From sea to shining sea: America busted
- Four arrested during Monday morning drug bust
- Daily Ardmoreite, Ardmore, OK, December 21
- New details revealed in major drug bust
- Portsmouth Hearld, Portsmouth, NH, December 21
- Police nab $7M worth of cocaine in drug bust
- NBC4-TV, Los Angeles, CA, December 20
- Officer charged in drug bust due in court
- WVEC, Norfolk, VA, December 21
- Burnt pizza leads to New Ken drug bust
- WTAE-TV, Pittsburgh, PA, December 21
- Drug bust nets 23 arrests in county
- Waynesboro Record Hearld, Waynesboro, PA, December 21
- Altered car tag leads to drug bust
- Athens Banner Hearld, Athens, GA, December 20, 2004
- Traffic stop leads to big drug bust
- Intelligencer Journal, Lancaster, PA, December 20
- Nine arrested in drug bust
- Daily News, Texas City, TX, December 18
- Biloxi drug bust yields 13 arrests
- Sun Hearld, Biloxi, MS, December 18
- Police nab fifteen on drug bust
- Daily Commercial, Leesburg, FL, December 18, 2004
- Cops make record drug bust
- Pantagraph.com, Bloomington, IL, December 19
- Nearly a dozen arrested in Baltimore City drug bust
- WJZ13, Baltimore, MD, December 18
- 29 people face charges in Buffalo-area drug bust
- WSTM.com, Buffalo, NY, December 16
- Blackfoot police arrest six in large drug bust
- KIFI, Idaho Falls, ID, December 21
- Charges filed in drug bust
- Daily Southtown, Chicago, IL, December 15
- Early morning traffic stop results in large drug bust
- KRNV, Reno, NV, December 14
- Drug bust nets three
- Stoughton Journal, Stoughton, MA, December 17
- HPD officer nabbed in drug bust
- KITV, Honolulu, HI, December 14
- Police: traffic stop leads to drug bust
- Statesman Journal, Salem, OR, December 15
- Four arrested in Pepperwood drug bust
- Times Standard, Pepperwood, CA, December 21
- Eight face charges in drug bust
- Kalamazoo Gazette, Kalamazoo, MI, December 16
- Father, son charged in downtown drug bust
- La Crosse Tribune, La Crosse, WI, December 15
- Sweep leads to major drug bust in Fisher County
- Sweetwater Reporter, Sweetwater, TX, December 17
- Drug bust at Austin Holiday Inn
- KAAL-TV, Owatonna, MN, December 16
This year alone, the United States will spend billions and deny an estimated 1.5 million Americans their liberty as the Nation prosecutes the so-called "war on drugs." Despite these financial and human costs, prices for cocaine and heroin have dropped to 20-year lows while the sale of illegal drugs has risen to account for at least 8% of world trade. Meanwhile, according to the Congressional Research Service at the Library of Congress:
Under U.S. leadership, and backed by the United Nations, the drug war is global, with the participation of every country in the world. Recently, however, that united front has begun to fracture. Many European countries that have been our long-term allies in the drug war are today beginning to frame the issue of drug abuse less as one of law enforcement and more as one of public health. Portugal, in 2001, decriminalized all drug use and adopted a policy of “harm reduction.” Spain no longer prosecutes illegal drug use done privately. Belgium permits the use of medical marijuana. Closer to home, Canada has legalized marijuana for medical uses and is in the process of decriminalizing the possession of small amounts of marijuana for personal use. The chief of the Mexican federal police has announced his support of worldwide drug legalization as the only way to destroy the global drug economy, and high-level officials in the government of Mexican President Vicente Fox reportedly favor drug legalization as the solution to the violence and corruption caused by narco-traffickers. Even within the United States, voters in some states have approved ballot initiatives to lessen the penalties for using certain drugs.