10 Reasons Why We Should End the War on Marijuana

VoicesofLiberty

1: The WOM is unconstitutional. The Constitution does not authorize the federal government to prohibit marijuana.

2: The WOM is a failure. A 2013 ACLU study found that the WOM has not slowed marijuana use, nor has it reduced the supply or demand of marijuana. For these reasons and more, groups like Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP–comprised of law enforcement personnel), call for decriminalization. LEAP states that “prohibition only serves to worsen addiction and violence.” Furthermore, The Global Commission on Drug Policy (GCDP) also notes that the wider War on Drugs is a failure. GCDP also recommends decriminalization.

3: The WOM presents an economically unsustainable burden on taxpayers and government budgets. The ACLU notes that in 2010 alone the states spent over $3.6 billion enforcing marijuana possession laws (the federal government has spent over $1 trillion on the War on Drugs in the last 4 decades, to no avail). The pro-legalization organization NORML puts the federal cost of marijuana prohibition at $7.6 billion annually. Complicating matters, the New York Times (NYT) finds that “police forces across the country are strapped for cash, and the more resources they devote to enforcing marijuana laws, the less they have to go after serious, violent crime.” Post-Great Recession, this is a vital consideration. Notes economist Mark Thornton: “The economic crisis is speeding up the realization that the war on drugs has failed and cannot be won.”

4: The WOM crushes civil liberties and destroys minority communities. The NYT notes that blacks and whites use marijuana at the same rate, yet blacks are 3.7 times more likely to be arrested for possession, and at least 10 times more likely to go to prison for drug offenses. Look at the recent events in Ferguson, Missouri. The WOM, and the wider War on Drugs, perpetuates the cycle of poverty seen in Ferguson. The WOM requires the growth of government, which requires the growth of law enforcement and the criminal justice system, which swells prison populations, which requires higher taxes and more fees and fines for funding. It fosters “policing for profit.” Citizens are harassed under “suspicion” and subject to illegal searches and seizures. Ferguson residents say they get pulled over and ticketed so the city can profit off of them. They claim they are incarcerated because they can’t pay the fines, and in turn, they lose their jobs and housing, and subsequently miss court dates, etc. In Ferguson there is an average of 3 warrants and 1.5 court cases per household. Decriminalization would break the cycle of poverty. There would be no WOM to wage in the first place.

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