Recently in Vermont a Democratic group hosted Windsor County State's Attorney Robert Sand. Sand brought refreshing dialogue on the failure of the War on Drugs. He made many comparisons to the war in Iraq saying, both were based on deliberately misleading the public, and neither had a foreseeable end in sight.
comparing things to the War in Iraq is a great way to raise discussions on subjects, especially the War on Drugs. The difference between the two is one is a total failure in the eyes of the public based on the facts they have seen, and the other is a total failure based on the facts the public isn't allowed to see.
Sand also noted, "Addiction is up, violence is up, government expenditures are up, and access to drugs is up."
Of the four people participating in the discussion, only Hartford Police Chief Glen Cutting, he noted a three point approach to controlling drugs. They are education, treatment, enforcement. With the market of supply and demand second to none Marijuana and other drugs aren't going anywhere anytime soon. The idea that the "Just Say No" mentality is keeping children safer is a total sham. Not teaching children the truth and factual information about drugs is a very dangerous coin to flip. This reality motivated the start up of a Harm Reduction Center here at FPC that will becoming perfected in the coming weeks.
Then ofcoarse you have the failure of the enforcement part of the plan. Its easier for a child to get marijuana then cigarettes. Maybe this should lighten many up to what's really going on, just because you scare away the drug dealers from being near schools with harsh mandatory minimum sentencing doesn't stop the children from procuring what they wish to spend there allowance money on.
Thankfully Vermont and New Hampshire are taking the "Maine" approach by decriminalizing small amounts of marijuana. Now this may not sound like much but, every time we write a piece of paper as opposed to lock someone in a jail cell money will be coming in as opposed to flowing out.