War On Drugs Quotes - Page 6

• That's why you need the war on drugs to put all these pot smokers in prison so that the prisons remain full and the corporations remain profitable. It's a slippery slope.

  Jesse Ventura

  War, Drug, Needs

  "Former governor Jesse Ventura talks about new books ‘Marijuana Manifesto’ and ‘Shit Politicians Say,’ plus much more". Interview with Michelle Tompkins, thecelebritycafe.com. September 1, 2016.

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• Today, aid to Colombia is given under the pretext of a drug war. That's pretty hard to take seriously. Ten years ago, Amnesty International flatly called it a myth.

  Noam Chomsky

  War, Years, Drug

  Source: www.madre.org

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• I'd never written nonfiction about the war on drugs, but I know a tremendous amount about it: I taught a class on it for seven years. I was putting into words the stuff I was teaching, and I was writing it up and thought, "Dude, you're writing a book."

  Ayelet Waldman

  War, Teaching, Book

  "The Case for Taking a Very Little Bit of LSD Nearly Every Day". Interview with Jenny Luna, www.motherjones.com. January 10, 2017.

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• I was a federal public defender during the most important years of the drug war. I saw people go to jail for nothing, and go to jail for a long time.

  Ayelet Waldman

  War, Years, Jail

  Source: m.motherjones.com

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• We have now spent 1 trillion dollars waging the drug war since it began. A trillion. Those funds could have been used for education, jobs and drug treatment in the communities that needed it most. We could have used those funds for our collective well being, instead those dollars paved the way for the destruction of countless lives, families, and dreams.

  Michelle Alexander

  Dream, Jobs, War

  Source: www.truth-out.org

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• States began to realize how much money they were spending on incarceration and how much money they were spending fighting this ludicrous war on drugs that was actually counterproductive.

  Ayelet Waldman

  War, Fighting, Drug

  Source: m.motherjones.com

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• I really think we were charting a course to having a more sane response to mass incarceration, to drug use, and to understanding that the war on drugs has resulted only in the empowerment of vast criminal enterprises and the destruction of democracies around the world. And all that is coming to a miserable, horrific halt.

  Ayelet Waldman

  War, Thinking, Drug Use

  Source: m.motherjones.com

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• In 1970, there were approximately 330,000 prisoners in the US. Today there are 2.3 million behind bars - more than any country in the history of the world. In 2009 alone there were 1.6 million drug-related arrests in the U.S. 1.3 million of these were for possession of drugs alone. Over half were related to marijuana. The forty-year war on drugs has cost $2.5 trillion.

  Sam Branson

  Country, War, Marijuana

  "Breaking the Taboo" by Sam Branson, www.marandapleasantmedia.com.

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• The fact that people of all colors have been ensnared by the drug war helps to preserve the system as a whole from serious critique, as it creates the impression - at a glance - that the war is being waged in an unbiased manner, even when nothing could be further from the truth.

  Michelle Alexander

  War, Color, People

  Source: www.truth-out.org

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• The war on drugs causes other supplemental crimes to take place because of the original illegality of it. But then again, that's the other reason that they're fighting it is the corporate prisons they have now. Because they've privatized all our prisons, corporations have to make money, and the only way they can make money is, I believe, the prisons have to be at least 80-90 percent full. That's why the United States - which is home of the brave, land of the free - we have more people in prison than any other country in the world.

  Jesse Ventura

  Country, War, Believe

  "Former governor Jesse Ventura talks about new books ‘Marijuana Manifesto’ and ‘Shit Politicians Say,’ plus much more". Interview with Michelle Tompkins, thecelebritycafe.com. September 1, 2016.

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• I'm finding myself really angry over spending and the deficit. I'm finding myself really angry over what's happening in the Middle East, the decision to stay in Afghanistan indefinitely. I'm angry about cap and trade. And I've been on record for a long time on the failed war on drugs.

  Gary Johnson

  War, Long, Decision

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• America's drug war is so stupid that if you pay close attention to just how stupid it is -- it'll drive you to use drugs.

  Jim Hightower

  War, Stupid, America

  Jim Hightower (2004). “Let's Stop Beating Around the Bush: More Political Subversion from Jim Hightower”, p.92, Penguin

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• When you have war, whether it's a war against drugs, war against terrorism, war overseas, the mentality of the people change and they're more willing to sacrifice their liberties in order to be safe and secure.

  Ron Paul

  War, Sacrifice, Order

  Source: www.nbcnews.com

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• We're talking about a prison-industrial complex. We're talking about a war on drugs that's generating unprecedented levels of incarcerated folk. We're talking about dilapidated housing. We're talking about joblessness and underemployment.

  Cornel West

  War, Talking, Drug

  "Cornel West Reconsiders President Obama". "Talk of the Nation" with Tony Cox, www.npr.org. August 2, 2010.

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• I have a regret that the entire discussion [with El Chapo]... ignores its purpose, which was to try to contribute to this discussion about the policy in the War on Drugs.

  Sean Penn

  Regret, War, Drug

  Source: hotair.com

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• So when I say we had been the cowards, yes, that's what I meant, we as a society. And that's everybody, including myself. I had been screaming about the drug war and this war and other wars. I should have been more on terrorism, too. So should you, so should everybody.

  Bill Maher

  War, Should Have, Drug

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• Our biggest art forms are film and television, and there hasn't been a great film about 9/11 yet, nor has there been a great television series. Something like The Wire gives us a rich and fully achieved picture of the wasteful, cruel War on Drugs; something like The White Ribbon gives a perspective on World War I that could only have been presented long after the event itself.

  Teju Cole

  Art, War, White

  Source: www.3ammagazine.com

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• Look at all the drug busts all over the country. There must be an audience there somewhere. My feeling is that if we're losing the war on drugs, let's do a movie for the enemy.

  Tommy Chong

  Country, War, Drug

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• [T]ake the war on drugs. The average American says, "The war on drugs has been beneficial." The rest of us see reality. This war has destroyed thousands of Americans. It is also a pretext for government agents to rob innocent people in airports and on the highways - they seize and confiscate large amounts of cash and say to their victims: "Sue us if you don't like it." And more and more judges, politicians, intelligence agents, and law-enforcement officers are on the take - as dependent on the drug-war largess as the drug lords themselves.

  Jacob G. Hornberger

  War, Reality, Average

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• The entire American media apparatus bought into the drug war - which is an enormously damaging and costly undertaking for this country - and there wasn't enough critical reporting about it and that's why it's gotten out of hand.

  David Talbot

  Country, War, Media

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• The War on Drugs, cloaked in race-neutral language, offered whites opposed to racial reform a unique opportunity to express their hostility toward blacks and black progress, without being exposed to the charge of racism.

  Michelle Alexander

  War, Unique, Opportunity

  Michelle Alexander (2013). “The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness”, p.54, The New Press

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• Fighting aging is like the War on Drugs. It's expensive, does more harm than good, and has been proven to never end.

  Amy Poehler

  War, Fighting, Drug

  Amy Poehler (2014). “Yes Please”, p.79, Pan Macmillan

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• The big lock-up is about drugs. Here's the real scam. The drug war is one of the games to get more convictions and prisoners.

  Jerry Brown

  Real, War, Games

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• "On what motivated Colorado voters: "Let's face it, the War on Drugs was a disaster. It may be well intentioned ... but it sent millions of kids to prison, gave them felonies often times when they had no violent crimes ... I was against this, but I can see why so many people supported it."

  John Hickenlooper

  War, Kids, Marijuana

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• The drug war isn't what purports to be. If you look at the whole operation and the tie-in between the American intelligence agencies, these so-called "assets", the spies on the payroll of the CIA, and drug dealers. Don't let members of Congress and the media get away with this complacency and distortion!

  Jerry Brown

  War, Ties, Agency

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