Overview

Before there were drug laws in America, there were virtually no drug problems.

There were no muggers on the street trying to support a $100-a-day habit, no pushers on high school campuses trying to hook children on drugs, no gangs fighting over monopoly drug territories, no drive-by shootings, no crack babies, and overdoses were very rare. Other than during alcohol Prohibition, nothing like those problems had ever been seen in America until the late 1960s. And then the War on Drugs made them happen.

The War on Drugs is a total failure, and there is hardly a soul in America who doesn't know it. Government can't keep drugs out of the country; it can't even keep drugs out of its own prisons. And yet the Democrats and Republicans go right on spending your money, building more prisons, authorizing more wire-taps and inspections of your private affairs -- just as though the Drug War was one of America's greatest successes.

I want to end the War on Drugs -- which will take the criminal profit out of the drug trade and bring peace to our cities once again. I also want to end the tyranny that's been imposed in the name of a "drug free" America -- something that has never been and never will be. The federal government has no constitutional authority to prosecute any common crime -- not even murder, assault, or rape, let alone anything having to do with smoking, drinking, or drugs.

Today there are hundreds of thousands of people in prisons who have never committed violence against anyone, never stolen anything, never threatened anyone. They are there for the act of smoking a marijuana cigarette, or for selling some marijuana to their friends, or for using cocaine or selling it. Some of them are actually innocent, but they were convicted on the testimony of actual drug dealers who received reduced sentences in exchange for testifying against someone -- anyone will do.

Meanwhile, murderers, rapists, and child molesters are released early because the prisons are overflowing with drug prisoners.

On my first day in office I will pardon everyone who has been convicted of a non-violent federal drug offense. I will empty the federal prisons of the marijuana smokers, and make room for the truly violent criminals who are terrorizing our citizens. And I will make it possible for addicts to seek treatment without fear of criminal prosecution.

The Quotable Harry Browne: on the War on Drugs

"Before World War I, any child in America could walk into a drug store and buy heroin. It was sold as a pain-reliever and a sedative, in measured doses, just as Bayer sells aspirin today. The child didn't need a note from his parents or a doctor's prescription. And yet, despite this unrestricted availability of drugs, there was no drug problem in America. But when the government made drugs illegal, it created a black market -- providing enormous profits in return for running the risk of prosecution -- which led inevitably to the muggers, the pushers, the gangs, and the violence."

"The Republicans & Democrats have put so many people in prison for victimless crimes that there's no room left for the violent criminals -- the murderers, the rapists, and the child molesters who are now going free because of plea bargains and early releases. Libertarians want to end the insane War on Drugs that has created a criminal black market in drugs, financed gang warfare, and brought violence and terror to our cities -- just as during the alcohol Prohibition of the 1920s. Libertarians want to empty the prisons of the pot smokers and other non-violent offenders, and keep the violent criminals off the streets -- restoring the peaceful America we had before the federal government became the nation's #1 "crime fighter" in the 1960s."

"I have never met anyone who thinks we're winning the Insane War on Drugs. Nor have I met anyone who believes we will ever win it."

"Many of the politicians who say that marijuana is a "gateway" drug (leading to cocaine and crack use) apparently smoked marijuana themselves when they were younger. By their logic, that makes them crack-heads and we should pay no attention to what they say."

"When we turn to the government to stop someone from ruining his life with drugs, we convert a personal tragedy into a national disaster."

Making Your Neighborhood and Your Children Safer by Ending Drug Prohibition

America's crime rate has risen almost continually for the past 30 years. We are told that the rate of violent crime has dropped lately, but this is only in comparison to recent all-time highs. In truth, violent crime is still much worse now than it was before the War on Drugs began in the 1960s. There are more robberies, muggings, shootings, rapes, murders, and violence of every kind. And none of the politicians' grand schemes to reverse this trend -- whether mandatory sentences or more cops on the beat -- has restored the level of safety our country once enjoyed. Is the situation hopeless?

No. The solution is as simple as removing the cause of the problem. The War on Drugs began in earnest in the 1960s, and so did the rise in violent crime. We have seen this before -- during alcohol Prohibition. But when alcohol Prohibition was repealed the crime wave of the 1920s subsided. We can expect the same thing to happen when drug prohibition is repealed. The reasons are many and compelling.

If we repeal drug prohibition we can release from prison the marijuana smokers and other non-violent drug offenders who are now serving mandatory 15-year and 50-year sentences. Our overcrowded prisons will then have room for the murderers, rapists, and child molesters who are now being set free on early release and plea-bargains to terrorize your neighborhood.

We can free up law-enforcement resources to fight violent crime, instead of chasing people who may harm themselves but are no threat to us.

We can end gang warfare. The Drug War has produced a huge black market, providing untold riches for anyone who will flout the law. This money finances criminal gangs who would be powerless without drug money. Legal drug, tobacco, or alcohol companies don't conduct gang warfare and drive-by shootings, but criminals will do anything to secure a rich monopoly territory.

We can reduce corruption. With so much black-market drug money, criminals easily gain immunity by making weak law-enforcement officers rich.

We can make our schools safer. Brewers and distillers don't recruit children to hook other kids on liquor; nor do they give them guns to take to school. Neither would legal drug companies. When I grew up in Los Angeles before drug prohibition, the worst schools were safer than L.A.'s best schools are today.

We can end muggings and burglaries by addicts. Illegal drugs that today sell for $100 might cost as little as $2 if we legalized them. Legal producers would have no need to circumvent the law and competition would drive drug prices down. That means addicts would no longer need to steal to support their habits.

We can bring back respect for decent behavior. Because nothing can win the Drug War, it is constantly escalated -- destroying more of your liberties with asset forfeiture laws, drug testing, and invasions of your financial privacy. This has caused too many Americans to disrespect the law itself -- feeling that any kind of law breaking, victimless or violent, is justified.

And we can make it possible for addicts to seek treatment from doctors without fear of criminal prosecution.

Problems?

We have much to gain, but what do we risk? Do we risk increased drug use? The available evidence suggests that the rate of drug abuse was much lower when drugs were legal than it is now. And America did not suddenly become a nation of alcoholics when alcohol prohibition was repealed. Quite the contrary -- alcohol use actually seems to have gone down.

Are we afraid there will be ads for heroin on television? We shouldn't be. Why would any pharmaceutical company tarnish its reputation by running such ads, and why would any broadcast network offend its audience by accepting them?

Are we afraid our children would have easier access to drugs? Well, how could they have more access than they do now? Drugs are being sold in our schools. And most street dealers are themselves teenagers. But all this would end if we repealed drug prohibition.

So why do politicians fight so desperately to continue this insane War on Drugs? Could it be because the War allows them to continually expand their power over our property, our bank accounts, and our private lives?

While Republican and Democratic candidates use the Drug War to outbid each other -- using our liberties as the stakes -- Libertarians identify the War on Drugs for what it is: an excuse to make big government bigger.

Libertarians can see how much safer America would be without the nightmare of Prohibition -- just as the crime rate plummeted when alcohol prohibition ended. If you want your city, your country and your children to be safe, help me end the insane War on Drugs.

Your vote for a Libertarian President will send a clear, unequivocal message that the Drug War is a failure and you want the government to quit invading your life on the spurious pretext of fighting drugs.

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"An open letter" - Dan Donaldson