The War on Drug ADDICTS

Just a short update on the family. Everything is going well. Each of us sleep soundly at night. I am at a new job, Darlene is happy at her job. Alex is doing well, going to school, and training on his job as an industrial technician, with PLC programing and robotics. All of this has given me time to think.

My deliberations may be construed as political but I'd love to have someone explain to me how what we are doing is working.

The War on Drugs was formalized by President Richard Nixon in 1971. Since that time our nation has been hell bent on eradicating drugs. What we have been doing has NOT worked. I have come to realize our War on Drugs has been in reality a War on Drug Addicts.

If we truly were fighting a war on drugs we wouldn't be pouring over 80% of our resources into law enforcement. A real war on drugs would see 80% of our resources put into eduction, rehabilitation and treatment. A War on Drugs would include research and mechanisms to ensure approved drugs cannot be used illegally and could not enter the market until that was ensured. That would be a war on drugs. Reduce or eliminate the need and desire, in turn that reduces drug usage.

The way we have been fighting our War on Drugs since the 1970's and before has been a miserable failure.

The same applies to our War on Poverty. President Lyndon Johnson declared war on poverty in 1964. Since that time we haven't fought a War on Poverty. We have been fighting a War on Poor People. It's well known what it takes for people to escape poverty. Good educational programs and schools, opportunity and livable wage jobs. A effective War on Poverty would include a minimum wage that lifts people to a livable wage. A War on Poverty would involve improving our educational systems and making college affordable for the poorest or make it free. A War on Poverty would include a health care system that treats all people equally regardless of their financial ability to pay.

The way we have been fighting our War on Poverty since the 1960's and before has been a miserable failure.

How about our War on Terror? President George W. Bush declared a War on Terror in 2001. How effective have we been at that war. We are at war with people not like us. What are we doing to stop people not like us from using terrorism against us? We now have an entire terrorist state called ISIS. We are killing them and we are killing their families, relatives and friends. How does that encourage them to live in peace when we continue to kill their families and friends? Fighting a war on terror involves more than dropping bombs from drones. Fighting a war on terror involves finding out WHY people want to kill us and dealing with the root cause rather than focusing on killing every terrorist in the world and HOPING none of them breed our recruit others to carry on their mission.

Maybe it is time as a nation to begin fighting our wars differently.