TDV Week in Review April 7th, 2013

April 7, 2013 / Redmond W /

The Law Fought the Drugs and the…Drugs Won

Law enforcement is singing a catchy new tune…

We fought the drugs and the…drugs won,
We fought the drugs and the…drugs won!
(Sung to tune of "I Fought the Law")

You know things are coming to a head when even the state-serving mainstream media joins in the refrain. This week I read an encouraging article on Business Insider titled "Marijuana Has Won The War On Drugs." Below are a few excerpts:

"At least when it comes to marijuana, the war on drugs is over…Two states have passed marijuana legalization laws that fly in the face of national drug policy….Polling on the issue shows a rejection of prohibition. The opinions of law enforcement commanders has begun to shift…For some who want to cut the budget, the drug war is looking like a good place to start…"

Support for legalization is at an all time high. In the nation's largest state — and one potential bellwether for the future of marijuana in the U.S. — California voters support legalization 54 percent to 43 percent opposed. A Pew poll released today found a whopping 52 percent of Americans say marijuana should be legal, with 48 percent opposed. While Americans are divided on this, the momentum lies with those in favor of legalization — In the early 1970s, only 12 percent of Americans supported legalization, and ten years ago only a third of Americans did."

…more than half of Americans 30 to 64 support legalization and 65 percent of Americans 18 to 29 support it….Observers believe that it's likely several states will legalize marijuana soon. At this rate, the war may end soon, and prohibition of marijuana could cease much faster than anyone expected."

It's not exactly the end of statism, but the US may be taking one big boy step towards freedom. Ending the War on Drugs would be a monumental retraction of state power interfering with human action. I cannot put too fine a point on this: every retraction of law is vital as the power of the state to monitor and to kill at whim increases. In other words, we really need to see the legalization of at least marijuana before America's skies are filled with drones that will be able to keep track of every single activity in every metropolitan region.

"In February, Obama's 'drug czar' Gil Kerlikowski, the director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, admitted several failures on the part of the administration when it came to the War on Drugs.

'You can't arrest your way out of this problem," he said to Macleans, a Canadian magazine, 'The administration has not done a particularly good job of, one, talking about marijuana as a public health issue, and number two, talking about what can be done and where we should be headed on our drug policy.'

Kerlikowski is far from the first drug warrior to admit defeat.

Stephen Downing, a former Deputy Chief of the LAPD, was the director of the narcotics division when Richard Nixon declared the War on Drugs, and personally helped set up the DEA infrastructure.

'In those days our goal — and the goal today — is to reduce the flow of drugs into this country, to reduce its purity and to reduce drug addiction. Well, we have not done any of that,' Downing told Business Insider in a phone interview. 'Our government keeps lying to us about how successful they are.'"

Like all wars, the one on drugs began with misinformation, exaggeration and outright lies and resulted in millions of needlessly ruined lives. Nixon vastly overstated the drug addiction problem when he declared his war (I know it's hard to believe Nixon lied, but stay with me here).

Always remember, by the time government declares anything to be a social problem or an epidemic, that means the thing in question is on its way to resolving itself. Government gets in to fight the problem with laws and guns funded by stolen tax money, and the problem invariably then gets worse. Turns out that theft-funded aggression doesn't improve things. Poverty, drug abuse, medical care costs—the free market has always been in the middle of reducing these things when the government swoops in like an incompetent but well-armed bullying drunkard to "help" and reverse the trend.

We still have plenty of state to worry about, and a lot of convincing to do to help wean our fellow humans off of the sanctified violence that is the state. Ending the war on drugs could go a long way in making people say to themselves, "Hey! Maybe throwing government violence at something I don't like actually just creates more problems!" It will still be a while before humanity realizes that this natural law of adding the initiation of violence making things worse applies to everything, even protection from crime and arbitration of disputes can be handled without government monopoly.

But ending substance prohibition — which has already been demonstrably proven not to work — is a great start. Maybe next will be government in medicine…and then government in the money business.

If you'd rather not hang out in the belly of the beast while the world grudgingly shuffles toward freedom, remember there are a few kinder, freer nation-states you could call home. If you're going to be sticking around in the USSA, then be sure to catch our best analysis of the dangers and tips for thriving here in TDV Homegrown.

Regards,

Gary Gibson
Editor, The Dollar Vigilante

P.S. I wonder if the overseers will free those in prison on marijuana crimes in the event of legalization, or if the state and its stormtroopers will apologize for the lives they've wrecked with prohibition. Something tells me the goons who enforce this nonsense lack the empathy for such regret.

Jeff Berwick's Bitcoin ATM iniative is taking the world by storm! Jeff has been getting worldwide media attention including interviews on CNBC, Fox Business, CNN, BBC, and many others. Outlets such as Washington Post, Reason, and Forbes have also featured pieces on this exciting venture. Click here for more details.

Here’s what we wrote about this week…

MONDAY, April 1st

Canadian Deposits as Safe as Cypriot Deposits

Jeff Berwick on the illusion of the safety of Canadian’s banks.

“Personally, I cannot understand how anyone in Canada, the US or anywhere in the Western World could think even for a second that their money is safe in a bank, especially these days as The End Of The Monetary System As We Know It (TEOTMSAWKI) is forcing the governments and banks to show their true colors and just outright take people's money. They aren't even bothering to hide their larceny with inflation or borrowing anymore. The banks are the first line in the government-corporate offensive against individuals. Keeping your money in the bank at this point is like giving the keys to your house to a family of kleptomaniacs with pyromaniac tendencies. Don't be surprised if all your stuff ends up getting swiped and your house is burned to ground.”

TUESDAY, April 2

Organized Labor: Still Statist Thugs After All These Years

Jim Karger on union thuggery.

"The fundamental assumption of democracy, that the majority should by right control the minority, is so rarely questioned that the organized violence behind the empowerment of a group is glorified, even while the same actions, if taken individually, would result in the seizure of one's property, imprisonment, even death.”

WEDNESDAY, April 3

The Tip of the Spear

Redmond Weissenberger on the modern military, a business with an eye on conscription.

“The outlandish nature of the military cult continues to this day, with football games and churches being prime targets of the Military Industrial Complex. And, in fact, although the compulsory military service has ended, the Selective Service lives on; as of today all male US citizens born after December 31, 1959, who are 18 but not yet 26 years old, must register with the US government – not to be called up, except in a crisis requiring a draft.”

THURSDAY, April 4

Bitcoin: The New World Order's Plot for a World Currency?

Justin O’Connell on the continuing Bitcoin revolution.

"As a general rule, if anything is covered en masse by the mainstream media, then I tend to believe that which I am watching is actually one long promotional spot.

The same could potentially be said for Bitcoin as over the past months its popularity has grown so much that “anarcho-capitalist…Libertarian…Freedom Fighter against mankind’s two biggest enemies, the State and Central Banks,” Dollar Vigilante Chief Editor, Jeff Berwick, has been on CNBC, CNN, Fox News, and BBC, and other mainstream outlets.

What brought on this sudden attention? No, not our anarcho-capitalism, but our announcement of the world’s first BitcoinATM."

FRIDAY, April 5

Feedback Friday – April 5th, 2013

In this week’s Feedback Friday: Traveling with a trade, TDV’s bomb, mortgages, and more.