Everybody thinks the War on Drugs is about "keeping people safe". It never was, it was always about manufacturing a tool to oppress "others".

nielsbot 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

You can add The War On Terror to that list.

Where do think US police get all their fun toys to play with?

	▲	pstuart 39 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		Yep. But the War on Drugs has been around much longer and is more relevant to people's day to day lives. And people buy into it. I hear this all the time "Sure, weed should be legal, and cocaine too because I like to party now and then, but the 'hard stuff' should definitely be illegal because its dangerous". To make matters worse -- people think that those who advocate against it are doing so because they want to do drugs (and some may) but it's a civil liberties issue and is the foundation for the militarization of the police.

from that lens it was almost necessary to invent a pretense since people got all huffy about overt oppression at the end of Jim Crow.