Legalizing hemp in every state would effectively ruin the capability of citizens to grow marijuana of the strength necessary to get high, or experience the various healing properties that have been established through the ages but resisted by government.

Hemp would cross-pollinate with the high grade and lower its strength. Still, it's a step in the right direction. That's what they are afraid of.

We could still grow marijuana inside greenhouses or under grow lights, but outdoor cultivation would be harmed by wind born pollen of the low potency hemp.Yet another selling point for legalizing hemp cultivation, but one too nuanced for generally conservative hacks.

And you can't overdose on it.

But, cannabis steps on at least four market's toes. Cotton, Pharmaceuticals, Petrol, Lumber.

None of these industries want to see pot decriminalized, and they have lobbies to ensure just that.

Add drugs to the list of "wars" America has lost in the last 60 years:
Korea- L
Vietnam- L
Cancer- L
Drugs- L
Gulf 1- L
Iraq- L
0 for 6 =.000
Someone needs to be fired!

I'm sure you meant Foreign Policy, as the article addressed the United Nations global drug-eradication programs.
I felt the same way when I followed the lead.
I guess its OK for HUFFPO tho, maybe just to have more people know about a rational discussion on the issue.
This dialogue is valuable, and maybe we can jettison this discussion into the two-year debate
on our country's next leader.
It wouldn't hurt.

It's time to engage our side in this one-sided war. Take a seed or two on you whenever you go anywhere. As you travel down the road, drop them out of the window. If we can keep law enforcement busy killing plants along America's highways, we can wear them out. Meanwhile, we are kicked back enjoying our TV and tortilla chips. OH, and if you can put down the bong long enough, why not go register to vote too.

It's right here on Huffpo - the use of oxycodone, aka Hillbilly Heroin, has about doubled in the last ten years. Some drugs (developed by the drug corporations) are legal. Other drugs, accessible to all and sundry (can even be homegrown) are against the law. Whose law, you ask? Are you getting this?

Drug offenders are routinely disenfranchised for national elections, even though some states allow them to vote upon release, and others even in prison. The war on drugs boosts right wing control by voter suppression, a favored tool of those who wish to limit dissent.
As a public health issue, the drug problem should be dealt with by education and public relations campaigns that avoid hysteria and easy answers.
By legalizing marijuana and other drugs, we would take a bite out of crime by eliminating its involvement in the lives of those who experiment more or less responsibly with drugs. Prohibitions are not effective because marketplace pressures always override them.
Our politicians will have to pull an equivalent of Nixon going to China to fix this splendid little good war gone bad. Nixon, the arch anticommunist, had the political capital to go against the right wing's penchant for demonizing rather than diplomatically engaging. Sadly, the drug war, like the one in Iraq, is in the hands of conservatives who resist admitting their mistakes.
More high profile erstwhile conservative leaders who know the truth about the failed drug wars have to step up and organize in favor of legalization along with NORML, George Soros, William Buckley, and others. Otherwise, the voices are true, but blowin in the wind.
By buying the entire Afghani heroin crop and distributing it to the sick and dying, we could help soothe their pain and take away money from the big drug lords and the Taliban.

This is such a no-brainer. If people only would get the facts about our "war on drugs", they would demand that not another penny be spent on this farce.

Some of the more notable accomplishments of this war are:
- Reagan's drug policies in the early "80's CREATED the crack cocaine epidemic in our inner cities, which in turn led to the explosive growth of gang membership, gang crime, and money available to criminals to purchase black market weapons.
- Because of the exaggeration of the dangers of drugs (esp. marijuana) in our drug education programs (esp. DARE), children who receive government sponsored drug education are more likely to use drugs than those who don't.
- Our prisons are dangerously overcrowded due to the fact that thousands of non-violent drug offenders who would be much better served by attending drug treatment are being locked up instead.
- People with medical conditions that are undoubtedly helped by marijuana have to go underground to get a drug that they need. In addition, they have to live in fear of being arrested and/or harassed by federal agents, no matter what their states' laws may be.

I could go on and on, but these are the main ones. Our drug laws make no sense - it's way past time to legalize, tax, and provide treatment centers for those who want it.

StopThePlanet (See profile | I'm a fan of StopThePlanet)
Money would be much better spent on educating people on the real, not exaggerated, dangers and on treatment rather than squandering money on enforcement. This only creates a black market that empowers/enriches criminals and creates a society that is unable to properly prevent and treat any problems that exist with narcotics.

Yes you have it about right. The government partly because of ignorance and partly because of the ability to make such huge profits running this phoney war on drugs.

The only thing the war on drugs has accomplished is to raise the cost and ruin people's live's over something that none of their business. They saw the profit long ago
and that is what brings us to the point we are today!

I think we should "cut and run" from the War on Poverty. Trillions of dollars spent and we still have just as many poor people. They are just much fatter and they all have cell phones.