On June 17, 1971, President Richard Nixon declared drug abuse “America’s public enemy number one.” Forty years later, the momentum to end what subsequently became the war on drugs has never been stronger.
On Friday, the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) released a three -and-a-half minute video titled “The Cost of the War on Drugs.” According to the video, in 2009 the federal government spent $2,094,510,000 housing drug-related prisoners. That’s a cost of about $22,000 per prisoner. (‘TOTAL FAILURE’: On 40th anniversary, Carter condemns drug war)
FEE also estimated that ending the war on drugs would save $25.7 billion in state and local spending and $15.6 billion in federal spending annually.
Another Web video making the rounds is “No Knock Raid,” performed by Toronto-based musician Lindy. The video targets what have become probably the most brutal and sometimes deadly tactics of the Drug War: drugs raid on private homes. The video features startling footage of actual SWAT team raids.
According to a USA Today report earlier this year, the number of “no-knock raids” in the U.S. has grown to about 70,000 to 80,000 annually.
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