Colorado Amendment 64: Know the Lies, Part 3 – War On Drugs

This Weedist series is dedicated to stopping the misinformation [~3 meg PDF, No On 64 ‘fact’ sheet] being spread by the campaign to prevent Colorado voters from legalizing marijuana with Amendment 64. For those who didn’t catch Moirai’s recent article, the No On 64 campaign is principally funded (95%) by alleged former child abusers and rehab profiteers.

In part 1 of “Colorado Amendment 64: Know the Lies“, I tore apart the No On 64 campaign’s argument that marijuana is not safer than alcohol and tobacco. Marijuana clearly is a much safer substance than either alcohol or tobacco. In part 2, Denver Green Beaker demolished their claim that marijuana is addictive. Today, let’s see what they have to say about the War On Drugs:

MYTH: The “War on Drugs” has failed.

FACT: National and state drug policies have reduced our nation’s drug use by 50% in the last 40 years. Drug policies have helped contain cocaine use to 0.6% of the U.S. population, methamphetamine use to 0.2% and heroin use to 0.01%.

REAL FACTS:

1. “National and state drug policies have reduced our nation’s drug use by 50% in the last 40 years.” Bullshit. Here’s a direct quote from NIDA (National Institute On Drug Abuse, or pretty much Drug War Propaganda Central): Illicit drug use in America has been increasing. Even more damning, check out their information on use of drugs by school children. In the 10 years covered by the statistics, heroin and ecstasy use has gone up, and hallucinogen and cocaine use is virtually the same. The graph (above) is drawn in such a way that it’s hard to see this basic failure of Federal drug policy, but click on it and you’ll see it easier in full size.

“But Old Hippie, they said 40 years, not 10!” Yes they did. So let’s look at another NIDA graph (right) from the same page on their site, and let’s just stick to marijuana. What do you think we find?

That’s right, folks. By the federal government’s own admission, marijuana use by kids in 12th grade is exactly (within a few percentage points) where it was in 1975! Nothing has changed…except that since then, tens of millions of Americans have been put in prison, thousands (including many completely innocent people) have been killed by police and DEA agents or as “collateral damage”, and over a trillion dollars has been totally wasted. In fact, even Gil Kerlikowske, our vaunted “drug czar”, admits it’s a failure. So who’s lying now, No On 64?

You can track the wasted lives, arrests, and money in real time here on the War On Drugs clock. Oh, and by the way, the entire War On Drugs may not even be legal in the first place.

2. “Drug policies have helped contain cocaine use to 0.6% of the U.S. population, methamphetamine use to 0.2% and heroin use to 0.01%.” I’m not even going to fight those figures, because they are as irrelevant to the question of marijuana decriminalization as the fact that prescription drug abuse (yes, these are “legal” drugs we’re talking about) now has mushroomed to over 12 million Americans. The important number for us is the number of people who have used marijuana in the U.S., and that is a staggering (and approximate) one-third of everyone over the age of 12. Therefore, more than 100 million people are considered to be “enemies” in the War On Drugs.

America, stop fighting your own people and putting them into prison camps because they prefer a different intoxicant or medicine than you do. That’s un-American! Vote Yes On Amendment 64 in Colorado and let’s start taking our country back.

Vote Yes on Amendment 64!

More of Colorado Amendment 64: Know the Lies

• Colorado Amendment 64: Know the Lies
• Colorado Amendment 64: Know the Lies, Part 2
• Colorado Amendment 64: Know the Lies, Part 3 – War On Drugs
• Colorado Amendment 64: Know the Lies, Part 4