Holy War on Drugs, Conservative-led global incarceration

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 * 4 Ways Yoga's History Is Fundamentally Linked with Cannabis..

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 * Share links: gop - republicans - holy war - gopdrugwar. See also: Drug war causes high U.S. incarceration rate. And: Alternatives to Republican mass incarceration. And: Drug War, mandatory minimum sentencing, handguns.

Why is everything a "war" or a "crusade" to Republicans? Like the war on drugs. We need cures, not wars.

Tree of Life. A common motif in various world theologies, mythologies, and philosophies.



Richard Nixon
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1980. Reagan presidential campaign
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The American Drug Panic of the 1980s. Chapter 12 of Moral Panics: The Social Construction of Deviance.

"Nashville ... on the cusp of joining the long roster of American cities, including New York, that have decriminalized the stuff. ... The fear in Nashville was palpable once. In October 1980, the city’s police chief , Joe Casey, declared in a front-page article in The Tennessean that marijuana caused people to rob and kill. Anyone caught growing or selling marijuana three times, Mr. Casey said, or selling it to minors once, should be executed ." - From this article: Following Its Country Music, Nashville May Loosen Up on Marijuana. By Richard Faussetsept. Sept. 18, 2016. New York Times.

Some Congressmen and police who prosecuted the War on Drugs believe it caused a large increase in the United States incarceration rate. See Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, and.
 * "I Was Wrong About the War on Drugs – It's a Failure". By Bob Barr (former Republican, former federal prosecutor, and former Congressman). June 11, 2008. AlterNet.
 * "The solution to the failed drug war". By Jack A. Cole of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP). Sept. 13, 2008. Boston Globe.

1982. Reagan's drug war escalation
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 * Reagan declares 'War on Drugs,' October 14, 1982. By Andrew Glass. And: Ronald Reagan's War on Drugs. And: The Drug War as Race War.


 * October 2, 1982: Ronald Reagan: Radio Address to the Nation on Federal Drug Policy. Quote ( emphasis  added):

Chart below covers prison inmates only. See also: timeline combining prison and jail inmates.



The U.S. incarceration rate peaked in 2008.

1986. The "crusade against drugs"
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 * See also: Drug War, mandatory minimum sentencing, handguns.


 * See Crack cocaine and  Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 and  CIA involvement in Contra cocaine trafficking.

See cannabis polls.

See Reagan's war on cannabis. Above timeline is adapted from one of the charts in this article:

1989. Papa Bush's escalation of the drug war
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 * Share link: Papa Bush.

Republicans like wars and crusades
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See also: Race, ethnicity, and drug war.

It started with Nixon in 1971
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 * June 17, 1971. President Richard Nixon: "America's public enemy number one in the United States is drug abuse. In order to fight and defeat this enemy, it is necessary to wage a new, all-out offensive."

The Big Lie in the War Against Drugs. By Thom Hartmann. December 30, 2015, on Alternet. From the article:

People incarcerated for drug-related crime
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 * See main article: People in prisons and jails in the USA for drug-related crime.
 * And: Number of marijuana prisoners in the USA.

The Drug war is the cause of the high U.S. incarceration rate.



Reagan. Drug War and Trickle Down
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 * See Trickle-down economics.



The drug war is part of the Republican war on the poor and middle class. See infographic. Along with other mass incarceration, student debt, disenfranchisement, and wealth inequality. Record high in the Dow, but median wage remains stagnant. . Republicans block cannabis legislation and minimum wage increases. Real (inflation-adjusted) wages for most Americans have remained stagnant for decades. Note also the incredible transfer of wealth from the bottom 90% to the top 0.1%.
 * Award-Winning Documentary: Drug War Continues to Target the Poor. By Charlotte Dean. 4 Nov 2013.
 * The War on Drugs is a War on Minorities and the Poor. By Erik Kain. 28 June 2011. Forbes.
 * Decriminalizing Poverty. America doesn't have a drug problem. It has a poverty problem. 9 Dec 2010. The Nation.
 * The War on Drugs and the New Jim Crow. By Michelle Alexander. Spring 2010.
 * 2014: UK conservatives also like drug war, and taxing, underpaying, and pillaging the poor and middle class.

See charts:
 * U.S. Household Incomes: A 46-Year Perspective. September 17, 2014 by Doug Short.
 * US wealth inequality - top 0.1% worth as much as the bottom 90%. By Angela Monaghan. 13 Nov 2014. The Guardian.


 * Reagan's war on cannabis is where the U.S. incarceration nation began.


 * Reaganism collapses: Tax cuts for rich made Kansas broke — so Republicans raise taxes on poor. April 22, 2015. Raw Story..

1/3 of Americans have a criminal record
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"The FBI currently has 77.7 million individuals on file in its master criminal database—or  nearly one out of every three American adults. " - Wall Street Journal.
 * As Arrest Records Rise, Americans Find Consequences Can Last a Lifetime. Aug. 18, 2014. Wall Street Journal.

The Republican Party is controlled by the 1%. They need the prison-industrial complex, and a permanent lower class of one third of adult Americans with a criminal record to keep wages low, and to keep people in line.

See  Comparison of United States incarceration rate with other countries. And: List of countries and U.S. states by incarceration rate.

News
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See: Current events and news.

2016
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Articles written before the November 8, 2016 election in the USA:

USA Today: 11 states least likely to legalize marijuana. Republican states across the nation.

2014 election
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See: Cannabis and 2014 U.S. election.

2012 election
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 * Vermont Marijuana Decriminalization Law Goes Into Effect. July 1, 2013.
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! Democrat Peter Shumlin wins big in 2012 Vermont governor race
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The American states of Colorado and Washington voted to legalize cannabis, and Massachusetts became the eighteenth state to approve cannabis for medical use. See 2012 vote for cannabis. Prohibition, your days are numbered!

Some more 2012 news
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Richard Posner, Federal Judge, Slams 'Absurd' Laws Against Marijuana, Other Drugs. By Nick Wing. Posted: Sept. 11, 2012. The Huffington Post. From the article:
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Republicans leading the drug war:
 * He recently expressed displeasure with the current direction of the GOP, telling National Public Radio that he has become "less conservative" as the Republican "crowd of lunatics" became increasingly "goofy."
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Of course there are some clueless Democrat incumbents too that need the boot:
 * Senate Republicans Kill Marijuana Reform In New York. By Steve Elliott. June 19, 2012. Toke of the Town.


 * New Hampshire Medical Marijuana Veto Upheld. By Steve Elliott. June 27, 2012.

Fortunately, it looks like some Democrats are pulling their heads out of Republican asses.

"Earlier this year, the Colorado Democrats announced their support for marijuana legalization in their 2012 party platform. On June 9th, the Texas Democrats endorsed marijuana decriminalization. Last weekend, the North Carolina Democratic Party added resolutions supporting medical cannabis and industrial hemp. ... Also worth noting, on June 2nd, the Washington State Democratic Party built upon their earlier endorsement of their state’s legalization initiative, I-502, by adding support for full marijuana legalization and medical cannabis as planks in their party platform."
 * Iowa Democrats Add Medical Cannabis and Industrial Hemp to Party Platform. By Erik Altieri, NORML Communications Coordinator, June 20, 2012. NORML Blog. From the article:

2012 Republican presidential candidates
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Romney on marijuana and medical pot
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 * Share links: mitt, romney, mittromney, MittRomney.
 * See also: 2012 vote for cannabis. See: Cannabis and the illusion of democracy in the USA. See: The U.S. Drug War. Republicans lead.

Newt Gingrich calls medical pot a joke
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Gingrich's 1995 death penalty bill for pot
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See Newt Gingrich. In contrast, see: Lowest enforcement priority for cannabis offenses.





Gary Johnson rips Gingrich about pot
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Gary Johnson rips Newt Gingrich about Marijuana Death Penalty Idea. YouTube link.

Gatewood Galbraith on Newt Gingrich
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See: Template:Gatewood Galbraith on Newt Gingrich. And: Newt Gingrich's deadly Drug War.

Music video. Death Penalty for Pot
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2011. Senate votes 60 to 38 for indefinite military detention of Americans
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See: Template:Senate votes for indefinite military detention of Americans.

U.S. marijuana history
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 * Marijuana Timeline | Busted - America's War On Marijuana | FRONTLINE | PBS.

Reagan propaganda. Incarceration nations
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 * See also: Reagan's war on cannabis. And: Trickle-down Reaganomics, a child's course in economics.

National Rifle Association history of pushing for mandatory minimum sentencing
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 * See: Drug War, mandatory minimum sentencing, NRA, and guns.

The Reagans and Just Say No
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'''November 1980 election to now. The Reagan Revolution.''' "Just Say No" and. U.S.-aided, government-sanctioned, drug-war death squads in Colombia, Mexico, Thailand, etc.. Reaganomics 101: Lower taxes on the 1%. Tax the poor and middle class. Especially by regressive taxes and fees. Such as sales taxes, and non-means-tested property taxes, and user fees. Spend exorbitant amounts on "freedom" (doublespeak for more prisons and jails). See Wikipedia: Ronald Wilson Reagan, Nancy Reagan, and the War on Drugs. See also: commons:Category:Just Say No.



Cannabis is safer
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Categories
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