A LEAP

by Peter Saint-Andre

2003-08-20

Americans like to wage war, it seems. When we're not waging a real war, we're waging a "war on poverty" (back in the sixties) or a "war on drugs" (the currently popular campaign). Yet wars result in casualties, many of them from "friendly fire", and the results are by nature destructive. The war on drugs is no exception: it has poisoned farmers' fields in South America, sent millions of non-violent (mostly black and Hispanic) "offenders" to American prisons, increased crime, driven otherwise peaceful people into the black market, and artificially driven up the prices of certain psycho-active substances (but not others, of course, since alcohol and nicotine are still legal, not to mention yuppie drugs like Prozac), with predictable economic and societal results. Now a group of current and retired police officers has come out against the drug war. That, at least, is a hopeful sign. (Thanks to Claire Wolfe for the link.)


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