It's hard to imagine a worse government policy than the War on Drugs.
For example, Osama bin Laden and the Taliban used the proceeds from heroin sales to finance the World Trade Center attacks. Those attacks led to a wars with Afghanistan and Iraq that have cost:
$4.79 trillion
370,000 Iraq/Afghani/Pakastani combatant deaths
13,800 US combatant deaths
800,000 civilian deaths
970,000 US soldiers wounded
Heroin sales continue to fund Al Queada. If heroin were legal, it would be sold by Merck or Bayer (who sold it earlier in the century). Profits and taxes from heroin sales would be used to finance pension plans and social security, rather than Al Queda terrorists.
Police cause 1900 arrest related deaths/year, two thirds of which were considered homicides. (1)
Warring Mexican drug gangs kill 20,000 people every year. (3)
Other benefits of legalization include:
* reduced prison rape (200,000 people are sexually assaulted in prison every year) (4)
* reduced asset forfeiture (police now steal more property via asset forfeiture than is lost from burglary) (5)
* fewer black men in prison (more black men in the prison system than were enslaved during the Civil War) (6)
* reduced loss of income due to difficulties finding a job after a felony drug conviction
* reduced destruction of families due to prison time
(1) https://www.rt.com/usa/370573-police-killings-bureau-justice/
(2) http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joseph-v-micallef/how-the-taliban-gets-its_b_8551536.html
(3) http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/the-staggering-death-toll-of-mexicos-drug-war/
(4) http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2013/10/24/shame-our-prisons-new-evidence/?pagination=false
(5) https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/11/23/cops-took-more-stuff-from-people-than-burglars-did-last-year/
(6) https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/02/23/theres-a-disturbing-truth-to-john-legends-oscar-statement-about-prisons-and-slavery/
(7) http://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/figures
For example, Osama bin Laden and the Taliban used the proceeds from heroin sales to finance the World Trade Center attacks. Those attacks led to a wars with Afghanistan and Iraq that have cost:
$4.79 trillion
370,000 Iraq/Afghani/Pakastani combatant deaths
13,800 US combatant deaths
800,000 civilian deaths
970,000 US soldiers wounded
Heroin sales continue to fund Al Queada. If heroin were legal, it would be sold by Merck or Bayer (who sold it earlier in the century). Profits and taxes from heroin sales would be used to finance pension plans and social security, rather than Al Queda terrorists.
Police cause 1900 arrest related deaths/year, two thirds of which were considered homicides. (1)
Warring Mexican drug gangs kill 20,000 people every year. (3)
Other benefits of legalization include:
* reduced prison rape (200,000 people are sexually assaulted in prison every year) (4)
* reduced asset forfeiture (police now steal more property via asset forfeiture than is lost from burglary) (5)
* fewer black men in prison (more black men in the prison system than were enslaved during the Civil War) (6)
* reduced loss of income due to difficulties finding a job after a felony drug conviction
* reduced destruction of families due to prison time
(1) https://www.rt.com/usa/370573-police-killings-bureau-justice/
(2) http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joseph-v-micallef/how-the-taliban-gets-its_b_8551536.html
(3) http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/the-staggering-death-toll-of-mexicos-drug-war/
(4) http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2013/10/24/shame-our-prisons-new-evidence/?pagination=false
(5) https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/11/23/cops-took-more-stuff-from-people-than-burglars-did-last-year/
(6) https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/02/23/theres-a-disturbing-truth-to-john-legends-oscar-statement-about-prisons-and-slavery/
(7) http://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/figures