Ron Paul on Drugs Republican Representative (TX-14)

Repeal most federal drug laws; blacks are treated unfairly

Q: If you are elected president in 2008, what positive and significant legacy, if any, will you leave for Black Americans?

A: I would like to believe that if we had a freer society, it would take care of Blacks and whites and everybody equally because we're all individuals. To me, that is so important. But if we had equal justice under the law, I think it would be a big improvement. If we had probably a repeal of most of the federal laws on drugs and the unfairness on how Blacks are treated with these drugs laws, it would be a tremendous improvement. And also, I think that if you're going to have prosperity, it serves everybody. And if this is done by emphasizing property rights and freedom of the individuals, making sure that the powerful special interests don't control Washington, that the military industrial complex doesn't suck away all the wealth of the country, and then we would have prosperity.

Source: 2007 GOP Presidential Forum at Morgan State University Sep 27, 2007

Inner-city minorities are punished unfairly in war on drugs

Q: What policy would you support to guarantee young Black and Latino men a fairer equal justice system?

A: A system designed to protect individual liberty will have no punishments for any group and no privileges. Today, I think inner-city folks and minorities are punished unfairly in the war on drugs. For instance, Blacks make up 14% of those who use drugs, yet 36 percent of those arrested are Blacks and it ends up that 63% of those who finally end up in prison are Blacks. This has to change. We don't have to have more courts and more prisons. We need to repeal the whole war on drugs. It isn't working. We have already spent over $400 billion since the early 1970s, and it is wasted money. Prohibition didn't work. Prohibition on drugs doesn't work. So we need to come to our senses. And, absolutely, it's a disease. We don't treat alcoholics like this. This is a disease, and we should orient ourselves to this. That is one way you could have equal justice under the law.

Source: 2007 GOP Presidential Forum at Morgan State University Sep 27, 2007

$500B on War on Drugs since 1970s has been a total failure

On the issue of drugs, we have spent nearly five hundred billion dollars on the War on Drugs, since the 1970s. Total failure. Some day, we have to admit it. Today, we have the federal government going into states that have legal medical marijuana, arresting people--undermining state laws--arresting people who use marijuana when they're dying with cancer and AIDS, and it's done with, as a compassionate conservative. And it doesn't work.

What it does, it removes the ability to states to do their things, and also introduces the idea that it's the federal government that will get to decide whether we get to take vitamins, and alternative medical care, or whatever. Most of our history, believe it or not, had no drug laws. Prohibition has been an absolute failure for alcohol. Drug addiction is a medical problem. It's not a problem of the law.

Source: 2007 GOP Values Voter Presidential Debate Sep 17, 2007

Legalize industrial hemp

Paul believes in the legalization of industrial hemp. Paul supported HR 3037 to amend the Controlled Substances Act to exclude industrial hemp from the definition of marijuana. This bill would have given the states the power to regulate farming of hemp. The measure would be a first since the national prohibition of industrial hemp farming in the United States. He favors the legalization of marijuana. Source: SourceWatch.org Jan 22, 2007

Voted NO on military border patrols to battle drugs & terrorism.

Amendment to set up a task force on counter-terrorism and drug interdiction and allow military personnel to help patrol U.S. borders. Bill HR 2586 ; vote number 2001-356 on Sep 25, 2001

Voted NO on subjecting federal employees to random drug tests.

Drug Demand Reduction Act: Vote on an amendment to require that anyone hired by the Federal Government is subject to random, unannounced drug testing. Reference: Amendment by Taylor, D-MS; bill by Portman, R-OH.; Bill HR 4550 ; vote number 1998-443 on Sep 16, 1998

War on Drugs has abused Bill of Rights .

Paul adopted the Republican Liberty Caucus Position Statement:

As adopted by the General Membership of the Republican Liberty Caucus at its Biannual Meeting held December 8, 2000.
• WHEREAS libertarian Republicans believe in limited government, individual freedom and personal responsibility;
• WHEREAS we believe that government has no money nor power not derived from the consent of the people;
• WHEREAS we believe that people have the right to keep the fruits of their labor; and
• WHEREAS we believe in upholding the US Constitution as the supreme law of the land;

BE IT RESOLVED that the Republican Liberty Caucus endorses the following [among its] principles:
1. While recognizing the harm that drug abuse causes society, we also recognize that government drug policy has been ineffective and has led to frightening abuses of the Bill of Rights which could affect the personal freedom of any American. We, therefore, support alternatives to the War on Drugs.
2. Per the tenth amendment to the US Constitution, matters such as drugs should be handled at the state or personal level.
3. All laws which give license to violate the Bill of Rights should be repealed.

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War On Terror?
It's As Bad As War on Drugs

By Rep. Ron Paul

I would like to draw an analogy between the drug war and the war against terrorism. In the last 30 years, we have spent hundreds of billions of dollars on a failed war on drugs. This war has been used as an excuse to attack our liberties and privacy. It has been an excuse to undermine our financial privacy while promoting illegal searches and seizures with many innocent people losing their lives and property. Seizure and forfeiture have harmed a great number of innocent American citizens.

Another result of this unwise war has been the corruption of many law enforcement officials. It is well known that with the profit incentives so high, we are not even able to keep drugs out of our armed prisons. Making our whole society a prison would not bring success to this floundering war on drugs. Sinister motives of the profiteers and gangsters, along with prevailing public ignorance, keep this futile war going. Illegal and artificially high priced drugs drive the underworld to produce, sell and profit from this social depravity. Failure to recognize that drug addiction, like alcoholism, is a disease rather than a crime, encourage the drug warriors in efforts that have not and will not ever work. We learned the hard way about alcohol prohibition and crime, but we have not yet seriously considered it in the ongoing drug war.

Corruption associated with the drug dealers is endless. It has involved our police, the military, border guards and the judicial system. It has affected government policy and our own CIA. The artificially high profits from illegal drugs provide easy access to funds for rogue groups involved in fighting civil wars throughout the world. Ironically, opium sales by the Taliban and artificially high prices helped to finance their war against us. In spite of the incongruity, we rewarded the Taliban this spring with a huge cash payment for promises to eradicate some poppy fields. Sure.

For the first 140 years of our history, we had essentially no Federal war on drugs, and far fewer problems with drug addiction and related crimes was a consequence. In the past 30 years, even with the hundreds of millions of dollars spent on the drug war, little good has come of it. We have vacillated from efforts to stop the drugs at the source to severely punishing the users, yet nothing has improved. This war has been behind most big government policy powers of the last 30 years, with continual undermining of our civil liberties and personal privacy. Those who support the IRS's efforts to collect maximum revenues and root out the underground economy, have welcomed this intrusion, even if the drug underworld grows in size and influence.

The drug war encourages violence. Government violence against nonviolent users is notorious and has led to the unnecessary prison overpopulation. Innocent taxpayers are forced to pay for all this so-called justice. Our eradication project through spraying around the world, from Colombia to Afghanistan, breeds resentment because normal crops and good land can be severely damaged. Local populations perceive that the efforts and the profiteering remain somehow beneficial to our own agenda in these various countries.

Drug dealers and drug gangs are a consequence of our unwise approach to drug usage. Many innocent people are killed in the crossfire by the mob justice that this war generates. But just because the laws are unwise and have had unintended consequences, no excuses can ever be made for the monster who would kill and maim innocent people for illegal profits. But as the violent killers are removed from society, reconsideration of our drug laws ought to occur.

A similar approach should be applied to our war on those who would terrorize and kill our people for political reasons. If the drug laws and the policies that incite hatred against the United States are not clearly understood and, therefore, never changed, the number of drug criminals and terrorists will only multiply. Although this unwise war on drugs generates criminal violence, the violence can never be tolerated. Even if repeal of drug laws would decrease the motivation for drug dealer violence, this can never be an excuse to condone the violence. On the short term, those who kill must be punished, imprisoned, or killed. Long term though, a better understanding of how drug laws have unintended consequences is required if we want to significantly improve the situation and actually reduce the great harms drugs are doing to our society.

The same is true in dealing with those who so passionately hate us that suicide becomes a just and noble cause in their effort to kill and terrorize us. Without some understanding of what has brought us to the brink of a worldwide conflict in reconsidering our policies around the globe, we will be no more successful in making our land secure and free than the drug war has been in removing drug violence from our cities and towns.

Without some understanding why terrorism is directed towards the United States, we may well build a prison for ourselves with something called homeland security while doing nothing to combat the root causes of terrorism. Let us hope we figure this out soon. We have promoted a foolish and very expensive domestic war on drugs for more than 30 years. It has done no good whatsoever. I doubt our Republic can survive a 30-year period of trying to figure out how to win this guerilla war against terrorism. Hopefully, we will all seek the answers in these trying times with an open mind and understanding. CP

Ron Paul is a libertarian/Republican who

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Briefly Patriotic - Ron Paul - Drug Kingpin

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http://wonkette.com/politics/drugs/ron-paul-let-the-people-have-cocaine-331867.php

Ron Paul:  Let the People Have Cocaine!

John Stossel and his mustache interview Ron Paul.  Paul wants the government out of our personal habits so we can do all the coke, smack and pot we want.  Hooray!  Oh, he says the gays should do whatever the he** they want.  Just don't, you know, tread on me.

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http://www.spikedhumor.com/articles/135527/Ron_Paul_On_Sex_Drugs_And_Marijuana_Part_1.html

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Yes, I admit it.  I love my drugs more than keeping my hard-earned wages, enjoying my right to privacy and gun ownership, being able to hold those who are corrupt accountable, securing our borders, and putting the federal government back in its place- out of my life.  Give me my crack, my heroin, and my LSD!

Seriously though.  What is responsible for far more deaths in the US than illegal drugs?  Alcohol!  What happened with Prohibition?  The same messes that the "War on Drugs" has created.  Even the drug dealers and lords admit that the only way to defeat them is to legalize the stuff.  Then let the people decide for themselves if they want to ruin their lives with it.

This is a moral issue, not a criminal one.  Therefore, the 10th Amendment takes precedence and the feds shouldn't even be sticking their nose in it. 

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Seriously, let's compound the problem.  

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What a concept, let the states handle it instead of the feds...kinda like they've had to handle the illegal immigrant problem since the feds were UNABLE or UNWILLING to enforce the federal laws.   Hey, I think we are on to something.  The feds won't handle illegal immigration, protect our borders or get a handle on the "drug war".  hmmmmmmm  War on terror, war on drugs, yet no border enforcement?  hmmmmm

Cool, give em all the drugs they want, but then I would have to get a permit to carry so when some addict totals my vehicle and kills my family then I can extract my own justice on the spot.

Gee and all the illegal aliens have all the drugs and guns and sex slaves we could ever want.  Let's rename it The United States of Sodom and Gommorah.  USSG for short.  A pot in every chicken.

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(CM) theSuperPatriot said:

Briefly Patriotic - Ron Paul - Drug Kingpin

Ron Paul wants to be the Dope Dealer in Chief.  He thinks should everyone grow as much marihuana as they want to.  He claims that marihuana would make more ethanol than corn but he really just wants to destroy America because he hates it.  He wants to turn America from the land of the free and the home of the brave into the land of the drug addicts and the home of the United Nations.  Why else would he join the Blame America First crowd screaming about how 9/11 was our fault and not the fault of the ignorant, godless towelheads that attacked us and overcharge us for oil that belongs to us?  A vote for Ron Paul is a vote for the death of America.

 

You Shure are putting alot of effort into this anti ron paul rant, is sombody worried... lol...   An truth be know weed grows super fast way faster than corn. An if you could make ethonal from it that be awsome..

He hates america huh thats funny....    We arent even the land of the free now... We dont even make the top 10 in the world anymore..  We used to be number one...

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Look whos trying to force Fox to put Ron Paul into the debates.  Free country, doesn't sound like it to me.  What's the matter you have a problem with my free speech that you have to question it.  Either you want free speech or you don't.   Oh yeah and it seems to be ok when Paulies do it but not nonPaulies, what's up with that?

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(CM) theSuperPatriot said: Look whos trying to force Fox to put Ron Paul into the debates.  Free country, doesn't sound like it to me.  What's the matter you have a problem with my free speech that you have to question it.  Either you want free speech or you don't.   Oh yeah and it seems to be ok when Paulies do it but not nonPaulies, what's up with that?

 

You can say what ever you want, but i can also sasy whatever i want in response to it...  A news organization who claims to be fair an balanced should be fair an balanced..

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That why they call it news.  Single digit isn't news.

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But $6 million in one day is.

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Rich and still single digit yes sir that is news.

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(CM) theSuperPatriot said: Rich and still single digit yes sir that is news.

 

 

Numbers often depend on who is taking the polls.

Here are some results of Straw Polls for Republican Candidates by Location and Current totals at http://www.USAStrawPolls.com

 

Total Wins by Candidate shows Ron Paul leading--AND NOT BY SINGLE DIGITS. 

 

Updated: 12/11/07

Candidate	# Wins
Ron Paul	25
Fred Thompson	24
Mitt Romney	22
Rudy Giuliani	7
John McCain	5
Mike Huckabee	2
Duncan Hunter	2
Alan Keyes	0

JUST LET THE MAN SPEAK.

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(CM) theSuperPatriot said:

Ron Paul on Drugs Republican Representative (TX-14)

Repeal most federal drug laws; blacks are treated unfairly

Q: If you are elected president in 2008, what positive and significant legacy, if any, will you leave for Black Americans?

A: I would like to believe that if we had a freer society, it would take care of Blacks and whites and everybody equally because we're all individuals. To me, that is so important. But if we had equal justice under the law, I think it would be a big improvement. If we had probably a repeal of most of the federal laws on drugs and the unfairness on how Blacks are treated with these drugs laws, it would be a tremendous improvement. And also, I think that if you're going to have prosperity, it serves everybody. And if this is done by emphasizing property rights and freedom of the individuals, making sure that the powerful special interests don't control Washington, that the military industrial complex doesn't suck away all the wealth of the country, and then we would have prosperity.

Source: 2007 GOP Presidential Forum at Morgan State University Sep 27, 2007

Inner-city minorities are punished unfairly in war on drugs

Q: What policy would you support to guarantee young Black and Latino men a fairer equal justice system?

A: A system designed to protect individual liberty will have no punishments for any group and no privileges. Today, I think inner-city folks and minorities are punished unfairly in the war on drugs. For instance, Blacks make up 14% of those who use drugs, yet 36 percent of those arrested are Blacks and it ends up that 63% of those who finally end up in prison are Blacks. This has to change. We don't have to have more courts and more prisons. We need to repeal the whole war on drugs. It isn't working. We have already spent over $400 billion since the early 1970s, and it is wasted money. Prohibition didn't work. Prohibition on drugs doesn't work. So we need to come to our senses. And, absolutely, it's a disease. We don't treat alcoholics like this. This is a disease, and we should orient ourselves to this. That is one way you could have equal justice under the law.

Source: 2007 GOP Presidential Forum at Morgan State University Sep 27, 2007

$500B on War on Drugs since 1970s has been a total failure

On the issue of drugs, we have spent nearly five hundred billion dollars on the War on Drugs, since the 1970s. Total failure. Some day, we have to admit it. Today, we have the federal government going into states that have legal medical marijuana, arresting people--undermining state laws--arresting people who use marijuana when they're dying with cancer and AIDS, and it's done with, as a compassionate conservative. And it doesn't work.

What it does, it removes the ability to states to do their things, and also introduces the idea that it's the federal government that will get to decide whether we get to take vitamins, and alternative medical care, or whatever. Most of our history, believe it or not, had no drug laws. Prohibition has been an absolute failure for alcohol. Drug addiction is a medical problem. It's not a problem of the law.

Source: 2007 GOP Values Voter Presidential Debate Sep 17, 2007

Legalize industrial hemp

Paul believes in the legalization of industrial hemp. Paul supported HR 3037 to amend the Controlled Substances Act to exclude industrial hemp from the definition of marijuana. This bill would have given the states the power to regulate farming of hemp. The measure would be a first since the national prohibition of industrial hemp farming in the United States. He favors the legalization of marijuana. Source: SourceWatch.org Jan 22, 2007

Voted NO on military border patrols to battle drugs & terrorism.

Amendment to set up a task force on counter-terrorism and drug interdiction and allow military personnel to help patrol U.S. borders. Bill HR 2586 ; vote number 2001-356 on Sep 25, 2001

Voted NO on subjecting federal employees to random drug tests.

Drug Demand Reduction Act: Vote on an amendment to require that anyone hired by the Federal Government is subject to random, unannounced drug testing. Reference: Amendment by Taylor, D-MS; bill by Portman, R-OH.; Bill HR 4550 ; vote number 1998-443 on Sep 16, 1998

War on Drugs has abused Bill of Rights .

Paul adopted the Republican Liberty Caucus Position Statement:

As adopted by the General Membership of the Republican Liberty Caucus at its Biannual Meeting held December 8, 2000.
• WHEREAS libertarian Republicans believe in limited government, individual freedom and personal responsibility;
• WHEREAS we believe that government has no money nor power not derived from the consent of the people;
• WHEREAS we believe that people have the right to keep the fruits of their labor; and
• WHEREAS we believe in upholding the US Constitution as the supreme law of the land;

BE IT RESOLVED that the Republican Liberty Caucus endorses the following [among its] principles:
1. While recognizing the harm that drug abuse causes society, we also recognize that government drug policy has been ineffective and has led to frightening abuses of the Bill of Rights which could affect the personal freedom of any American. We, therefore, support alternatives to the War on Drugs.
2. Per the tenth amendment to the US Constitution, matters such as drugs should be handled at the state or personal level.
3. All laws which give license to violate the Bill of Rights should be repealed.

 

YOU ARE THE MAN, SP.

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SP is on a roll! 

Nope, nobody is worried about Ron Paul.  He wouldn't be ahead in any polls if the Paulies are forced to play fair and vote only once.  They scream and cry that they don't vote multiple times but take a look at the Outcasts Castouts, you know, the ones that were banned from here.  They don't hide the fact that they "freep" every Ron Paul poll they can find by voting multiple times.  Ron Paul can never win a poll if his supporters don't cheat! 

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I agree that the war on drugs has been largely a failure, but you can't really compare alcohol to most other drugs.  Alcohol is addictive but it takes a while to become an alcoholic.  One sip doesn't leave you incapacitated.  Other drugs are highly addictive--one use of crack and you're hooked.  They also do more than just make you feel drunk.  People on the other drugs can be seriously dangerous.  PCP is an example of that, although I don't think it's popular right now.

I can't even believe a person would want to legalize drugs. 

 

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