Now that we have truely evil people to fight are we going to stop the war we have been waging agaist our own people?
Does the government yet realize that while they were harrising thier own citizens that they were ignoring foriegn threats? Hey get a student visa and do whatever the hell you want when you get here.
Are the american people gong to be shocked when they can’t get enough security personel because a large number of the population has criminal records for drug abuse? Not just jail time; but felony convictions, serious misdomeanors, probationers and drug rehab can keep you from getting security clearance. In some states a DUI is considered a seriuos misdomeaner and cannot be esponged from your record, you are marked for life.
Last week the FBI was told to stop working on drug cases and let the DEA handle them. Had they not been concentrating thier efforts on drugs perhaps we would have seen September 11th coming.
It seems to me that FBI and Secret Service types are the cleanest of the clean cut. Therefore, even if drugs were totally legal, I think use of them would preclude such people from acceptance to these organisations. I’m not sure if your security forces wi ll have much trouble in satisfying their extra personnel demands despite the large number of people with drug related misdemeanours on their records.
I also don’t think the events of 11.9.2001 could have been foretold. Everybody has 20/20 vision with hin dsight but it’s just not true that an expanded FBI could have penetrated these terrorist cells. The US already pours vast resources (Echelon, is Carnivore up and running yet?) into monitoring of communcations and that is all the FBI could have done. Liste ning in. e
Speaking as someone currently reduced to tears at witnessing the acute pain of a grandmother in decline, I’d like US dopers to read this article ** THIS ARTICLE**:
The war against cannabis/marijuana is over in the UK and much of Europe – there simply is not enough public support for current legislation and as the above article indicates, the future may well allow for a very dramatic assessment of the drugs medicinal potential.
It’s worth noting that, in May, the US Supreme Court ruled against clinical research into the possible benefits of cannabis/marijuana in relation to pain relief, easing the condition of Multiple Sclerosis suffers, etc.
Further, I feel it’s important to add that those involved in the world’s largest clinical trial are keen to stress that the means of administering the drug is via a spray under the tongue. Also, the trial companies are keen to point out that the ‘high’ associated with cannabis/marijuana is almost completely absent from the spray – they term the ‘high’ as “an unfortunate side-effect”.
Professor Lester Grinspoon from Harvard Medical School PhD MD (interviewed in the programme linked to above) said that, in his opinion, Cannabis/Marijuana was going to be the “wonder drug” of the early part of the 21st century.
I hope for the sake of US dopers and their parents that the US Supreme Court ruling is challenged once the trials are concluded and the evidence bears out the early results because it is not pretty to watch grandparents in absolute, unimaginable pain, know there is something that could be done but isn’t – not quite yet, anyway.
Frankly, I don’t care about other drugs at this point.
There is more to security than the Secert Service or FBI or otheter federal police agencies. Of course they should be drug free.
But what about private security firms like the ones who were supposed to be screening the airport in Chicago? They let a guy with an expired visa take knives and tear gas on a plane. What about security at concerts and ballparks? How much overtime can police officers be reqquired to do before they burnout, how long can the national guard be called up to act as border guards.
These jobs are going to have to be done by the private sector at some point, technology may help in the future but right now we need warm bodies to do our security. Problem is that security jobs are mostly low pay nowhere jobs that don’t attact the best and brightest. When they go to fill these jobs alot of people will not be qualified
alot of people will not be qualified because of there drug convictions, no matter how minor that original charge may have been.
If the drug war is over then how about amesty, just like they did at the end of our last civil war.
I wasn’t aware that misdemeanor convictions on drug use were indicative of an inability to serve our nation’s military. But then, I was never found guilty and certainly lied to my recruiter about it, so can someone clear that up first?
I don’t think there are a disproportionate amount of felons to the extent that it would cripple us militarily (though I do think there are too many felons from drug use period).
Can someone put some numbers to this before we try constructing arguments out of whole cloth?
Drugs trials aren’t unconstitutional. My understanding is that the Supremes ruled that the states couldn’t move ahead with medicinal use laws while the FDA had marijuana scheduled as a drug with no medicinal uses. What we need is to get the FDA to change their stance. Can I get an Executive Order? ( I doubt it. )
Are you kidding??? The areas under Taliban control are the biggest producers of heroin. Drug trade is one of the major cash resources of the terrorists, including Al-Qaida. If anything, the drug war will escalate, and rightly so.