War on Drugs
A statement by Mary Alice Herbert, Socialist Party Vice-Presidential Candidate
As socialists, we should not be drawn into supporting any aspect of the war on drugs--especially any attempt to further militarize our borders. A heightened military or police presence increases racial profiling and intimidation and does little to prevent the flow of drugs. Our prisons reflect the racism of our legal system because, while 85% of drug offenders are white and 15% people of color, 15% of those imprisoned on drug charges are white and 85% are people of color.
This is not really a war on drugs but a war on people. If decreasing drug use in the U S were really the goal, why aren't prevention and rehabilitation programs sufficiently funded? Why isn't addiction treated as a medical problem instead of a crime? Our socialist goals of eliminating poverty and creating meaningful work and space in society for everyone would be the most effective way to eliminate drug use. The need many in capitalist society feel for an escape from the grind of life and the lure of money fuel the drug economy.
It's clear that this "war" has supplied our burgeoning "Prison Industrial Complex" with it's preferred prison population--non-violent drug offenders, who increasingly fill cells and are relatively easy to manage. It has done more to beef up funding of local police departments willing to add drug-inforcement units than it has to stop the flow of drugs into our communities. It is a profitable business that's going on. One explanation for this is that capitalism benefits from having an illegal product of some sort. (In medieval Europe it was coffee.)
Money from illegal drugs can't be traced and gets into the larger economy. It's useful for carrying out covert operations. It has become public knowledge that the contra war in Nicaragua was carried on, against the will of Congress, by drug sales. The small planes that flew weapons to Central America came back filled with drugs. which made their way into our inner cities. There is solid evidence that CIA involvement against the Russians in Afganistan was financed by heroin produced from the poppies harvested there. (Now that the Taliban has been defeated, the poppies are growing again.)
The SP-USA calls for decriminalizing marijuana and this is certainly a good first step in mitigating the abuse of people that characterizes the "War on Drugs". I believe we should consider going further and decriminalize all drug use. The sale of drugs should be "socialized". By that I mean that only the government would sell them--at cost. This would take the profit out of drug sales and discourage any kind of illegal activity. An open and humane policy like this would fit well in the economic democracy we seek to establish through democratic socialism.
As socialists, we should not be drawn into supporting any aspect of the war on drugs--especially any attempt to further militarize our borders. A heightened military or police presence increases racial profiling and intimidation and does little to prevent the flow of drugs. Our prisons reflect the racism of our legal system because, while 85% of drug offenders are white and 15% people of color, 15% of those imprisoned on drug charges are white and 85% are people of color.
This is not really a war on drugs but a war on people. If decreasing drug use in the U S were really the goal, why aren't prevention and rehabilitation programs sufficiently funded? Why isn't addiction treated as a medical problem instead of a crime? Our socialist goals of eliminating poverty and creating meaningful work and space in society for everyone would be the most effective way to eliminate drug use. The need many in capitalist society feel for an escape from the grind of life and the lure of money fuel the drug economy.
It's clear that this "war" has supplied our burgeoning "Prison Industrial Complex" with it's preferred prison population--non-violent drug offenders, who increasingly fill cells and are relatively easy to manage. It has done more to beef up funding of local police departments willing to add drug-inforcement units than it has to stop the flow of drugs into our communities. It is a profitable business that's going on. One explanation for this is that capitalism benefits from having an illegal product of some sort. (In medieval Europe it was coffee.)
Money from illegal drugs can't be traced and gets into the larger economy. It's useful for carrying out covert operations. It has become public knowledge that the contra war in Nicaragua was carried on, against the will of Congress, by drug sales. The small planes that flew weapons to Central America came back filled with drugs. which made their way into our inner cities. There is solid evidence that CIA involvement against the Russians in Afganistan was financed by heroin produced from the poppies harvested there. (Now that the Taliban has been defeated, the poppies are growing again.)
The SP-USA calls for decriminalizing marijuana and this is certainly a good first step in mitigating the abuse of people that characterizes the "War on Drugs". I believe we should consider going further and decriminalize all drug use. The sale of drugs should be "socialized". By that I mean that only the government would sell them--at cost. This would take the profit out of drug sales and discourage any kind of illegal activity. An open and humane policy like this would fit well in the economic democracy we seek to establish through democratic socialism.
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