This web site is certainly well titled. It is a rant about the injustices of U.S. (and world)government policy on drugs, or more accurately, to quote from the site:
“There’s a war going on. It destroys lives and families, spawns violence, suspends civil liberties, tramples on the infirm, locks up millions of peaceful citizens, costs billions, and subjugates reason with fear. This blog looks at the front lines of the drug war, and adds an occassional rant to the call for peace.”
Clearly this site has a very narrow focus and thus is likely to appeal to a very select audience. Regardless of your position on drugs however, the articles and information Pete (who is a member of Educators for Sensible Drug Policy, and faculty advisor for Mobilizing Activists and Students for Hemp at Illinois State University) quotes is rather disturbing, such as this example:
“District Attorney Jerry Wilson of Watauga County, North Carolina has come up with some unique charges in the case of the bust of a methamphetamines lab: two counts of manufacturing a nuclear or chemical weapon. That’s right, the drug defendant is being charged under a new Weapons of Mass Destruction law passed after 9/11, which carries a penalty of 12 years to life on each count, which includes “any substance that is designed or has the capability to cause death or serious injury and … is or contains toxic or poisonous chemicals or their immediate precursors.” Philip Morris, watch out! That is pretty creepy…
Another good quote from (Sheriff Bill Masters, author of Drug War Addiction, from an interview with Alternet): “After a while, I saw that we spend more and more money and arrest more and more people and have more and more drugs. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that this policy is not working. People need to look at this rationally and ask if this is effective. Do we have a healthier society because of drug prohibition? Drug dealers are certainly wealthy because of it. The reason drugs have expanded so much is there is a profit to be made in drug dealing. We need to eliminate that profit motive. ”
The site looks fine… Nothing new or innovative, just the goods in a clean functional format, and there is nothing wrong with that. Some of the graphics included with the blog entries (whether intentionally or not) I found amusing…Such as a DEA boot stomping a marijuana leaf. -smirk- There are links to other similarly themed sites and you can comment on the blog entries.
If you are interested in how The Man is spending your money in “the war against drugs” then you will likely find this site to be a great resource. All in all the web site accomplishes what it is meant to in a clear format. The articles are well researched and there is usually many links within the blog entries to ‘read more about’ the topic. It is clear to me that some thought and work has gone into this web site. I’ll end with some quotes from my favourite entry:
“Enjoy Better Sex! Legalize and Tax Marijuana
Save our Taxes! Legalize and Tax Marijuana
Protect our Children! Legalize and Tax Marijuana”
Drug WarRant