Government addicted to failed war on drugs [View All]

[joeunderdog]

A highly respected Rand Corp. study determined that treatment for drug abuse is seven times more cost-effective than law enforcement in reducing - that's right - reducing the use of illegal drugs. But this year state and federal governments will waste over $40 billion of your taxes on the war on drugs while having little impact on drug use.

snip

In the United States, use of illegal drugs kills about 4,500 people each year, or about 1% of the number killed by alcohol and tobacco. In fact, tobacco will kill more people this year than all illegal drugs have in the last century.

snip

Consider marijuana, the most-used illegal drug. There are no documented cases of anyone dying from it, ever.

In contrast, Oxycontin (Limbaugh's drug of choice), with far fewer users, causes several hundred deaths annually. But, hey, it's legal.

http://www.jsonline.com/lifestyle/advice/oct03/180512.asp