TW: You will not find me and Bob Barr on the same side of many issues but here is one. Barr was the Libertarian party candidate for President, he got about 1% of the vote. Drug legalization is a classic libertarian position although not for Barr as he was an arch-conservative Republican for a long-time prior to moving over to the Libertarians.
Regardless I support Barr's position.
I do not believe the billions we spend attempting to interdict soft drugs are even marginally effective. I believe the harsh drug laws create an unwieldy, unnecessary and unproductive criminal class. Ultimately the free market with appropriate taxation and regulation (the structure for this exists already for tobacco and alcohol) would more effectively address soft drug usage whilst generating significant taxes, jobs and reducing the burden on law enforcement so that they could focus on alternative needs.
From Huffington Post and Bob Barr:
"...it has become increasingly clear to me, after much study, that our current strategy has not worked and will not work...leadership requires a willingness to assess evidence and recognize when a strategy is not working...
Whether we like it or not, tens of millions of Americans have used and will continue to use drugs. Yet in 2005 we spent more than $12 billion on federal drug enforcement efforts. Another $30 billion went to incarcerate non-violent drug offenders.
One of the lessons I learned while serving in Congress is how power tends to concentrate in Washington, and how that concentration of power begets more power and threatens individual liberty. The ever-expanding drug war is a perfect illustration of this principle...
I would direct the DEA to initiate, for the first time, a truly open, fair, and objective process to test and evaluate the medical potential of marijuana. Based on the studies that I have consulted, I believe the result would be reclassification of the drug...
But treating what is, at base, a moral, spiritual, and health problem as a matter of federal criminal law has solved nothing. The next president must put politics aside and take a long, hard look at the failure of the federal war on drugs. We must reestablish the primacy of individual choice and state's rights in deciding these issues. This always has been the greatest strength of America, and should be again."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bob-barr/federal-drug-war-rethough_b_125458.html
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