The boys at ftl really hit the bulls eye with this interview.
Loretta Nall is Libertarian candidate for Governor of Alabama. She describes how she changed the focus of a whole debate about the War on Drugs.
I especially like her quip about having the two candidates for Sheriff "by the gonads" in front of a live audience. They reversed their positions on the War on Drugs within minutes of promising to "eradicate" drugs!
It is a race issue (i.e., more blacks get imprisoned for drugs than rich white boys and girls). It's a class issue (i.e., rich people hire lawyers; poor people take plea bargains). It's a crime issue (i.e., violent criminals fight over turf like in Prohibition Days and drugs are so expensive that addicts commit crimes to get them). It's a fact of life issue (i.e., the rate of drug addiction hasn't changed over eons). It's a freedom issue (i.e., the Fourth Amendment is trampled by the drug warriors).
And, I could go on and on. Listen to her on the interview clip. Review some of the FACTS about the drug war. And tell me that it isn't a joke! We've lost. What we are doing doesn't work and can't work. So let's try something new. Liberty!
Now I don't want everyone to be a drug addict. But, clearly that doesn't happen. If we put our energies into understanding, rehab, and finding the "cure", then we would be far better off.
If what we are doing doesn't work, then how can doing more of the same work any better. It's like visiting LA or Chicago and trying to use a map of NYC to get around. Even a child would say, that's dumb. Why is this any different? We have a map (i.e., the War on Drugs) that doesn't work. Let's try a new map (i.e. cure versus prohibition).
It didn't work in the Twenties, it doesn't work now!
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Reinke Faces Life 