The Failed War On Drugs

This is the opening statement of the recent Report of the Global Commission on Drug Policy.

“The global war on drugs has failed, with devastating consequences for individuals and societies around the world. Fifty years after the initiation of the U.N. Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, and 40 years after President Nixon launched the U.S. government’s war on drugs, fundamental reforms in national and global drug control policies are urgently needed.”

Charles Blow, a New York Times OP-ED columnist, had this to say about it in today's column:

 

"So began a war that has waxed and waned, sputtered and sprinted, until it became an unmitigated disaster, an abomination of justice and a self-perpetuating, trillion-dollar economy of wasted human capital, ruined lives and decimated communities. An effort meant to save us from a form of moral decay became its own insidious brand of moral perversion — turning people who should have been patients into prisoners, criminalizing victimless behavior, targeting those whose first offense was entering the world wrapped in the wrong skin. It feeds our achingly contradictory tendency toward prudery and our overwhelming thirst for punishment."

 

The June 20, 2011 issue of Time Magazine also noted the "War on Drugs" has failed:

 

"A high profile commission led by a number of Latin American former Presidents released a report that found that nearly a half century of global policies to combat drugs has backfired, only driving rates of drug use up and creating a black market run by lethal cartels. Ther report suggests a total rethinking of repressive strategies in use for decades, urging the legalization of substances like cannabis."

 

Atheist Arrogance And Not Collecting Stamps

A recent Gallup poll found that 92% of Americans say they believe in god. Apparently, when Gallup first asked the question in 1944, it was 94%.

Also recently, Michael Nugent, an Irish writer, activist, and chairman of Atheist Ireland, spoke to an atheist convention in Dublin. I watched a YouTube video  http://youtu.be/THcLFZik7Dc where he addressed the question of why atheists are so arrogant. He answered by quoting someone who said, "Atheism is the arrogant belief that the universe was not created for our benefit". He went on to say, "That contrasts with the humble religious belief that the most powerful creature ever created the entire universe of over 100 billion galaxies, each containing over 100 billion stars like our sun, and then waited about 14 billion years and then picked one of those 100 billion galaxies, and then picked one of the 100 billion stars in that galaxy, and then picked one of the planets circling that star, and then picked one of the millions of species that existed on that planet, and then picked one individual of that species and said, 'I really have to tell that guy to stop gathering sticks on the Sabbath' ". He went on to note, "It's an extraordinary set of priorities for such a busy individual."

Another question he says he gets asked is why there is a need for atheist conventions. He answers it by saying atheism is like not collecting stamps. And there isn't a word for not collecting stamps. And there aren't conventions discussing not collecting stamps. And in an ideal world we wouldn't need a word for not collecting stamps. He says, "But atheism is like not collecting stamps in a society where almost everyone collects stamps. And most people believe the post office created the universe. And we have to examine our stamp collections before deciding what's right or wrong. Or deciding what laws to pass". He goes on to note that if we did live in such a stamp-collecting world there would be a word for not collecting stamps and a need for conventions discussing not collecting stamps.

A helpful audience member offered "aphilatelist!" to appreciative laughter. Which was the perfect word to describe that heretical non-stamp-collecting person from that imaginary world where almost everyone collects stamps.

A Victim Of Hate Finds Forgiveness

Rais Bhuyian was shot in the face by Mark Stroman shortly after the 9/11 terror attack as part of a claimed revenge spree. Since these events took place in Texas - a deep red state which loves to kill people to show that killing people is wrong - Mark Stroman is scheduled to die for the deaths of two South Asians during the shooting spree that left Bhuyian blind in one eye.

Bhuyian is a Muslim immigrant from Bangladesh who is now working hard to save the life of the man who shot him in the face.Stroman sounds like pretty much of a low life. He boasted from prison in rhyming verse about being the "Arab Slayer". He now says he was wrong and "made a terrible mistake out of love, grief and anger". Cynic that I am, I suspect it was born out of hate, bigotry, and stupidity.

Whatever you think of Rais Bhuyian, he adds a rare and refreshing example of being better than the sum of our parts.

A Mother Forgives Her Son's Killer

A week or so ago I heard on NPR's Morning Edition a story from the Story Corps section about a mother who lost her son to violence and her embrace of the man who, as a teenager, got into a fight and killed her son at a party. Normally this type of tale is shamelessly manipulated and calculated to wring the maximum amount of emotional response from the listener as part of an agenda. In this case, cynic and skeptic that I am, I did not detect any of that. It seemed an honest account of an unusual capacity for human forgiveness. It spoke of a mother's pain that led her to attempt contact with her son's killer near the end of his sentence when the 16-year old had spent half his life in prison. They now live next door to each other and seem to think of each other almost like mother and son. The young man is in college and she is anticipating seeing him graduate. She speaks of hoping to see him get married someday. Inspiring stuff indeed.