of government until after Obama was elected president. The people that form the Tea Party today stood still when they saw George W. Bush rampage the country and send it into a massive deficit; they did nothing when the Patriot act passed; in fact, they probably proudly approved of it. These same people that form the Tea Party today did nothing when George W. Bush began massively spending to send us into two wars we could not afford. The people that form the Tea Party themselves are also partly to blame for our deficit as well; most of them approved of what the George W. Bush administration did.

The Tea Party movement is an unofficial branch of the Republican party. On March 24^th Quinnipiac University published a pole about the Tea Party. Quinnipiac University stated, “Only 13 percent of American voters say they are part of the Tea Party movement, a group that has more women than men, is mainly white and Republican and voted for John McCain, and strongly supports Sarah Palin.”¹ The poll reveals the following about the Tea Party followers;

• 74 percent are Republicans or independent voters leaning Republican;

• 16 percent are Democrats or independent voters leaning Democratic;

• 5 percent are solidly independent;

• 45 percent are men;

• 55 percent are women;

• 88 percent are white;

• 77 percent voted for Sen. John McCain in 2008;

• 15 percent voted for President Barack Obama.

People that form the Tea Party movement are very different from what the rest of the United States is. According to the CIA World Factbook, over 15 percent of the populations is of Latino origin; over 12 percent is of black origin; over 4 percent is of Asian origin; and just under 1 percent is of Amerindian or Alaskan origin.² In other words, the Tea Party movement is not reflective of what the American population is, they are very different.

Many believe that the Tea Party movement is rallying against taxes, but this is false. They are protesting something else, but what exactly? In a poll that was conducted among Tea Party members, 52 percent of them believed that the taxes they will pay this year are fair.³ If Tea Party members are not rallying against taxes tomorrow, then what are they rallying against? As mentioned before, they did not rally against the Bush administration during his reckless era of spending, which leads one to conclude that what they are really protesting against is President Obama.

Why is the Tea Party movement against Barrack Obama? Why do they support Sarah Palin, a woman who clearly is of a lower intellect? Are these people exclusively getting their news from Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh? One thing is for sure, they have become a branch of the Republican party; the Republicans vote “no” on anything Obama approves of; if something Obama approves of gets voted into law, the Tea Party will surely protest against it.

1http://www.quinnipiac.edu/x1295.xml?ReleaseID=1436

2CIA World Factbook, https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/us.html

3Stephanie Condon, “Poll: Most Tea Party Supporters Say Their Taxes Are Fair,” CBS News, http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20002487-503544.html

Should Marijuana be Legalized? Yes.

California may be the first state in the United States to legalize and tax marijuana, however, it would still remain a schedule 1 illegal drug for the federal government. The feds argue that marijuana has no medicinal use, which is obviously false. There is a synthetic form of THC, which the federal government approves of, called Marinol. The federal government is claiming that a synthetic form of marijuana is safer than a natural herb; do they really think that the American public is dumb enough to believe this? Why should the American public continue to pay taxes to continue the prohibition of marijuana? Billions of dollars are wasted each year combating the growth, sale, and use of marijuana. That is money gone to waste.

The persecution of minor marijuana law offenders is a financial strain for many states throughout the nation. Take California for example, who has been releasing non-violent drug offenders from prison, since its current financial situation is forcing them too. One third of the non-violent drug offenders were sent to prison due to marijuana offenses; it is likely that over the next few years this number will increase, unless marijuana is legalized. The demand for marijuana in the United States is too high to be able to ever eliminate it. If marijuana is legalized in California, the Federal government should exempt California from any federal marijuana laws, and treat the California laws as an experiment; if California is successful in properly regulating the drug, the federal government should decriminalize it.

The prohibition of marijuana is not only about the drug itself and the billions of dollars that go to waste, but it is also about our personal freedoms. Millions of Americans favor the legalization of marijuana; in California, over half of the population does so. A minority should not impose its will on a majority, as is the case in California. A majority should not impose its will on a sizable minority (over 1/3 of the rest of the nation favor the legalization of marijuana), its time to change the laws, its time for people to regain their personal freedom.

Here is a video from the CBS news website; http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504544_162-20002409-504544.html

Please note how Brian Darling's arguments against the legalization of marijuana have all been proven false. Marijuana is not an addictive drug, a person can not become dependent on it; Marijuana is no more a gateway drug than alcohol; Marijuana will not cause a person to get ill and require hospitalization.

If you have any doubts if marijuana should be legalized, or if it is harmful or not, I strongly recommend that you watch The Union. The Union is a documentary that sheds some light on the lies of those that oppose the legalization of marijuana.

Non-winnable Wars

Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan's president, is the prime example of why the United States should not continue with the war in Afghanistan, or any other war. The Karzai administration has been accused of corruption ever since it came into power in Afghanistan. There is much evidence to support this, and Karzai has even stated that he is going to join the Taliban. If Karzai has been involved in corruption for so many years, then why does the United States support this man? Why is there no end in sight for the war in Afghanistan? One reason my not be terrorism at all, but oil. The United States is very interested in having a pipeline built through Afghanistan, one that would not pass through Russia or Iran. This may be the reason why the Obama administration continues to support the corrupt government of Hamid Karzai; however, the war in Afghanistan is not the only war in which taxpayer money is going to waste.

Over the weekend, Secretary of State Clinton, along with Secretary of Defense Gates, appeared on Face the Nation. Bob Schieffer asked them if Karzai was still welcomed in the United States, in which Clinton responded, “Absolutely. And we're looking forward to his visit.” Karzai is still welcomed in the United States, despite the fact that he is likely helping his brother with the heroin drug trade; the continued support of the United States towards Karzai protects the Afghan opium trade. This may be seen as the price to pay to combat terrorism, but the fact of the matter is, Al-Qaeda is no longer operating within Afghanistan.

The United States is at war in Afghanistan, despite the fact that Hamid Karzai is a corrupt official; despite the fact that our presence in Afghanistan protects Karzai's brother's opium trade; despite the fact that Al-Qaeda is no longer in Afghanistan. These facts lead to the conclusion that our government, during the Bush years, or Obama years, is full of hypocrisy. We the people, as law abiding citizens and taxpayers, are witnesses as to how our government wastes money in unnecessary wars. The war in Afghanistan, in order to build the unbuildable Afghan pipeline; the war in Iraq; the non-winnable war on drugs.

Are any of these wars necessary?