Naom Chomsky and the War on Drugs

He has opposed the U.S. global "war on drugs", claiming its language to be misleading, and referring to it as "the war on certain drugs." He favors education and prevention rather than military or police action as a means of reducing drug use.[45] In an interview in 1999, Chomsky argued that, whereas crops such as tobacco receive no mention in governmental exposition, other non-profitable crops, such as marijuana, are specifically targeted due to the effect achieved by persecuting the poor:[46]
"US domestic drug policy does not carry out its stated goals, and policymakers are well aware of that. If it isn't about reducing substance abuse, what is it about? It is reasonably clear, both from current actions and the historical record, that substances tend to be criminalized when they are associated with the so-called dangerous classes, that the criminalization of certain substances is a technique of social control."[47]

While I agree with:
• Its language is misleading
• It’s a war on certain drugs
• US domestic drug policy does not carry out its stated goals
• The criminalization of certain substance is a technique of social control

I disagree that:
• Marijuana is specifically targeted due to the effect achieved by persecuting the poor
• It isn’t about substance abuse
• That substances are criminalized when they are associated with so-called dangerous classes

I recently had a discussion with my 20 year old niece who, admittedly, consumes marijuana. My contention is that most of us have missed the broader picture and a radically different alternative reason for why “drugs are bad, m’kay”. When are drugs (even legal ones, like alcohol) typically consumed? …when the consumer is in a vulnerable, depressed, or stressed condition. Who goes home after work and says, “Wow! This has been a great day! I think I should top it off with a doobie!”? Here’s where the real problem comes in. Those insecurities, vulnerabilities, and stressors are motivators – things that get us off our ass to be better than we are. We will never advance as individuals, communities, or a society if our culture is rooted in chemically-induced apathy. Now, if there was a drug to chemically induce ambition, I’d be all for it!

The “war on drugs” has been poorly focused, and poorly communicated, but it doesn’t target the poor. The poor are already victims of either the lack of aptitude or the lack of ambition. Drugs are simply enablers to the perpetual condition. The real war is a conflict between progression and regression. It’s also a war against those who recognize it for what I believe it to be and would want to further stifle the progression of our country/culture (e.g. Colombia, Mexico, other terrorist states). Free market solutions only work if they don’t hinder the free market process (ie. disabling the traders from being able to affect the trade).

The substances aren’t criminalized because they’re associated with mortally dangerous classes; they’re criminalized because they threaten the integrity of our working class upon which the fundamentals of our economy is based. It just so happens that it tends to be the sociopathic sample population that commits such an aggression for both the satisfaction of the corruption and the reward of the commerce.