Why Haven’t We Given Up On The Drug War?

{Editor’s Note: This is the 12th installment of a series of articles attempting to address the 32 questions posed by Ron Paul in his recent farewell speech given in front of Congress. Check out the previous installment, "Why Is It Political Suicide To Criticize AIPAC?"}We've provided in depth write-ups already on America's drug laws & enforcement during this exercise in answering Ron Paul's 32 Questions, including these recent articles. Let's take a quick look at the Drug War in general, and why it hasn't been abandoned despite having been cited as a failure on every level.The Drug War has already cost U.S. taxpayers over $1 Trillion dollars. What have we gotten from that expenditure? The highest criminal to population ratio in the entire world at a rate of 760 prisoners per 100,000 people. That's roughly 10 times that of other first world countries. The main reason for this imprisonment of citizens is for drug charges - many for simply possessing small amounts of "contraband." While some states have legalized small quantities of marijuana or at least made it into a non-criminal offense,  from a Federal standpoint drug possession at any level is still a crime.A recent TIME article cites some appalling statistics:

Drug convictions went from 15 inmates per 100,000 adults in 1980 to 148 in 1996, an almost tenfold increase. More than half of America's federal inmates today are in prison on drug convictions. In 2009 alone, 1.66 million Americans were arrested on drug charges, more than were arrested on assault or larceny charges. And 4 of 5 of those arrests were simply for possession.

Yet, despite all of this government crackdown, despite the money and the manpower, drugs are still readily available, easy to find and more or less free flowing.Why haven’t we given up on the drug war since it’s an obvious failure and violates the people’s rights? Has nobody noticed that the authorities can’t even keep drugs out of the prisons? How can making our entire society a prison solve the problem??Let's start with political points. Both sides of the aisle for the two major parties want to be seen as tough on drugs for the "betterment of society." The War on Drugs gives politicians something to cry havoc against.  It not only creates enemies for us abroad militarily to keep us from looking inward, but also conjures these imagined demons domestically in case we do. As cited in George Orwell's 1984,  a constant state of war keeps the populace occupied and distracted. Why not have as many fronts as possible in as many guises of war as will be accepted? This also gives local and federal law enforcement something to point at as having done the greater good when they arrest "criminals" or make drug busts and distract us from the other nefarious acts they perpetrate upon us.The second reason is the most obvious: money. Most state prisons are run by private companies who have very deep pockets and powerful lobbyists. They create jobs for local economies and also take down the unemployment statistics as people in jail don't count on the rolls. However, it's a very expensive way to lower unemployment. In 2011, California spent $9.6 billion on prisons. A prisoner there costs the state $45,006 a year. That's quite a salary.The War on Drugs is an absolute failure here and abroad (just look at the death and destruction in Mexico) and there is no real viable reason to keep it going. As mentioned in this earlier article:

The prohibition of marijuana, much like alcohol prohibition before it, has only served to create more criminals by sending otherwise non-violent people to jail and effectively sentencing them to a life of crime from there on out.  At the same time producing the creation of violent drug cartels that seek the vast profit opportunities created by sending the product underground.

This war is the best thing going for both drug cartels and for drug enforcement. If we ended it they'd both be out of business.Receive access to ALL of our EXCLUSIVE bonus audio content – including “Conspiracy Corner”, “Degenerate Gamblers” and the “League of Liberty Podcast” by joining the Lions of Liberty Pride and supporting us on Patreon!