The United States Has More People In Jail Than High School Teachers And Engineers
America has become a gigantic gulag over the past few decades and most of its citizens don’t know, or just don’t care. One of the primary causes of the over incarceration in the U.S. is the absurd, tragic failure that is the “war on drugs”, and indeed nearly half of the folks in prison are there for drug related offenses. Making matters worse is a rapidly growing private prison system, which adds a profit motive to the equation.
If you happen to need even more evidence that President Obama has gutted his campaign promises and betrayed not only the left but also African Americans who enthusiastically supported his election, he has just gone public with his support for the continued war on drugs. Keeping marijuana criminalized, it seems — and keeping more African Americans in prison — is a top priority for the Obama administration.
This means Obama supports the midnight DEA raids on our citizenry; the filling of prisons with small-time pot smokers; the disproportionately punitive sentences handed down to black men and women across America who aren’t really criminals at all… they merely suffer from a chemical addiction that would more rightly be considered a medical issue.
Cops Slam Obama for Same Old “Drug War” Budget
A group of police officers, judges and prosecutors who have waged the so-called “war on drugs” is criticizing President Obama because his federal drug control budget, released today, does not match up to his rhetoric on treating drug abuse as a health problem.
Despite the White House drug czar’s office saying the administration is shepherding a “revolutionary shift” to address drug policy through a “public health approach,” Obama’s federal drug control budget maintains a Bush-era disparity devoting roughly 60 percent of the budget to punishment-oriented approaches and roughly 40 percent for treatment and prevention.
The Drug War Is Over (If Obama Wants It)
2013 is going to be remembered as the year the drug war died as a political issue. The headline of the latest Gallup Poll on the subject says it all: “For First Time, Americans Favor Legalizing Marijuana.” Fully 58 percent of respondents agreed that “the use of marijuana should be made legal.” Not decriminalized, medicalized, or any other weasel-worded synonym to keep the squares and the cops and the addiction-industry lobbyists from getting the vapors and reaching for a legal chill pill. Legalized.
Obama Drug Czar Says States Can’t Nullify Federal Drug Laws
During a speech at the National Press Club on Wednesday, April 17, the White House drug czar, Gil Kerlikowske, announced that the Obama administration would adopt a zero tolerance policy when it comes to enforcing federal drug laws.
At the luncheon, Kerlikowske said that the U.S. Department of Justice will retain jurisdiction over the enforcement of existing federal statutes criminalizing the use of controlled substances, including marijuana. Any state laws to the contrary, he said, are of no legal effect.
No, Obama Didn’t End the War on Drugs
Ending the war on drugs requires more than simply rephrasing and so far that is basically all Obama has done.
While it is true that the Obama’s 2014 budget slightly increased the amount spent on treatment relative to the amount spent on enforcement compared to last year, the ratio is still 58 percent on enforcement and 42 percent on treatment. By comparison, this is the same ratio it was at the end of George W. Bush’s presidency.
Obama’s drug czar addicted to pro-prohibition fallacies
President Obama’s hand-picked ‘drug czar’, former police chief of Seattle Gil Kerlikowske, denounced legalization of cannabis for personal consumption by American adults at a National Press Club event.
Obama Says No To Legalizing Marijuana
From the comments:
In other words, Obama is on the payroll of the Mexican drug cartels.
He might be getting support from the prison industrial complex as well.
Dr. Boyce Watkins Says Obama is Fueling the Prison Industrial Complex
Cornel West: Obama “Is a War Criminal”
“I would rather have a white president fundamentally dedicated to eradicating poverty and enhancing the plight of working people than a black president tied to Wall Street and drones,” activist-academic Dr. Cornel West told British journalists. Barack Obama, like his predecessor, should be tried for war crimes.
Obama’s War on Drugs – Obama Drug Policy: Prohibition Today, Prohibition Forever
The conceit that drug policy is a complex problem has been used for decades to evade responsibility for the failure of prohibition to accomplish its objectives. It allows public officials to reorganize programs, re-define objectives, and refine terminology so that they appear to respond to criticism without changing the fundamental basis for this area of public policy. The premise of this approach is that there is nothing wrong with the policy, just the way it has been implemented.
Nice to see the Republicans getting some support from the President for a change.
Comments
6 responses to “Obama Supports Drug Prohibition”
…nearly half of the folks in prison are there for drug related offenses.
Let me be Devil’s Advocate and state emphatically that the above statement is basically a lie because it is deceptive, and serves to undermine the good arguments to end prohibition. This is how the “nearly half” figure plays out.
Many violent crimes from assault to murder, as well as common property crimes like robbery and theft, occur in connection with drug use. There are almost always multiple charges which include drug possession. But the primary cause of incarceration is not the drug offense. The “nearly half” figure is derived from this.
…the filling of prisons with small-time pot smokers;
Again, this is simply not true. There isn’t enough room to house small-time users. If California can be taken as an example, this is a “crime” that gets you a citation. The prisons here are being emptied out because of overcrowding, and they are having a hard time finding enough non-violent offenders to release.
I am with you 100% on ending prohibition – of ANY drug. But false arguments need to be ditched.
Wouldn’t the better and truthful argument be that ending prohibition will dramatically reduce prison rates because violent crime and theft will be reduced?
After reading the above comments, it occurred to me that I’m taking aim at and criticizing your overall post. It was not meant as a put down. The sloppiness of the sources you quoted from are the targets.
Keep up the good work!
Frank,
I get your point. Prohibition is an inducement to violent crime. Which are not drug crimes per se.
Still – something like 800,000 arrests for pot possession a year is nothing to sneeze at.
[…] Period. […]
Not to pick nits, but I need to take a minor issue with the word “decriminalize” as a “weasel word”. I prefer the use of decriminalize over legalize, because legalize admits the presupposition that the government has the authority to control its legality, rather than just its quality and distribution. That lesson* should have been learned over alcohol, what with Prohibition having just been overturned four years earlier.
And for the record, “medicalize” is not a weasel word, either, given that marijuana has now been proven to have medical benefits, including the potential CURE for a rare type of cancer. Taking it off the Federal Class I category (no medical use whatsoever) would be a good first step towards proving that, but as long as it remains a Class I narcotic, schools and hospitals in the US are not permitted to even conduct research into it. Most of the more recent work has come from Canada and Israel.
* – to wit, Governments cannot control anything that can be made/grown at home with equipment easy to obtain…