Brad Pitt blasts U.S. war on drugs

Generally don't buy celebs spouting off on political and social stuff, but on this one I agree with Brad. Should get Angelina on message too.

The War on Drugs has mostly been The War on Minorities. End it already.

Agreed. Legalize what we can and manage it to raise revenue for health care and education. Nobrainer.

There are two ways the U.S. could go. Be more like Indonesia, or more like the Netherlands. But.... more and more U.S. prisons are now privately owned and operated. That means the prison operators will put their financial backing on candidates who want to leave the "war on drugs" right where it is.

As long as U.S. election laws say bribery is legal, nothing will change.

As long as U.S. election laws say bribery is legal, nothing will change.

Every industry has its "industrial complex" that has a powerful lobby which tilts the rules in its favor. The bigger they get, the less freedom citizens have.

Medical industrial complex

Military industrial complex

Educational industrial complex

Prison industrial complex

Agricultural industrial complex

etc, etc, etc.

http://reason.com/blog/2012/10/11/forty-years-of-drug-war-failure-in-a-sin

40 years of the drug war and there has been no change in addiction rates to illicit substances. Meanwhile the war against the cartels in Mexico has destroyed what could have been a fantastic trading partner for the US and is currently responsible for a huge chunk of the US prison population.

Stop putting people in prison for victimless crimes. Prostitution, drug use, assisted suicide, and other such activities are only an affront to the sensibilities of others. I personally find many of these acts to be morally repugnant but I am wholeheartedly against punishing people for pursuing a lifestyle that doesn't conform to societal norms so long as they don't use violate the rights of others.

I agree with brad and most of these commenters.

The so-called war on drugs has only created a booming prison business that puts large numbers of black people into involuntary servitude. Welcome to the American gulag.

There's something fundamentally wrong with punishing two people agreeing to exchange something - money for drugs - if both are adults. Even if the drugs are harmful to the individual, it's about personal choice. Alcohol does just as much and often more damage than illicit drugs. It's been 40 year failure. Most U.S. politicians who had the guts to say as much got beaten down by the establishment and prison unions....sad.

Imagine if the minorities imprisoned for drug-related offences were offered that, instead of serving a prison sentence, they could serve in the military and pursue the war on drugs.

Indeed a pretty horrible state of affairs in the so called "greatest country in the world".....................

I agree with Brad.He has been everywhere in the world and pretty much seen it all. In some other countries with low crime crime rates, they punish the crime. They don't care if you are on drugs, drunk, or your hair is purple. If you commit a violent crime, or steal, that's what you do the time for. And they don't go easy on you either. But nobody gets arrested for doing drugs. Only committing crime.

The war on drugs is a billion dollar industry and the government makes money from it. The CIA import most of the heroin and cocaine. The police make a big arrest and only a small amount makes it back to evidence room and the rest is resold to dealers. Half of the prisons are privately owned and get the drug arrests thus making money from the government to house them and then give a kick back to the politicians that strengthen the laws on drugs to incarcerate more people. It is a racket.

Doesn't really matter whose underpants Bad sniffs as long as he has their permission.Does not matter if you are a poor black person in a ghetto.Does not matter if you do drugs or are an alcoholic.Not all addicts are violent. If you lock them up, you take up space for the ones who Are.The non-violent ones will just do their drugs and o.d. or die from illness anyway.It's their life and their choice.Same thing with prostitutes.If you give someone aides, V.D., rob someone, hurt them or kill them while (working) you go to prison.Simple really.It works well in other countries, and they have far less crime,People who are in prison are there because they should be.And, long time.

Brad Pitt for President!

One of the by-products of The War on Drugs(minorities) , due to the incarceration explosion many more US citizens have become ineligible to obtain a passport and so effectively imprisoned. Considering that these same individuals also become unemployable, it's no wonder recidivism is also high. Meet the new slavery. Freedom to travel, even between/within the several States is also often curtailed. The Land of the Free?

The War on Drugs has mostly been The War on Minorities. End it already.

I recently saw a movie about this topic. Generally breaks down like this.

The U.S. starts a war on drugs. In order to enforce this, they tie federal funds, given to states, to how well the state enforces drug laws.

How do they measure this? By convictions. The more convictions a state gets, the more federal funds they get.

How do they get so many convictions? By rounding up poor minorities on trumped up charges. Usually arrested on the words of a snitch.

They are pressured into taking a plea bargain. This counts as a conviction.

For the state and local governments, this is a cheap and easy way to get plenty of convictions without spending too much money, in return for federal funds.

Of course, many of these innocent folks decide against taking the plea bargain.

Then you have a poor minority, usually on welfare or other government assistance, who is testifying against police officers and paid snitches.

Almost always, the poor minority loses. Even when they're innocent.

This has got to stop.

Suzu1, the film referenced is a documentary titled, " American Drug War: The Last White Hope."

It's available to be watched online if you just google it.

" American Drug War shows how money, power and greed have corrupted not just drug pushers and dope fiends, but an entire government. More importantly, it shows what can be done about it. This is not some ‘pro-drug’ stoner film, but a collection of expert testimonials from the ground troops on the front lines of the drug war, the ones who are fighting it and the ones who are living it."

Well if a movie says so, then it must be right!

My biggest question if drugs are legalized is:

Will employers not be allowed to discriminate against addicts?

Brad Pitt is not a health care professional...

You will not go to prison in the U.S. for just drug use. Anti-drug law activists distort reality to fit their agenda. They'll show a guy in prison and say the was caught with 2 grams of cocaine. What they don't say is that the cocaine was found in his pocket along with a stolen handgun after he was arrested for an armed robbery. But to them here is another poor soul in prison for drug possession. In my state, 75% of felons do not receive prison terms - they are sentenced to probation. The ones who go to prison are the repeat drug manufacturers/traffickers and usually that requires that they used firearms in the pursuit of their crime.

I recently saw a movie about this topic

Sadly, this is considered research these days. If your (or the movie's ) theory is correct, then local and State local law enforcement agencies would be flush with cash. But they are not. And prisons are not full of people whose only crime was possession of drugs for personal use. So please do your own research if you are so interested in this topic.

What pair of underpants has Brad Pitt been sniffing? This guy does not know what the heck hes talking about! First of all drugs and the media affect all stratas of society! I wouldnt target the black communities only as victims! The incarceration of drug offendors has a purpose. If they were let out in the general public they would produce mayham and chaos throughout society. They are for the most part incorrigable and would produce a serious danger to the public.Mr. Pitt is part of the problem not the solution. His proffession as an allusionist contributes to the problem of mass control of the masses and individual communities by governmental and corporate entities!