Think about what would happen if the war on drugs ended.. They would have to close down 95 percent of the prisons. They would have to lay off tens of thousands of DEA and other Federal agents. Its too big of a money maker for the government. But maybe they will just start their own silk road and start another revenue stream, lol...
This is why we will never see the end of the war on drugs. I wonder how many people would be out of work? it would start from federal agents, down to all the subcontractors, so im sure the number is huge. But, they can then switch their attention to drug prevention, and rehab. I believe the stats of portugal prove that decriminalizing drugs works, but they dont want us to know. They dont have to make illegal drugs legal, just decriminalize them. its a multibillion dollar a year business for the government. So of course they are against it. Who wants to get rid of their own job, lol!...
Ill have to look up the exact numbers on how much the government spends on this war on drugs, im sure the numbers will be impressive..
One of the other bonuses that the state gets from these 'wars' is the resultant fear in the populace as a whole. Going all the way back to Machiavelli, who coined the phrase "Its better for a state [prince] to be feared than to be loved", you can control a population easily through fear (they don't have to be afraid of you per se, you just need to engender that fear in a general way) A great way to maintian this fear is to point to crime statistics, and create new targets, like "The War On Terror" (double points for that!! )
By keeping people in a constant, senseless state of fear, civil liberties can be eroded and the power of the state extended into areas of life where it has no right.
