WAR ON WEED WON'T WIN

Government's Attack on Weed Is Wrong and Misguided

America. It is the supposed land of the free. A shining beacon of
democracy unto the world, a place founded upon the ideals of great men
- -- men who fought to escape tyranny and oppression. Men who were not
afraid to stand up for their own truth when equality and liberty were
threatened by an oppressive regime. These men believed it was not the
government that should rule the people, but the people who should rule
the government.

Looking at the current political system it is easy to feel as though
something has gone horribly wrong. There is an inefficiently run war
based upon faulty information and continuously forced down an
unwilling world's throat. We have an ever-growing pile of debt that
has reached several trillion dollars. There is also a war being waged
on our own citizens. This war targets individuals for something as
silly as choosing an intoxicant other than alcohol, tobacco or caffeine.

Of course, I speak of none other than the war on drugs -- one of the
few wars that is fought in our own home. It is a war in which our own
people are dying and we are doing the killing.

The government claims that this imprisonment of the people is for our
own good. It seems that they believe it better for a person to be
locked away than to make their own decision about what goes in their
bodies. It is claimed that certain drugs are dangerous to the user's
health. Funny how we are free to choose the two drugs that rack up a
larger death toll than all illegal drugs combined.

People may argue that illegal drug use causes crime. And they may be
right -- when something is made illegal, more crime is bound to spring
up around it. During alcohol prohibition, overall alcohol consumption
increased, deaths attributed to alcoholism rose and alcohol-related
crime rose dramatically as gangsters used booze to fund other
endeavors. One of the more ironic facets of this war is how the TV
says that drug users fund terrorists. Right. And the current black
market turns controlled substances into a business that funds guns. At
least the recreational substance users are not just handing guns over
to Osama bin Laden like the government did in the 1980's.

The war on drugs is one of the least efficiently run, most
unsuccessful campaigns in United States history. One of the aims is to
decrease drug supply by locking up dealers. It's strange that despite
increasing the budget for the drug war by billions of dollars over the
past 20 years, drugs are still just as available as they ever were. In
fact, the most current data available shows that price of pure
methamphetamine has dropped steadily over the last four years. Another
aim of the war is to decrease "dangerous" drug use among the public.
(Dangerous drug use refers to any type of drug deemed illegal by the
government).

It's strange that overall drug consumption has been on the rise since
1990. And it's hard to believe that a government efficient as ours
would create an environment that has seen the number of hallucinogen
users more than double in 20 years.

So what exactly has the war on drugs accomplished? Well, the number of
marijuana arrests has more than doubled in 25 years. In 2007 we hit
the all time high: 872,720 arrests. In fact more people are arrested
for simple possession of marijuana than of all total violent crime
arrests. Thousands, perhaps millions, of people have been denied
access to a medicine that will heal them, and in some cases may have
even saved their lives. We have the highest incarceration rate in the
entire world.

We have a measly 5 percent of the total world population, but that
doesn't stop us from holding 25 percent of the entire world's
incarcerated population. Go USA! The citizens of the U.S. were already
blessed with a wealth of propaganda before the war on drugs started.
Drugs have just provided a good channel for the government to funnel
false information to terrorize a population so that they are
distracted from real issues.

Hopefully the picture painted is not so bleak as to cause despair.
After all, there are still the means by which we can reclaim the right
to choose our own way of life. Please vote yes on Proposition 5 and
encourage others to do so. Check out UCSB's National Organization of
Reform of Marijuana Laws chapter Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m. in North Hall
1105. Write to our representatives in the state and federal
legislature. Speak out to others about the injustices in place when
opportunity presents itself. Most importantly do not to be afraid to
do what is right for you. Live your lifestyle without fear because it
is what you deserve.