My opinion...
This is my opinion on the sad state of drug policy in America, today. I hope you take the time to read it. Illicit drugs themselves are not necessarily the cause of the many social problems that arrise out of drug addiction, but the black market created by the government's arbitrary prohibition on many drugs is most likely the reason for such problems. You'd think that the government would have learned its lesson after the 1920's alcohol prohibition, which caused a massive black market run by the mafia and the corruption of many law enforcement individuals, but unfortunetly they haven't. I've seen a lot of pro-marijuana/anti-"harder" drugs sentiment on newgrounds, but what people don't realize is that these drugs are not necessarily as dangerous as the prohibitionists would have you believe. They use misinformation and scare-tactics in order to advance their cause and obtain taxpayers money to incarcerate and kill otherwise peaceful americans. The black market that arrises out of prohibition is the reason that people are killing eachother over drugs. Pure cocaine is now worth three times more then gold becuase of the black market, it's easy to see why people who come from lowincome areas with poor education would want to take part in the distribution of it. Also, because illicit drugs are illegal they are completely out of control of any organization, which makes it hard to get pure drugs in any form. When distributing cocaine or ecstasy, criminal organizations will often use cutting agents in order to have more product to sell; these cutting agents are more often then not the cause of many drug deaths, not the pure drugs themselves. I'm not saying that illegal drugs are not dangerous, they can be if abused, but so can any drug (including alcohol, tobacco, and even aspirin). Drugs can also be a mind expanding and very pleasent experience if used after proper research is done by an individual to decide if the drug is right for you and if they are obtained from a reliable source. I believe the answer to America's drug problem is not throwing more money and man power at a governmental policy that costs 18 billion taxpayer dollars a year and which hasn't been working for the past 30 years, but instead to provide HONEST information to young people (not the DARE "just say no" scare tactics) and to put money into treatment for people who need it; and most importantly to stop cramming nonviolent people into federal prisons because they desire to alter their consciousness, it is THEIR body, it is THEIR choice. Stop buying into the governments lies! END THE WAR ON DRUGS NOW! become active! visit http://www.drugpolicy.org