Law Enforcement Against Prohibition’s 10 Reasons to end the senseless, costly, deadly and immoral War on Drugs

From Mark Perry.

"Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, (LEAP) a group of law enforcement officials opposed to the war on drugs, created a Buzzfeed list to show why the War on Drugs has been one of the most disastrous policies in American history. From mass incarceration and tremendous loss of life to billions of dollars seized from citizens every year, drug prohibition is a colossal failure. LEAP’s list is meant to draw the attention of the public and introduce them to the civil and human rights violations being committed against so many of us every day. Here’s a link to “10 Shocking Reasons to End the Drug War (And Consider Legalization and Regulation)” and here’s a summary of the ten reasons to end the War on Drugs Otherwise Peaceful Americans Who Voluntarily Choose to Ingest Plants, Weeds, and Intoxicants Arbitrarily Proscribed by the US Government:

1. Mass Incarceration – Drug arrests account for more than 50% of federal prisoners, and more than 16% of people in state prison. Today, about 500,000 Americans are behind bars for drug law violations, 10 times the amount in 1980.

2. Racial Bias in Drug Arrests and Jail Sentences – Blacks and whites use drugs at about the same rate, but blacks are three times more likely than white to be arrested on drug charges and ten times more likely to be sent to state prison on drug charges than whites.

3. Asset Forfeiture Abuses – In 2012 alone, the US Justice Department confiscated $4.2 billion in forfeitures.

4. America’s Deadly Heroin Epidemic — From 2006 to 2010, heroin overdose deaths in the U.S. increased by 45%, and the numbers continue to climb. As the nation has cracked down on prescription opioid abuse, people suffering from addiction have turned to heroin, a cheaper, easily accessible option.
5. The Breakdown between Law Police and the Community, because of the Increasing militarization of US law enforcement and aggressive enforcement of drug laws.

6. Mexican Drug Cartel Violence – 60,000 Mexicans have died since 2006 in drug cartel-related murders, deaths and violence.

7. The War on Women – No country incarcerates more women than the US, and 85% of women jailed in America are serving time for non-violent crimes like drug offenses.

8. Entrapment of Minors – Like the case of Jesse Snodgrass (an autistic teen also diagnosed with bipolar disorder and Tourette’s Syndrome who struggles socially). A police officer posed as a high school student, pretended to be Jesse’s friend, and harassed him until he sold him marijuana.

9. SWAT Raids Kills People and Family Pets – 34 Americans have been killed just so far this year in US domestic drug law enforcement operations.

10. The Costly Drug War Spends Billions of Taxpayer Dollars on Enforcement, Arrests, Court Costs, Jail Time, etc."