wileycoyote
06-16-2004, 12:36 AM
I'm a 56 year old ex-con. Started using 40 years ago and have spent a total of 20 years in various state and prisons. This have given me plenty of time to read and meditate about many things and I have some very strong opinions about certain things, like the war on drugs.
This country thrives on "war". It keeps the voters minds occupied and their attention diverted from the many shady things our politicians are doing to our country. The liquor industry stands to lose many billions of dollars if any drugs are ever legalized. Also, the pharmaceutacal industry. For that reason they have very powerful lobbies in DC to sabotage any drug legalization efforts.
Also, prisons have become big business. Prisoners are not sent there to be "rehabilitated". That concept has been dead since the republicans took over congress. Now, it's all about providing jobs for those who build prisons and those who work in prisons. Everyone knows the vast majority of prisoners in this country have a drug problem. It's garaunteed to keep them coming back after each release. For every prisoner in the system the administration gets a certain amount of money for the "care" of the prisoner. The "care" includes the cost of guards salaries and benefits, electricity, water, the cost of steel and locking mechanisms that go into a prisons and a whole lot of other stuff. The amount of money actually spent on the prisoner himself/herself is nothing compared to all the rest. But, the more prisoners, the more money. The less they have to spend on any rehabilitation programs, the more they have to give themselves bigger raises and to buy new guns they hope to get to shoot some prisoner with one day. Prisoners are nothing more than statistics to be juggled around for maximum benefit by prison administrations.
Another thing. How do you declare war on an inantimate object? (drugs) It is not a war on drugs. It is a war on people who use drugs. Is is truly fair to call it a war when one side has every weapon known to man plus the court system on it's side while the other side consists of an "army" of homeless, burnt out, undereducated, underemployed, unarmed people who spend their lives trying to escape the horror of the reality they perceive. To me that is not a war. That's what I call a massacre.
It doesn't make me feel good to say this, but, I truly believe that we will never see a sensible drug policy in America because the government makes too much money from the drug war. One last thing; if all those drug offenders were let out of prison look what would happen to the unemployment rate. Government ain't gonna let it happen.
This country thrives on "war". It keeps the voters minds occupied and their attention diverted from the many shady things our politicians are doing to our country. The liquor industry stands to lose many billions of dollars if any drugs are ever legalized. Also, the pharmaceutacal industry. For that reason they have very powerful lobbies in DC to sabotage any drug legalization efforts.
Also, prisons have become big business. Prisoners are not sent there to be "rehabilitated". That concept has been dead since the republicans took over congress. Now, it's all about providing jobs for those who build prisons and those who work in prisons. Everyone knows the vast majority of prisoners in this country have a drug problem. It's garaunteed to keep them coming back after each release. For every prisoner in the system the administration gets a certain amount of money for the "care" of the prisoner. The "care" includes the cost of guards salaries and benefits, electricity, water, the cost of steel and locking mechanisms that go into a prisons and a whole lot of other stuff. The amount of money actually spent on the prisoner himself/herself is nothing compared to all the rest. But, the more prisoners, the more money. The less they have to spend on any rehabilitation programs, the more they have to give themselves bigger raises and to buy new guns they hope to get to shoot some prisoner with one day. Prisoners are nothing more than statistics to be juggled around for maximum benefit by prison administrations.
Another thing. How do you declare war on an inantimate object? (drugs) It is not a war on drugs. It is a war on people who use drugs. Is is truly fair to call it a war when one side has every weapon known to man plus the court system on it's side while the other side consists of an "army" of homeless, burnt out, undereducated, underemployed, unarmed people who spend their lives trying to escape the horror of the reality they perceive. To me that is not a war. That's what I call a massacre.
It doesn't make me feel good to say this, but, I truly believe that we will never see a sensible drug policy in America because the government makes too much money from the drug war. One last thing; if all those drug offenders were let out of prison look what would happen to the unemployment rate. Government ain't gonna let it happen.