Despite all economic theory, and despite all the empirical evidence that suggests prohibition is doomed to failure, let’s pretend that I don’t want to legalize all drugs. But let’s pretend that I’m like a great many people and I’m willing to concede that pot should at least be decriminalized.

Do you have any idea how much would be saved? You could cut the drug war budget by 50% if you just legalized pot, and save billions more from incarceration expenses no longer needed.

Do you have any idea how many (mostly brown, mostly poor – because rich white kids don’t go to jail for pot) lives would not be destroyed? You’d also— overnight — eliminate the profitability of criminal enterprise.

 

The important takeaway from this infographic is that the war on drugs they’re selling you is not the war on drugs you’re paying for. The violent criminal enterprises and organized crime and Frank Lucas style dealers in every hood is basically bullshit fearmongering. The reality is that 82% of the war on drugs is a war on possession, and 100% of the war on drugs is a war on personal freedom.

It is about control. It is always about control.