Issue Position: Our War on Drugs is a Colossal Failure!

Issue Position

Our ancestors made a huge error of judgment in 1919 with the well intentioned passage of the 18th Amendment. It didn't take long until our streets ran red with the violence from the illegal business of distributing a product the public still demanded. Our jails became full of gangsters, our morgue's full of their victims and our police were corrupted by payoffs. This all ended in 1933 when they finally realized their mistake and peace and tranquility returned to our streets.
We didn't learn the lesson our grandparents did and decided we knew what was best for others and repeated the same mistake with our current war on drugs. Don't get me wrong, I think drugs are a huge problem and I think it's a bad idea to use them recreationally, but our jails are now bursting at the seams with people for such minor crimes as possession of tiny amounts. Once these people are in jail, they lose their jobs and can no longer support their family and then have a criminal record to boot, making it difficult to provide for their families once they are released. In the meantime, the family has to go on welfare costing the taxpayer yet again. It's not gay marriage that threatens families, Its sending a parent to jail for possessing a part of a plant leaf. If you really are "Pro Family" demand an end to this madness.

Recently the country of Portugal was having a big problem with illegal drugs. Instead of passing tougher laws, they decriminalized drugs and street drug-related deaths from overdoses dropped and the rate of HIV cases crashed! Isn't it time we tried something new? The definition of crazy is to continue doing what you know doesn't work, but expecting a different outcome.

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