“Thank you note from Mexican drug cartels”

“Joaquin Guzman Loera: Net Worth $1 Billion As of March 2012,” Forbes

“The World’s Billionaires: #701 Joaquin Guzman Loera,” Forbes, March 11, 2009

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Why Legalize Drugs?

We believe that drug prohibition is the true cause of much of the social and personal damage that has historically been attributed to drug use. It is prohibition that makes these drugs so valuable – while giving criminals a monopoly over their supply. Driven by the huge profits from this monopoly, criminal gangs bribe and kill each other, law enforcers, and children. Their trade is unregulated and they are, therefore, beyond our control.

History has shown that drug prohibition reduces neither use nor abuse. After a rapist is arrested, there are fewer rapes. After a drug dealer is arrested, however, neither the supply nor the demand for drugs is seriously changed. The arrest merely creates a job opening for an endless stream of drug entrepreneurs who will take huge risks for the sake of the enormous profits created by prohibition. Prohibition costs taxpayers tens of billions of dollars every year, yet 40 years and some 40 million arrests later, drugs are cheaper, more potent and far more widely used than at the beginning of this futile crusade.

We believe that by eliminating prohibition of all drugs for adults and establishing appropriate regulation and standards for distribution and use, law enforcement could focus more on crimes of violence, such as rape, aggravated assault, child abuse and murder, making our communities much safer. We believe that sending parents to prison for non-violent personal drug use destroys families. We believe that in a regulated and controlled environment, drugs will be safer for adult use and less accessible to our children. And we believe that by placing drug abuse in the hands of medical professionals instead of the criminal justice system, we will reduce rates of addiction and overdose deaths.

“Why Legalize Drugs?” from Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP)

More. Much More.

• Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP)
• “Federal Domestic Illegal Drug Enforcement Efforts: Are They Working?” CRS Report R40732 (47-page PDF)
• “International Drug Trade and Its Impact on the United States,” CRS Report 96-671 (25-page PDF)
• “International Drug Control Policy,” CRS Report RL34543 (53-page PDF)
• “Prescription Drug Importation and Internet Sales,” CRS Report RL32191 (61-page PDF)
• “Student Aid Eligibility,” CRS Report RS21824 (11-page PDF)
• “The Controlled Substances Act,” CRS Report RL34635 (24-page PDF)
• “Drug Certification/Designation Procedures for Illicit Narcotics Producing and Transit Countries,” CRS Report RL32038 (24-page PDF)
• “Drug Offenses,” CRS Report RL30721 (35-page PDF)
• “Andean Counterdrug Initiative (ACI) and Related Funding Programs,” CRS Report RL33370 (30-page PDF)
• “Federal Cocaine Sentencing Disparity: Sentencing Guidelines, Jurisprudence, and Legislation,” CRS Report RL33318 (30-page PDF)
• “U.S. Sentencing Commission’s Decision on Retroactivity of the Crack Cocaine Amendment,” CRS Report RS22800 (8-page PDF)
• “Federal Cocaine Sentencing,” CRS Report 97-743 (25-page PDF)
• “U.S.-Mexican Security Cooperation: the Mérida Initiative and Beyond,” CRS Report R41349 (44-page PDF)
• “Drug Crop Eradication and Alternative Development in the Andes,” CRS Report RL33163 (32-page PDF)
• “Ecstasy: Legislative Proposals in the 107th Congress to Control MDMA,” CRS Report RS21108 (8-page PDF)
• “Drug Crop Eradication and Alternative Development in the Andes,” CRS Report RL33163 (32-page PDF)
• “Mexico’s Drug-Related Violence,” CRS Report R40582 (32-page PDF)
• “Drug Trafficking and North Korea: Issues for U.S. Policy,” CRS Report RL32167 (22-page PDF)
• “North Korean Drug Trafficking,” CRS Report RS20051 (8-page PDF)
• “Latin America and the Caribbean: Illicit Drug Trafficking and U.S. Counterdrug Programs,” CRS Report R41215 (44-page PDF)
• “Mexico’s Drug Trafficking Organizations: Source and Scope of the Rising Violence,” CRS Report R41576 (37-page PDF)
• “Afghanistan: Narcotics and U.S. Policy,” CRS Report RL32686 (60-page PDF)
• “Merida Initiative: Proposed U.S. Anticrime and Counterdrug Assistance for Mexico and Central America,” CRS Report RS22837 (8-page PDF)
• “Narcotics Certification of Drug Producing Trafficking Nations: Questions and Answers,” CRS Report 98-159 (8-page PDF)
• “Medical Marijuana: Review and Analysis of Federal and State Policies,” CRS Report RL33211 (57-page PDF)
• “Marijuana for Medical Purposes,” CRS Report RS20998 (8-page PDF)
• “Mexico’s Counter-Narcotics Efforts Under Zedillo and Fox, December 1994 to March 2001,” CRS Report RL30886 (16-page PDF)
• “Hemp as an Agricultural Commodity,” CRS Report RL32725 (34-page PDF)
• “Drug Control: International Policy and Approaches,” CRS Issue Brief IB88093 (22-page PDF)
• “International Drug Trade and U.S. Foreign Policy,” CRS Report RL33582 (23-page PDF)
• “Medical Marijuana: Review and Analysis of Federal and State Policies,” CRS Report RL33211 (57-page PDF)
• “War On Drugs: Legislation in the 108th Congress and Related Developments,” CRS Issue Brief IB10113 (21-page PDF)
• “War on Drugs,” CRS Report RL32352 (60-page PDF)
• “Ratification of Amendments to the U.S. Constitution,” CRS Report 97-922 (7-page PDF)

18th Amendment: Liquor Abolished

21st Amendment: Amendment 18 Repealed

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