It also allows for asset seizure without due process, undermines our civil liberties in unnecessary and ineffectual ways, it has cost us 21.5 BILLION dollars so far this year 2011, it imprisons diverse populations at intolerable rates and creates violent criminals out of non-violent drug offenders, it creates life-long drug offenders, it forces our kids' generations to go to black market sources to get natural drugs like cannabis, it makes drug cartels ludicrously rich and encourages violence, it devours our childrens' drug education funding, its DARE program graduates use drugs at higher rates than non-DARE programs, it empowers law enforcement to use unnecessary force for petty misdemeanor type crimes, it is a heavy burden on millions of families affected who had no involvement in criminal activity, it robs us of a tolerant and sophisticated education on drugs with truth at the center, it robs the budgets of rehabilitation clinics capable of helping, it prevents distribution of syringes to prevent pathogen spread, it overburdens the justice system, and it encourages people to stick their noses into other people's private affairs.
We would be far better off with an Amsterdam type policy of Harm Reduction strategies, or nothing at all...
