Bastard Love Child of Richard Nixon and Elvis Presley: The War on Drugs

If Richard Nixon and Elvis Presley had a baby it would look like the War on Drugs.

Richard Nixon enrolled the assistance of Elvis Presley in the 1970's to spread the gospel about his War on Drugs to a younger generation. However, Nixon may not have foreseen events just a few years later in the iconic performer's life that wold put a cynical twist to this propaganda effort. Now that the bloom is well off the rose more and more people from all walks of life can readily see the wasteful and even damaging effects of the misguided effort.

Journalism major Pete Blanchard boasts that he has, "only been to the slammer once" and manages to  neatly encapsulate his reasoning to end the War on Drugs for Buzzsaw Magazine:

"Despite the billions of dollars that have been funneled into federal, state and local anti-drug programs every year for the past four decades, the illegal drug industry is thriving, every drug is cheaper and more available, and drug use is at an all-time high in the United States. The facts are out there, and a recent Gallup poll found that 50 percent of Americans support marijuana legalization. While many Americans are not yet able to stomach the thought of legalizing hardcore drugs, the push for marijuana legalization is gaining popularity."

But as U.S. leaders appear to be intent on continuing with business as usual the international community seems just as intent on re-tuning efforts toward drugs enforcement based on lessons learned over the course of years.

As President of Poland at the turn of the century Aleksander Kwaśniewski signed some of the toughest drug possession laws into action. The hope of Poland's conservative lawmakers was that strict enforcement would break the back of the drug trafficking industry and reduce the spread of AIDS by users of injectable substances. It did none of these things, but it did manage to swell prison populations and ruin the lives of many young people. Now in civilian life, Kwaśniewski has joined the Global Commission on Drug Policy, he writes:

"The Global Commission offers a set of policy recommendations that should be the cornerstones of drug laws around the world. One of the main approaches that the commission supports is the decriminalization of drug use and possession of drugs for personal use.

"I was one of the supporters of the effort in Poland to revise the drug possession law of 2000. It now protects users from prosecution for having small amounts of drugs for personal use and allows prosecutors to discontinue legal proceedings against drug users."

Now in it's 125th trimester, it may be said that this bastard love child of Richard Nixon and Elvis Presley has had ample opportunity to prove itself viable. And everyone from college students to Eastern European political leaders can see that it is time to make way for more productive measures.