cannabisnews.com: Online 'Traffic' Online 'Traffic' Posted by FoM on March 17, 2001 at 12:19:21 PT By Anthony York Source: Salon.com The Washington Post reports that the Oscar-nominated movie "Traffic" is changing the way Americans think about the war on drugs. In a Senate hearing Wednesday, a bipartisan group of senators, including Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, explored alternatives to incarceration for nonviolent drug offenders. "In a case of policy imitating art, or at least echoing it, a Senate hearing room yesterday resounded with pleas for a 'balanced' and 'holistic' approach to fighting drugs in which treatment and education programs are elevated to the same importance as law enforcement agencies charged with targeting drug producers and importers," the Post reports. On the Web, the drug war is one of those odd issues where traditional party labels do not hold, where libertarianism seems to transcend standard partisan definitions. "Politicians use it to get re-elected. It is going to take a two-term President to try to stop it. It's going to take Republicans to stop it," writes one poster at -- http://www.lucianne.com/ "It's like Nixon going to China. Republican politicians are so invested in it that they think they really are 'fighting for the children.' (Or they think that they have convinced their voters that that's what they are doing.) ... This escalation that has been going on for 20 years is not the answer." In fact, the entire Lucianne.com thread is made up of conservatives in favor of ending the drug war. Over at CNN.com, a long-standing discussion on the drug war seems to find a similar consensus among conservatives, liberals and everyone in between. This post is indicative of the thread: The current War On People ... err ... Drugs ... has been a complete waste of time that's cost over $600 Billion. Drug use is at an all time high, and it's time that the failing policy is changed. The only thing it has accomplished, is creating a welfare system for police. I believe all drugs should be legalized and sold only to adults. Kids have easier access to drugs than they do alcohol, as you can get drugs in almost every school in the nation. (You can't buy alcohol at school.) Legalizing drugs would take them out of the drug dealers hands and put them into a controlled distribution system. This kind of system would do something that drug dealers don't do: ID their customers. Taking drugs away from drug dealers would also bring the black market to its knees. No profit, no market. Drug related crimes would also drop significantly. Source: Salon.com (US Web)Author: Anthony YorkPublished: March 16, 2001Copyright: 2001 Salon.comAddress: 22 4th Street 16th Floor San Francisco, CA 94103Fax: (415) 645-9204Contact: salon salonmagazine.comWebsite: http://www.salon.com/Forum: http://tabletalk.salon.com/Feedback: http://www.salon.com/contact/letters/Related Article & Web Site:Traffic Official Web Site http://www.traffic-movie.com/In Senate Debate on Drugs, 'Traffic' Moves Minds http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread9014.shtmlCannabisNews Articles - Traffichttp://cannabisnews.com/thcgi/search.pl?K=traffic Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #2 posted by Dan B on March 18, 2001 at 13:39:55 PT: Well-stated, dddd And I agree. The likelihood of Goerge W. Bush ending the war on drug users--even in the waning hours of a second term (God forbid!)--is small indeed. I would be less surprised if he escalated the war on drug users to include concentration camps and mass genocide a la WWII Germany. Forgive me if I sound a bit harsh, but I've been reading Drug Warriors and Their Prey, and I feel now more strongly than ever that this whole thing is a calculated, massive plan to take totalitarian control over all American citizens. Believe me, there are plenty of ignorant people out there who would support mass genocide for all drug users right now. They believe that strongly in the propaganda they've been fed for the past 30 years.Bush is from Texas, the state that has officially killed more of its citizens than all other states combined during the past five years, scores of which were under his direct control as governor. Does anyone really think he has any qualms with annihilating hundreds of thousands of people in the name of the war on drug users?Dan B [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by dddd on March 18, 2001 at 00:30:21 PT pretend everthing is normal I like the fact that the shrub,and his cohorts are going to find it increasinglyakward to muffle the new critics of the drug war...Notice how we have heard almostnothing from the new regime concerning this issue.Traffic has had a major impact on public opinion and awareness,yet nothing of anysignificance,or substance has been heard from the Whorehouse,,(oops,,I meant to say whitehouse).A good example is the absence of a new czar,or any discussion related to the matter...It'sfor sure though,that behind the the scenes,the best spin doctors that our taxes can buy,arescrambling to somehow patch the cracks in the dike.They are trying their best to gussy upthe near corpse of the drug war,and they will be parading it about like Bernie,in "Weekend atBernies",claiming it's not dead,,,it just doesnt feel that good.All this is not as promising as it seems though,because the Evil Empire has awesome power,and numerous resources,and they will survive in the true tradition of the vermin that they are...............dddd [ Post Comment ] Post Comment Name: Optional Password: E-Mail: Subject: Comment: [Please refrain from using profanity in your message] Link URL: Link Title: