I did think about writing a piece on drugs for a while. I did tell people I was going to do one but had to explain it was going to be about drugs not trying to write after “dropping acid” or something similar.
For this piece I also needed to do some research so I went to my local drug dealer [ you can find them in the Yellow Pages nowadays! ] to ask a few questions. This didn’t get me anywhere as as he wanted to do is take my money off me and move onto the next person in the queue.*
Onwards to what this piece is actually about. Richard Nixon’s War On Drugs. It started in 1971 and has been going badly ever since. Before that initiative there have been attempted to curb illicit drug use since the late 19th century. Mostly with mixed results.
I’m sure that Nixon needed some help. With that we have the below image that shows Nixon [ no longer the US President ] getting help from Robocop to try and educate people on not doing evil things like drugs.
Here in the UK we had the cast from Grange Hill telling us to “Just say No” – A cover of the original US campaign song but with an added rap element! Please remember that this was the mid 80s!
Not only did Nixon get Robocop’s help but someone even bigger. Elvis himself! Yes, there is photographic evidence!
Back on track again. What is happening at the moment with this war. It seems that the US Government isn’t doing that well over it. Drugs are still being sold and reasonably easy to get hold of. This considering that they are illegal and have quite hefty prison sentences given out if you are found in possession of anything illegal.
Why not make it legal. Not all drugs. Well, not all to start with. Let’s do what Washington State and Colorado do. Allow sale of cannabis to the public. Why I hear you cry. The answer is simple. Economics! In the first year that Washington State made cannabis legal, it has made $70 million in taxes alone! That equates to sales of cannabis of over $250 million!
I loved when Bush came out and said, “We are losing the war against drugs.” You know what that implies? There’s a war being fought, and the people on drugs are winning it.
– Bill Hicks
* This isn’t true & I’m not even sure that you can find drug dealers in the Yellow Pages!
