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The United States Government has no legitimate role in reducing the cultivation and production of illegal drugs in other countries, or in the dictation of drug policy to other governments.

All that the US Government, the DEA, and the symbiotic drug dealing/drug enforcement/drug treatment/ industries can speak of with authority is what has been proven ineffective and harmful. Drug policy in the United States can provide a shining negative example to the rest of the world, and the US needs to look to the examples set by other nations for fresh ideas.

The domestic policy that has done the most damage economically and socially to the United States, as well as to citizens of drug producing nations, is the "War on Drugs." Its main result, The Prison-Industrial Complex in America is an unqualified crime against humanity. The time for damage control is upon us, and the first order of business is harm reduction.

The US must first recover from eight years of misdirected aggression and war crimes abroad, and an unprecedented orgy of corruption, incompetence, greed and looting, against a background of utter disdain for individual liberties at home. If such a recovery is allowed to take place, America may regain some shred of credibility as a moral leader, and assist with the existing movement away from hysteria and ignorance and towards rational and cost effective drug policies.

The implosion of the US economy may superficially be attributed to "bubbles," and other such nonsense. However calmer minds on both the left and right saw the present crisis coming a long time ago. The money is gone, looted and flushed down a toilet by the Bush administration and its corporate sponsors. Obama and the democrats are upholding the corporate welfare pratices initiated during the Bush years. People still seem to believe that the US government can "fix the economy," and may be in for a major disappointment. In the context of an economic disaster in progress, the idea that the United States can act unilaterally as a global police agency, or even domestically as a public babysitter is ridiculous and obsolete.

FOUR LAME ARGUMENTS

There are a few standard arguments against the repeal of drug prohibition that are worthy of examination. All of them do not stand up to reason and reality. Here are four of them:

1. "Drugs are really, really bad."

Of course "hard drugs" are measurably harmful and lethal to large numbers of people worldwide. Drugs of abuse and addiction are a major threat

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