I Was Wrong About The War On Drugs -- It's A Failure
I'll admit it, just five years ago I was "Public Enemy Number 1" in the eyes of the Libertarian Party. In my 2002 congressional race for Georgia's Seventh District, the Libertarian Party ran scathing attack ads against my stand on Medical Marijuana.
Today, I am their presidential nominee and will represent libertarians at the top of the ticket on November 4th.
Huh?
That's right, Bob Barr, formerly the War on Drugs loving, Wiccan mocking, Clinton impeaching Republican is the presidential nominee for the Libertarian Party.
Now, you may be asking how this happened and my answer is simple: "The libertarians won."
For more than three decades, the Libertarian Party and small "l" libertarians have done their part to prove to America that liberty is the answer to most of the problems that we face today. Over the past several years, I was one of the many people influenced by this small party.
Whether through the free market or by simply allowing families to make their own decisions regarding the education of their children, libertarians have taught us that liberty does truly work.
In stark contrast, when government attempts to solve our societal problems, it tends to create even more of them, often increasing the size and depth of the original problem. A perfect example of this is the federal War on Drugs.
For years, I served as a federal prosecutor and member of the House of Representatives defending the federal pursuit of the drug prohibition.
Today, I can reflect on my efforts and see no progress in stopping the widespread use of drugs. I'll even argue that America's drug problem is larger today than it was when Richard Nixon first coined the phrase, "War on Drugs," in 1972.
America's drug problem is only compounded by the vast amounts of money directed at this ongoing battle. In 2005, more than $12 billion dollars was spent on federal drug enforcement efforts while another $30 billion was spent to incarcerate non-violent drug offenders.
The result of spending all of those taxpayer's dollars? We now have a huge incarceration tab for non-violent drug offenders and, at most, a 30% interception rate of hard drugs. We are also now plagued with the meth labs that are popping up like poisonous mushrooms across the country.
While it is clear the War on Drugs has been a failure, it is not enough to simply acknowledge that reality. We need to look for solutions that deal with the drug problem without costly and intrusive government agencies, and instead allow for private industry and organizations to put forward solutions that address the real problems.
One such solution was presented to me recently by a libertarian friend and supporter, Glenn Jacobs.
Glenn is a very unique guy with a very unique job. To say Glenn is a "big guy" or "intimidating" is an understatement. He gives people nightmares... literally.
Each week Glenn, who stands nearly seven feet tall, walks into a wrestling ring under the stage name "Kane" to beat other large men for sheer entertainment purposes.
Had I not pursued a career in politics -- and were about two feet taller -- I might have chosen a similar career path. Maybe...
In June of 2007, Glenn and many of his friends and co-workers in the WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) were rocked by the news of the Chris Benoit tragedy that took place in my home state of Georgia.
It was speculated that Chris had murdered his family and committed suicide in a steroid or "roid" rage. While it is unclear how much of a role drugs played in Benoit's actions, and whether mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI) may also have been a contributing factor, it was clear the WWE had some serious problems within its organization.
In the wake of the tragedy, the head of the WWE, Vince McMahon, and its other leaders looked internally to recognize these problems and address them. Although in the two years before Benoit's death, dozens of wrestlers had been suspended, gone to rehab, or been dismissed under the WWE's recently adopted "Wellness Program," the WWE strengthened its drug policy further, re-emphasizing that its policy wasn't merely a document, but the internal laws of the company that would be enforced.
Additionally, in response to speculation by brain trauma experts that Benoit may have been suffering from brain damage caused by years of blows to the head, WWE added a MTBI component to its Wellness Program.
McMahon didn't wait for Congress to pass a law or parade his wrestlers in front of congressional committee hearings; he took the lead and assumed responsibility over the health and welfare of the individuals who work for the WWE.
As part of the WWE Wellness Program, wrestlers go through regular drug testing and even cardiovascular testing. The latter identified a previously unknown heart condition for the wrestler "MVP" and he was treated for Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome. The government's War on Drugs wouldn't have done that.
Sadly, the long standing War on Drugs also did not save the life of Chris Benoit and his family. The truth is, only Chris could have saved himself through personal responsibility. However, the efforts of Vince McMahon are making progress in preventing other tragedies and harm.
The WWE is taking responsibility for its talent and giving its participants the resources that they need, through rehabilitation, testing and even anonymous help lines, to deal with any possible problems.
While there may be some employees of the organization who may not like random drug tests or being thrown on a treadmill for an EKG, they have the choice of finding a new employer.
That's the beauty of this libertarian solution. It does not take government intervention or our tax dollars. It also does not force anyone to do anything, as it only requires voluntary action and decisions.
While I applaud the WWE for taking on this responsibility with a libertarian solution, don't bother looking for me at an upcoming cage match on Friday Night Smackdown. I don't want to be responsible for hurting any of those little guys.
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Libertarianism is the only way to solve the mess of both the Republicans and the Democrats. Even though Im a Ron Paul supporter first Barr is still better than war mongering McCain and the big government welfare state Obama.
Tell it to all the people you put in jail for small drug offenses, Bob. I am sure they would be thrilled to hear your mea culpa.
The lunacy of the "war on drugs" is best exemplified by Nancy Reagan: "Just say no." (This tops "let them eat cake" by a couple of orders of magnitude.
The worst part of the stupid "war," arresting people for possession of a bit of weed or even a freakin' pipe, for Christ's sake, is not going away, simply because (among other things) it would put thousands of police officers out of work. Police unions have lots of money to throw at legislators.
Nancy was trotted out to distract the public from the Iran Contra scandel which was beginning to make the Reps. sweat. Simple divide and conquer strategy. It was just an added benefit that it happened to target the progressive community. Win-win for them. Our prisons are full of liberals being abused by hardened criminals. It probably makes the conservatives wet themselves to think of how well this has worked out for them.
I do agree with the Libertarian Party stance regarding being punished for what I do with my body, It is my body and you should mind your own business but I do not want a drug dealer on my corner trying to sell drugs to my kids. Here lies the Gray Area. You do have to have a proper balance when it comes to these things because someone will always take advantage and do the wrong thing. Is Bob Barr suggesting that people from every block, neighborhood or clue de sac should enforce the rules. How would people go about it? Burn down the guys house? Break his Arms, make him move, etc .. etc. . etc . .Employers alone can not take this challenge on alone since a lot of drug dealers and addicts don't have jobs. I do not agree with putting non violent users in jail who do not harm anyone but themselves and letting out people who have wronged someone else.
If you don't want drug dealers on the street selling to kids then make drugs a legal controlled substance like cigs or beer. While kids may still get a hold of it, you would then have the recourse of suing or arresting the guy who sold it, since that person would be licenced. If some clerk sells cigs to kids he gets a ticket, we could do the same with drugs. This has been tried in Europe and it lowered drug use.
I have to admit to being utterly sceptical regarding Barr's transformation. This posting, and other recent essays on his exigesus have gone some distance to chage my mind to at least allow him to continue in his discourse. I'm dubious that that the Libertarians have a chance of making much of an impact now, but politics is a strange landscape and one only has to look at the genesis of the GOP itself to appreciate its going from wack-o third party to the party of Lincoln in a single election cycle to appreciate the fact.
If Barr is serious he'll continue to do the heavy lifting involved in bringing enlightened argument to the public forum and address those old ideas of what the opponents of Libertarianism would insist on presenting as the present reality. Certainly, the current two party system is doing wonderfully well at making the case that a change back towards the constitution is called for and the Libertarians seem to be the only ones taking that as a serious position and it has my attention.
While i agree that the drug war is a farce, I think the solution is pathetic. Drug testing for jobs has done nothing but support a cottage industry of drug testers and the results can be wrong, very often. If you fail a test and live in a small town, it is likely that everyone in town will know about it and will assume that it was not a false positive.
All you are describing, Bob, is herd management. Check our pee, pass some arbitrary judgement about our fitness for employment, kill our unions, and you still won't have a solution to the problem. Liberty isn't about peeing in a cup. Nor is it about policing what workers do in their off time, nor is it about taking their unions away while over 30% of us are waiting for healthcare that works and that we can afford....
Random drug testing is abusive. It implies that I can't be trusted from the very beginning of my relationship with my boss.
End the drug war by enacting universal healthcare (not single payer) and making treatment available for hard addictions and decriminalize or demphasize law enforcement on nonviolent offenders and go after the CIA and the rest who import crack and heroin into our country...
Ending the War on (Some) Drugs would work miracles for society and the economy, not to mention the immediate public health benefits.
The WOD really is the last vestige of Jim Crow in our justice system. Either it will collapse of its own weight or our society will collapse under its weight.
HA! so barr has gone from the "me" party to the "what about me" party. whatever. ultimately he still doesn't get it.
How wonderful for Mr. Barr to have solved this country's problems in the space of a blog.
To say his ideas are ignorant, self-satisfied, paternalistic, and anti-American in the deepest sense: We the People means nothing to him, is a fatal understatement. Do it yourself. Go find another job. You got a problem, not my problem. He elevates Vince McMahon, a veritable tyrant of corrupt business practices. Vincde hides in Connecticut seeking class, while he underpays, overworks, and literally exploits his wrestlers to their deaths. McMahon is a hair-triggered naricissist. And the wrestlers-the sweetest, humblest gentle giants on Earth. Some have fallen prey to the demands of size and invulnerability McMahon and his ilk demand. But Mr. Barr wears his heart on his shoe. He crushes it with each step. Drugs are endemic to this society. Let's talk about booze.. All these damn drunkards calling people drug addicts. Cheney blows his friends face off while hunting with a rifle-drunk. Not a problem. He is a drug addict. Just like the kids whose lives are destroyed by this country's criminal justice system daily for taking drugs. Drugs aren't the enemy. The billion dollar industries that manufacture, distribute, and market every drug this nation is addicted to-they are the enemy-they are in bed with this administra
Steven Soderbergh made a great, great film called "Traffic". Never has a work of fiction contained so much truth. See it.
Even if the drug war were a success, it would still be wrong. It is every person's right to live his/her personal life as he/she choose, and it is never, ever, right to imprison a peaceful person simply for what he eats, drinks, smokes, or owns. Until I see this kind of stance from Bob Barr (rather than simply admitting it isn't working), given the atrocities he has supported in the past, he will not get my vote. (Don't worry, I'm certainly not voting for McCain or Obama either.)
As for the horrible consequences of the war on drugs, here is (in my opinion) a much better article: http://www
Interestingly, the opponents to the Harrison Act (the 1914 law that outlawed opiates and cocaine) were Republicans, who thought that it was not a governmental interest what an American could put inside their body. Oh how times have changed.
McMahon was worried that Congress was going to start poking around, asking questions and blow the lid off of Roids in Wresteling, not the 'Actor/Athletes' that he exploits.
Mr. Barr,
Congratulations on your nomination for the Libertarian Party's candidate for President of the United States. Your statement "when government attempts to solve our societal problems, it tends to create even more of them, often increasing the size and depth of the original problem" contains a logical fallacy that some Republicans and many Libertarians take to the extreme. It is not the fact that governmental attempts to solve societal problems tend to create other, non-intended problems, it is that BAD governmental attempts to solve societal problems tend to exacerbate the problem or cause unintended effects. What America needs is GOOD government, not less BAD government. The effort to reduce the size of government "to a size so small that we could strangle it in the bathtub" is a recipe for anarchy, and is pure demagoguery. What America wants is GOOD government. Give us that and you have my vote.
Scott Candage
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EXACTLY !
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I can just imagine a democrat supporting legalizing or decriminalizing drugs. Right wing radio and TV would explode. Rush Blimpo would howl at the moon. I can hear it now: "He wants more drugs in your schools and on your street corners" It's a loosing proposition now matter how good an idea.
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The majority of Americans favor legal marijuana.
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Totally bogus. You pick one of the worst policies in the government (supported primarily by Republicans by the way ) and then conclude that "when government attempts to solve our societal problems, it tends to create even more of them."
That's just Republican spin. The Libertarian spin seems to be just "volunteer
Great. We'll all just wait for "volunteers" to do what is necessary. Of course, nobody did was necessary in time in your anecdote, did they? And what's your solution if nobody volunteers?
I'm really tired of the old "government just screws it up" junk. I like having building codes and building inspectors - remember China? We've had 2 quakes in Calif. that magnitude in the last 20 years - big difference. I like having health inspectors checking food processing plants. Bush cut back on federal meat inspections, and we've had nationwide meat recalls, then it was spinach, now it's tomatos.
Last time I checked, nobody died because there were too many health inspectors doing their job. But they have died when there were too few and the industry "voluntarily" policing itself just somehow didn't get it right.
So much for less government and more volunteerism when it comes to regulation.
Go peddle your snake oil somewhere else. The war on drugs is a wrong policy with bad results. That doesn't make everything else government does wrong and bad.
Go git him! I'm sitting here looking at the results of a dam bursting and two levees failing. Libertarians are all about neglect these days. The only entity large enough to control these murderously insane corporations is a good government with good regulations. Put Libertarians in control, now that they have been corporately seized, and all we will see is neglect of the infrastructure and more fraud.
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