End the War on Drugs

One of the first things Bernie needs to do on his first day in office is end the war on drugs. It could be done by executive order. Justice Dept.: no more enforcing drug laws period.

I’ve been watching Narcos on Netflix. I’ve been re-watching the Wire recently. I’m hearing about 100,000 people in Mexico dying in the cartel wars. Fuck terrorism. It’s the war against drugs that is perpetuating the worst terror.

LEGALIZE THEM! All of them. Heroin, cocaine, lsd, xtasy, methamphetamine, all of them. Do it just like medical marijuana in California, set up a system of phony clinics that approve whatever drug you want for whatever ails you. This way too, the public health system could have access to addicts and give them a hand.

More lives will be saved by ending the drug wars than obliterating ISIS, if that was even possible. The violence in our cities is the same violence that has been rocking Mexico and Columbia for decades. Breaking Bad, for christsake. Let the drug lords invest their cash in legitimate businesses. The wealth of this country originated in the unholy trinity of rum, sugar, and slaves. Is, ah, that better than cocaine? Addiction is the primary engine of consumer capitalism. It’s all drugs. TV, cars, facebook, the latest iphone. To say nothing of legal drugs. All stuff to distract us from whatever it is we might be feeling. The opposite of addiction is human connection. Let’s try that.

It’s cruelly ironic that it might even be possible to legalize drugs now because heroin and meth have become such white problems. Never mind mass incarceration of Black people off innocuous marijuana charges. On his second day in office, Bernie can pardon all of the people in jail or on parole or probation or whatever for nonviolent drug charges. Poof.