Straight talk about the War on Drugs from a Federal Marshal

Matthew Fogg is a Chief Deputy US Marshal. He recently authored The War on Drugs is a War on Our Youth.

Here's just a teaser:

When I speak out against the war on drugs, I do so from a position of experience. I supervised a major metropolitan area Drug Enforcement Administration task force. I have tracked America's most wanted fugitives. I have participated in SWAT operations. I know about the drug war's failures from firsthand, frontline experience.

This "war" -- declared as such by President Richard Nixon in 1971 -- has escalated over the years and is now one of the most egregious policies of government wrongdoing in our nation's history.

It is a violent and wasteful exercise in futility. It is an assault on our Constitution. It is both a racist and cultural assault upon the citizens of this nation, with no legal justification. And it is not founded upon any coherent notion of justice or common sense.

Most of all, the drug war fails to protect our youth. In fact, it increases both the harms and danger to today's generation of young people.

How many of today's politicians have used drugs in their past? Has their former drug use prevented them from seeking office? Did that use prevent them from getting elected? Did that use prevent them from being effective in their offices?

Obviously, the answer is no. Many elected leaders admit past drug use, including a former president and a current candidate for our nation's highest office. But would any of them have risen to positions of prominence and power if their past had included a conviction for drugs?

Check out the whole thing.

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