inthemix | Lifestyle | Presidential candidate calls for drug legalisation

Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader launched an articulate attack on the war on drugs recently, urging America to legalise drugs and focus instead on cracking down on corporate crime. “We pour almost endless resources – roughly $50 billion every year – into catching, trying, and incarcerating people who primarily harm themselves,” Mr Nader told a press conference. “This insane war on drugs damages communities and drains crucial resources from the police, courts, and prisons,” he continued. “These resources could be better used to combat serious street and corporate crime that directly violates the public’s liberty, health, safety, trust, and financial well-being,” he pointed out.

The straight talking politician also noted the increasing numbers of respected commentators who already recognise the ‘lunacy’ of the drug war, a point noted by reformed UK drug warrior Julian Critchley, former Director of the UK Anti-Drug Co-ordination Unit in Cabinet Office, last week. “I think what was truly depressing about my time in [UK Anti-Drug Co-ordination Unit] was that the overwhelming majority of professionals I met, including those from the police, the health service, government and voluntary sectors held the same view: the illegality of drugs causes far more problems for society and the individual than it solves,” he told the BBC. “Yet publicly, all those intelligent, knowledgeable people were forced to repeat the nonsensical mantra that the Government would be “tough on drugs”, even though they all knew that the Government’s policy was actually causing harm,” he confessed.