“There is a safe, nontoxic drug called naloxone that can instantly reverse opioid overdose and prevent most of these deaths. But the drug war interferes with saving overdose victims in two ways: first, because witnesses to overdose fear prosecution, they often don't call for help until it's too late. Second, because the drug war supports the belief that making naloxone available over-the-counter or with opioid prescriptions would encourage drug use, the antidote is available only through harm reduction programs like needle exchanges or in some state programs aimed at drug users.” WayFirstsTwoWarStatesHelpingUseBeliefSupportDrugSafeLateProgramVictimAvailableHarmSavingWitnessToo LateUsersReverseInterfereAntidoteTwo WaysNeedlesReductionPrescriptionsWar On DrugsProsecutionDrug UseOverdoseOpioids Author:Maia Szalavitz
“When President Nixon declared war on drugs on June 17, 1971, about 110 people per 100,000 in the population were incarcerated. Today, we have 2-3 million prisoners: 743 people per 100,000 in the population. The U.S. has 5% of the world's population, but 25% of its prisoners. As Senator Jim Webb once put it, Either we are home to the most evil people on earth or we are doing something different and vastly counterproductive.” PeopleWorldDifferentWarHomeTodayEarthEvilPresidentMillionsDrugPopulationPrisonerSenatorsJuneWar On DrugsEvil PeopleCounterproductivePresident Nixon Author:Maia Szalavitz
“Going to America increased the build up on me, especially as the war was going on there. In a way we'd turned out to be a Trojan horse. The 'Fab Four' moved right to the top and then sang about drugs and sex and then I got into more and more heavy stuff and that's when they started dropping us.” WayWarAmericaSexStuffFourDrugHorseMovedHeavyDroppingTrojansTrojan Horse Author:John Lennon
“So when I say we had been the cowards, yes, that's what I meant, we as a society. And that's everybody, including myself. I had been screaming about the drug war and this war and other wars. I should have been more on terrorism, too. So should you, so should everybody.” ShouldHas BeensWarSocietyDrugShould HaveIncludingTerrorismCowardShould Have BeenWar On Drugs Author:Bill Maher
“I can't believe a war against drugs when they have anti-drug commercials on TV all day long followed by This Bud is for you.” BelieveLongI CanWarTvsDrugBud Author:Bill Hicks
“The war on drugs to me is absolutely phoney, its so obviously phoney, ok? It's a war against our civil rights, that's all it is. They're using it to make us afraid to go out at night, afraid of each other, so that we lock ourselves in our homes and they get suspending our rights one by one.” WarHomeNightRightsDrugCivil RightsLocksWar On Drugs Author:Bill Hicks
“When you have war, whether it's a war against drugs, war against terrorism, war overseas, the mentality of the people change and they're more willing to sacrifice their liberties in order to be safe and secure.” PeopleWarOrderLibertySacrificeWillingDrugSafeTerrorismSecureMentalityWar On Drugs Author:Ron Paul
“The federal government overrules state laws where state laws permit medicinal marijuana for people dying of cancer. The federal government goes in and arrests these people, put them in prison with mandatory, sometimes life sentences. This war on drugs is totally out of control. If you want to regulate cigarettes and alcohol and drugs, it should be at the state level.” PeopleIfsWantShouldWarSometimesStatesGovernmentLawLevelsDyingDrugPrisonCancerSentencesAlcoholPermitMarijuanaCigaretteFederal GovernmentWar On DrugsSometimes In LifePeople DyingCigarettes And Alcohol Author:Ron Paul
“We have a problem with drugs? Let's declare war on drugs! We have a problem with crime? Let's declare war on crime! We have a problem with violence? Let's declare war on violence! The deeply ingrained American attitude that we can solve any problem w/enough force creates, feeds, & rewards the epidemic of violence we are currently experiencing.” WarEnoughProblemForceAttitudeViolenceCrimeDrugRewardsSolveEpidemicsWar On Drugs Author:Peter McWilliams
“I'm serious. I've got to get people to realize that the government is full of it. Republicans and Democrats want to argue over stuff that's not important, like gay marriage or the war in Iraq or illegal immigration... When I run - if I run - we're going to talk about real issues like improving our schools, cleaning up our neighborhoods of drugs and crime and making Alabama a better place for all people.” PeopleIfsWantImportantWarRealGovernmentRunningSchoolStuffRealizingIssuesCrimeSeriousRepublicanGayDrugDemocratIraqArguingImmigrationNeighborhoodIllegalImprovingBetter PlaceCleaningGay MarriageAlabamaIllegal ImmigrationCleaning Up Author:Charles Barkley
“Look at all the drug busts all over the country. There must be an audience there somewhere. My feeling is that if we're losing the war on drugs, let's do a movie for the enemy.” IfsLooksWarCountryFeelingsEnemyAudienceDrugLosingWar On Drugs Author:Tommy Chong
“I'm finding myself really angry over spending and the deficit. I'm finding myself really angry over what's happening in the Middle East, the decision to stay in Afghanistan indefinitely. I'm angry about cap and trade. And I've been on record for a long time on the failed war on drugs.” LongWarDecisionRecordsMiddleDrugFindingsLong TimeHappeningsAngryTradeSpendingEastAfghanistanMiddle EastDeficitCapsWar On DrugsFinding Myself Author:Gary Johnson
“Our biggest art forms are film and television, and there hasn't been a great film about 9/11 yet, nor has there been a great television series. Something like The Wire gives us a rich and fully achieved picture of the wasteful, cruel War on Drugs; something like The White Ribbon gives a perspective on World War I that could only have been presented long after the event itself.” WorldGivingLongHas BeensArtWarFilmFormWhiteRichEventsTelevisionPerspectiveDrugSeriesWar Of The WorldsWorld War IWireWar On DrugsRibbonsGreat FilmFilm And Television Author:Teju Cole
“Since the Second World War, rates of common mental illness (depression and anxiety) have been increasing in the industrialized nations, whereas rates of recovery from severe mental illness have not improved despite the availability of apparently effective therapies such as antipsychotic drugs.” WorldHas BeensWarNationsCommonDrugAnxietyRateIllnessMental IllnessRecoveryDespiteTherapyWar Of The WorldsSevereSecond World WarCommon ManAvailabilityDepression And Anxiety Author:Richard Bentall
“We're talking about a prison-industrial complex. We're talking about a war on drugs that's generating unprecedented levels of incarcerated folk. We're talking about dilapidated housing. We're talking about joblessness and underemployment.” WarLevelsTalkingDrugPrisonComplexesFolksJoblessnessHousingUnprecedentedWar On DrugsUnderemployment Author:Cornel West
“I have a regret that the entire discussion [with El Chapo]... ignores its purpose, which was to try to contribute to this discussion about the policy in the War on Drugs.” WarRegretDrugDebateInterviewsSparksI RegretWar On Drugs Author:Sean Penn
“In 1970, there were approximately 330,000 prisoners in the US. Today there are 2.3 million behind bars - more than any country in the history of the world. In 2009 alone there were 1.6 million drug-related arrests in the U.S. 1.3 million of these were for possession of drugs alone. Over half were related to marijuana. The forty-year war on drugs has cost $2.5 trillion.” WorldYearsWarCountryTodayBehindsHalfMillionsCostDrugPossessionBarsRelatedFortyPrisonerMarijuanaWorld HistoryWar On Drugs Author:Sam Branson
“I am not proposing to replace war with peace. I propose to replace war with a smarter fight. A fight using other instruments, more intelligent instruments to convince people not to use drugs.” PeopleWarUseFightingDrugIntelligentInstrumentsConvinceSmarterPropose Author:Fernando Henrique Cardoso
“Just plain logic says that the war on drugs does not work. It absolutely does not work. We have this highly addictive legal drug called tobacco which has never resulted in people being sent to prison, but there has been a massive reduction in its consumption simply because responsible adults looking at their own bodies have said they don't want to do that to themselves.” PeopleWantDoeHas BeensSaidWarBodyDrugAdultsLogicResponsiblePrisonMassiveWorking ItConsumptionTobaccoReductionWar On Drugs Author:Graham Hancock
“I think it is now widely understood that the so-called "War on Drugs" has largely been a failure. Too many people have developed criminal records for smoking marijuana. Too many people have gone to jail for nonviolent crimes. So I think it's important for us to rethink the war on drugs.” PeopleThinkingImportantWarGoneRecordsCrimeDrugUnderstoodCriminalsSmokingJailMarijuanaWar On Drugs Author:Bernie Sanders
“The war on drugs has gone on for about forty-five, fifty years - and it's been a complete failure. If you had a business that was failing so badly, you would change course. And it's just incredible that governments continue along the same course.” IfsYearsWarGovernmentCoursesGoneFiveFailingDrugIncrediblesFiftyFortyWar On Drugs Author:Richard Branson
“The whole drug war is nothing but a pretext to increase police power and personnel, and that, of course, is dead wrong. So many created imagined drug offenses.” WarWholeCoursesDrugIncreasePoliceOffenseWar On DrugsPretextPersonnelPolice Power Author:William S. Burroughs
“On average, drug prisoners spend more time in federal prison than rapists, who often get out on early release because of the overcrowding in prison caused by the Drug War.” WarHumorDrugPrisonAverageAlcoholReleaseMore TimePrisonerAlcoholicsWar On DrugsDrug ProhibitionOvercrowding Author:Michael Badnarik
“People lose their lives in the drug wars and you don't have to prove it to yourself because others have proved it for you.” PeopleWarLosesDrugProveProve ItWar On Drugs Author:Lemmy Kilmister
“If we would end the war on drugs, you would see the end of the militarization of our police forces and you would see an end to a lot of the shooting violence that's going on when people are being pulled over for traffic stops and then suddenly executed right in the street.” PeopleIfsWarEndsForceViolenceStreetsDrugPoliceShootingTrafficWar On DrugsPolice Force Author:Jesse Ventura
“The war on drugs is identical to the prohibition of alcohol: all you're doing is making criminals rich and powerful.” WarPowerfulRichDrugAlcoholCriminalsIdenticalProhibitionWar On Drugs Author:Jesse Ventura
“The war on drugs causes other supplemental crimes to take place because of the original illegality of it. But then again, that's the other reason that they're fighting it is the corporate prisons they have now. Because they've privatized all our prisons, corporations have to make money, and the only way they can make money is, I believe, the prisons have to be at least 80-90 percent full. That's why the United States - which is home of the brave, land of the free - we have more people in prison than any other country in the world.” PeopleWorldWayBelieveWarCountryStatesReasonHomeFightingI BelieveCausesUnitedUnited StatesLandCrimeDrugPercentOriginalsPrisonBraveMaking MoneyCorporateCorporationsOther CountriesWar On DrugsLand Of The Free Author:Jesse Ventura
“That's why you need the war on drugs to put all these pot smokers in prison so that the prisons remain full and the corporations remain profitable. It's a slippery slope.” NeedsWarDrugPrisonCorporationsPotProfitableWar On DrugsSlipperySlopesSmokersSlippery Slope Author:Jesse Ventura
“[T]he Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar Left, and black people. You understand what I'm saying? We knew we couldn't make it illegal to be either against the war or black. But by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.” PeopleKnowsTwoWarHomeLyingNightCoursesHouseLeftBlackCommunityWhiteLeaderEnemyBreakDrugNewsMeetingsCampaignsEveningIllegalWhite HouseBlack PeopleAntiwarMarijuanaAssociatesHippieHeroinVilify Author:John Ehrlichman
“It's a war to control our children. State control through drugs, just as practiced in the Soviet Union. With Hillary [Clinton] and Tipper [Gore] leading the charge!” ChildrenWarStatesDrugOur ChildrenUnionsClintonSovietSoviet UnionGore Author:Michael Savage
“Today, aid to Colombia is given under the pretext of a drug war. That's pretty hard to take seriously. Ten years ago, Amnesty International flatly called it a myth.” YearsWarHardTodayGivenDrugTenYears AgoInternationalMythAidsWar On DrugsPretextColombiaAmnestyAmnesty International Author:Noam Chomsky
“I'd never written nonfiction about the war on drugs, but I know a tremendous amount about it: I taught a class on it for seven years. I was putting into words the stuff I was teaching, and I was writing it up and thought, "Dude, you're writing a book."” KnowsWritingYearsBookWarStuffClassWrittenTeachingTaughtAmountDrugSevenNonfictionSeven YearsWriting A BookWar On Drugs Author:Ayelet Waldman
“I was a federal public defender during the most important years of the drug war. I saw people go to jail for nothing, and go to jail for a long time.” PeopleYearsLongImportantWarSawsDrugLong TimeJailDefendersWar On Drugs Author:Ayelet Waldman
“States began to realize how much money they were spending on incarceration and how much money they were spending fighting this ludicrous war on drugs that was actually counterproductive.” WarStatesFightingRealizingDrugSpendingWar On DrugsIncarcerationCounterproductive Author:Ayelet Waldman
“I really think we were charting a course to having a more sane response to mass incarceration, to drug use, and to understanding that the war on drugs has resulted only in the empowerment of vast criminal enterprises and the destruction of democracies around the world. And all that is coming to a miserable, horrific halt.” ThinkingWorldWarUseCoursesUnderstandingDemocracyDrugMassEmpowermentDestructionResponseCriminalsAround The WorldMiserableEnterpriseSaneHaltWar On DrugsHorrificIncarcerationDrug UseMass IncarcerationCharting Author:Ayelet Waldman
“The idea that [Jeff Sessions] is the man who is going to end the progress on the drug war makes me want to rip my hair out, every carefully nurtured curl on my head.” MenWantIdeasWarEndsProgressHe ManHairDrugSessionRipCurlsWar On Drugs Author:Ayelet Waldman
“Mandatory minimum sentences give no discretion to judges about the amount of time that the person should receive once a guilty verdict is rendered. Harsh mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenses were passed by Congress in the 1980s as part of the war on drugs and the "get tough" movement, sentences that have helped to fuel our nation's prison boom and have also greatly aggravated racial disparities, particularly in the application of mandatory minimum sentences for crack cocaine.” GivingShouldPersonsWarNationsMovementJudgingAmountDrugToughPrisonCongressSentencesGuiltyFuelCracksApplicationMinimumOffenseHarshCocaineDiscretionWar On DrugsVerdictDisparityAggravated Author:Michelle Alexander
“I definitely believe in legalizing drugs. It does take the mystery away. It takes the money away, so suddenly there are no drug wars. If you're a junkie, you can get help easier.” IfsBelieveDoeWarHelpingMysteryEasierDrugWar On DrugsJunkieLegalizing Drugs Author:Winona Ryder
“The wave of punitiveness that washed over the United States with the rise of the drug war and the get tough movement really flooded our schools. Schools, caught up in this maelstrom, began viewing children as criminals or suspects, rather than as young people with an enormous amount of potential struggling in their own ways and their own difficult context to make it and hopefully thrive. We began viewing the youth in schools as potential violators rather than as children needing our guidance.” PeopleWayChildrenWarStatesSchoolYoungDifficultUnitedUnited StatesStruggleMovementYouthAmountDrugToughWaveCaughtCriminalsEnormousHopefullyGuidanceThriveSuspectsCaught UpWar On DrugsMaelstrom Author:Michelle Alexander
“The bigger picture is that over the last 30 years, we have spent $1 trillion waging a drug war that has failed in any meaningful way to reduce drug addiction or abuse, and yet has siphoned an enormous amount of resources away from other public services, especially education.” WayYearsWarLastsAmountDrugResourcesAbuseBiggerAddictionMeaningfulEnormousPublic ServiceDrug AddictionWar On DrugsDrug AddictBigger Picture Author:Michelle Alexander
“The war on drugs has been the engine of mass incarceration. Drug convictions alone constituted about two-thirds of the increase in the federal prison population and more than half of the increase in the state prison population between 1985 and 2000, the period of our prison system's most dramatic expansion.” Has BeensTwoWarStatesHalfPeriodsDrugMassThirdsIncreasePrisonPopulationConvictionDramaticEnginesExpansionWar On DrugsIncarcerationMass IncarcerationPrison SystemPrison Population Author:Michelle Alexander
“Most Americans violate drug laws in their lifetime, but the enemy in this war has been racially defined. Not by accident, the drug war has been waged almost exclusively in poor communities of color, even though studies have consistently shown - for decades - the people of color are no more likely to use or sell illegal drugs than whites.” PeopleHas BeensWarUseLawCommunityPoorEnemyStudyColorDrugSellsLifetimeAccidentsDecadesDefinedIllegalConsistentlyWar On DrugsIllegal DrugsDrug Laws Author:Michelle Alexander
“Defenders of the system will counter by saying this drug war has been aimed at violent crime. But that is not the case. The overwhelming majority of people arrested in the drug war have been arrested for relatively minor, non-violent drug offenses.” PeopleHas BeensWarCasesCrimeDrugMajorityViolentOverwhelmingMinorsOffenseArrestedDefendersWar On DrugsNon ViolentViolent Crimes Author:Michelle Alexander
“In the 1990s - the period of the greatest escalation of the drug war - nearly 80 percent of the increase in drug arrests was for marijuana possession, a drug less harmful than alcohol or tobacco and at least, if not more, prevalent in middle class white neighborhoods and college campuses as it is in the 'hood.” IfsWarWhiteClassMiddleCollegePeriodsDrugPercentIncreasePossessionAlcoholMiddle ClassNeighborhoodMarijuanaTobaccoHoodCampusWar On DrugsCollege CampusEscalation Author:Michelle Alexander
“By waging the drug war and "getting tough" almost exclusively in the 'hood, we've managed to create a vast new racial undercaste in an astonishingly short period of time.” WarPeriodsDrugToughHoodWar On Drugs Author:Michelle Alexander
“Many people don't realize that financial incentives have been built into the drug war that guarantee that law enforcement will continue to arrest extraordinary numbers of people, particularly in poor communities of color, for minor drug offenses that get ignored on the other side of town.” PeopleHas BeensWarLawSidesRealizingCommunityPoorNumbersColorDrugBuiltTownsExtraordinaryFinancialGuaranteesMinorsOffenseIgnoredLaw EnforcementEnforcementIncentivesWar On DrugsGuarantees That Author:Michelle Alexander
“In the war on drugs, state and state law enforcement agencies have been rewarded in cash by the federal government - through programs like the Edward Byrne Memorial Grant program - for the sheer numbers of people arrested for drug offenses.” PeopleHas BeensWarStatesGovernmentLawNumbersDrugProgramAgencyGrantsCashSheerOffenseFederal GovernmentLaw EnforcementEnforcementMemorialArrestedWar On Drugs Author:Michelle Alexander
“If the drug war was waged in those communities it would spark such outrage that the war would end overnight. This literal war is waged in segregated, impoverished communities defined largely by race, and the targets are the most vulnerable, least powerful people in our society.” PeopleIfsWarEndsCommunityPowerfulRaceDrugVulnerableDefinedOur SocietyTargetSparksOutrageLiteralWar On Drugs Author:Michelle Alexander
“For those who say that the war on drugs and the system of mass incarceration really isn't about race, I say there is no way we would allow the majority of young white men to be swept into the criminal justice system for minor drug offenses, branded criminals and felons, and then stripped of their basis civil and human rights while young black men who are engaged in the same activity trot off to college. That would never be accepted as the norm.” MenWayHumansWarYoungBlackJusticeWhiteRaceRightsCollegeDrugActivityMassBasesMajorityHuman RightsCriminalsAcceptedEngagedMinorsOffenseWhite ManNormJustice SystemWar On DrugsCriminal JusticeIncarcerationCriminal Justice SystemBrandedMass IncarcerationFelonsOff To College Author:Michelle Alexander
“The fact that people of all colors have been ensnared by the drug war helps to preserve the system as a whole from serious critique, as it creates the impression - at a glance - that the war is being waged in an unbiased manner, even when nothing could be further from the truth.” PeopleHas BeensWarWholeFactsHelpingColorSeriousDrugImpressionPreservesGlancesCritiqueWar On DrugsUnbiased Author:Michelle Alexander