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Crime, Health, Law

Looking at the Forty-Years’ Drug War

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Over at the Wall Street Journal, Nobel laureate in economics Gary Becker and Univ. of Chicago economist Kevin Murphy ask, “Have We Lost the War on Drugs?” Their answer is that we have, and what Richard Nixon began in 1971 has been a forty-years’ failure: President Richard Nixon declared a “war on drugs” in 1971.…

Crime, Health, Law, Laws/Regulations

Wisconsin and Marijuana and the Drug War

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Colorado and Washington State are backing away from the Drug War, having recently decriminalized minor marijuana offenses. The long-term prospects for widespread drug prohibition, of the kind we’ve had for a generation, aren’t good: it’s been too much money, and for no lasting gain. It’s a fair guess that by the 2033, the hundred-year anniversary…

Crime, Freedom of Speech, Politics

Simple Standards of Political Discourse

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One may express a few principles of political discourse succinctly: 1. Don’t destroy property. 2. Don’t use force against political opponents, either immediately or while destroying property. Over the last two years, countless Wisconsinites have voted, assembled, and protested with scarcely any property damage or violence. In this way, we have been a good example…

City, Crime

The Crude Illegitimacy of Vandalism

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There’s a story today that a large, illuminated American flag display in Whitewater was vandalized. The worst crimes are, surely, crimes of violence against people. Yet among property crimes, not involving harm to a person, there’s a particularly crude aspect to vandalism. It’s a purely destructive property crime. The large display that was damaged this…

Animals, Crime, Poll

Update: Trainer videotaped hitting horse to be cited for animal abuse

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Here’s an update on the story that prompted last week’s poll, Animal Abuse or Necessary Technique?, about a trainer recorded hitting a horse with a plastic bat. Seventy-seven percent of respondents thought that kind of treatment was abusive, about fifteen percent weren’t sure, and nearly eight percent said it wasn’t. Dane county officials will cite…

Crime, Laws/Regulations

The Wrong Strategy on Synthetic Marijuana

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When a society’s drug enforcement focuses on the supply of a drug, drug traffickers will (1) alter the concoctions they sell and (2) change the way they sell those concoctions. Sure enough, in response to a ban on synthetic marijuana, dealers are altering their formulas to circumvent existing local laws, and are now selling though…

Crime, Government Spending, Police

Officers Punished for Supporting Eased Drug Laws

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These officers can expect to be hounded out, as so much federal and state money depends, not on solving the problem of addiction, but on waging an ineffective, endless campaign, all the while insisting that this time – yes, this time – everything will be different and better. Those challenging their dismissals are buoyed by…

Crime

Governor Christie: The War on Drugs Isn’t Working

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More and more officials, including committed conservatives, are willing to concede what National Review declared in 1996: the War on Drugs is a failure, having achived too little while ignoring the real problem of addiction. Governor Christie: The War on Drugs Isn’t Working – YouTube.

Crime, Law

Bad News for Drug Warriors

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Turns out Newt Gingrich, the man of a thousand shifting, contradictory, and I’ll-considered opinions, wants to escalate the Drug War. If there’s worse news for drug warriors than this, short of an endorsement from Syria’s Assad, I can’t imagine what that worse news might be. In an interview with Yahoo!, Gingrich finds his model for…

Crime, Laws/Regulations, Liberty

Regulating Over Prohibiting Marijuana

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From last Monday’s national Libertarian Party message, there’s a proposal to regulate marijuana like wine. Whether it’s regulated like wine or more strictly, the trend against outright prohibition is unmistakable. See, Gallup Reports Record Number in Favor of Legalizing Marijuana Use. Of those who favor a complete prohibition, two things may be said: they often…