Starting with Nixon and ever since, the bi-partisan “War on Drugs” has been a political scheme to attack “hippies” and people of color. After the Nixon years it became a way to attack immigrants too. It was designed to promote fear, escalate oppressive policing, and take away people’s civil rights.
Finally, some people — including fiscal conservatives who oppose the waste of money on an unworkable “big government” program — are calling for changes that reflect common sense. The “harm reduction” strategies are a great step forward.
The Republican-dominated U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that purports to reduce overdoses from opioids, but this article explains how the Republican bill will put people in greater danger. See https://www.alternet.org/drugs/overdose-prevention-bill-would-actually-promote-driving-people-out-treatment?src=newsletter1094168
Finally, after decades of corrupt and often conservative governments, the voters of Mexico elected a progressive person who wants to reform many aspects of that corrupt, violent, dysfunctional nation. He wants to end Mexico’s “War on Drugs. See https://www.alternet.org/drugs/mexico-new-president-andres-manuel-lopez-obrador-ways-end-drug-wars?src=newsletter1094168
