They argue the drug war “is doing far more harm than marijuana itself ever will,” because

* it diverts hundreds of thousands of police agents from serious crimes “to the pursuit of harmless tokers”;
* it costs taxpayers at minimum $10 billion a year to catch, prosecute, and incarcerate marijuana users and sellers;
* it enables government to snatch the cars, money, computers and other properties of people caught up in drug raids even if they have had no charges filed against them; and
* it allows “police agents at all levels to trample our Bill of Rights in their eagerness to nab pot consumers.”

The drug war has also unleashed a torrent of racism in the form of unjust sentencing, which confines crack-cocaine users who are mostly black to prison for longer terms than powder snorters, who are mostly white.

Hightower and Frazer say authorities have perverted the infamous “Patriot Act” of 2001 for use in non-terrorism cases, allowing “sneak-and-peak” search warra

allowing “sneak-and-peak” search warrants to be used in drug war probes, including pursuit of marijuana users. The Act’s provisions were supposed to be applied only for suspected terrorist acts. Only three of the Justice Department’s 763 requests for “sneak-and-peak” last year were used for terrorism searches, they report in Lowdown.

By outlawing drugs, Hightower and Frazer contend, Congress has created “a vast, murderous narco-state within Mexico” to satisfy U.S. consumer demand for the drugs. And Plan Colombia, the multi-billion operation started by Bill (“I didn’t inhale”) Clinton in 2000 to eradicate cocoa production there, has failed, judging by the 15 per cent increase in coca production.

What a waste of resources and power that could be used on more important crimes instead of weed!