Even a police chief says the war on drugs is a complete failure.

The Los Angeles Times ran an article on a former Seattle police chief who says it is time to end the war on drugs, all drugs. I want you to read this article, but an outline of what it says is that the war on drugs causes America to be the #1 prisoner per capita in the entire world, ahead of North Koera, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and every country who's known to be, in President Bush' eyes, a haven of "terrorism". When Nixon gave a speech that started the "war on drugs" in the spring/summer of 1971; as we approch 35 years later, the war on drugs causes, like I said, America to be the #1 prisoner population rate in the world, the police to curtail our rights, especially the rights listed in the Fourth Amendment. And the police are corrupt; they choose to bust teenagers at a party with a bag of marijuana or cocaine, rather than bust a murder or a rapist when the officer put his/her life in danger. And it uses a whole lot of taxpayers' money to catch a "criminal" who means no harm to others. All of this, while it fails miserably to do what the whole concept was created to do: curb drug use. Like the chief said, it's time for the war to end.

As a cop for 34 years, Norm Stamper got to see the corruption of the drug users, and the corruption of the police force. As time goes by, more and more officers will wake up to see all the destruction the war on drugs can have. Stamper is an advisory board member of an organization who is formed by current and former members of law enforcement who stands for drug legalization and regulation, rather than prohibition. The organization is called LEAP: Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. The original members were five, but two years later, LEAP's membership is over 2,000, living in 34 states and seven other countries. These fine officers can see the futile life in chasing and arresting nonviolent victimless "criminals" has cause.

But, the most notorious reason why I believe drug prohibition is wrong is moral. As I said in the original post, to live in a free society is to believe in the concept of self-ownership; I own myself, and you own yourself. If you own yourself, then you own your body. And if you own your body, you have the right to ingest whatever in your body, including drugs, and thus, you have the responsibility for the actions it caused. If you ingest gasoline or antifreeze, your life is over, or you have to pump your stomach dry. But, you have the right to this if you want.

However, one drug in particular (marijuana) is the most benign drug of all. Tobacco kills almost a half a million people annually in the United States. Alcohol kills about 100,000 people annually. NSAIDs (Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs), such as aspirin, ibuprofen, naproxen, and all legal pain medicine, kill over 7,500 people. Cannabis (marijuana) didn't cause a signal death, ever. But, in Oklahoma, you could get over 90 years for growing marijuana plants to relieve pain. It is time to end prohibition, once and for all.