War on Drugs/Terror...Justifiable?

Glenn Greenwald's blog post discusses California's upcoming vote on Proposition 19, which would legalize marijuana. Greenwald believes that the great War on Drugs is a waste of resources and has enough proof from other countries to show it. Greenwald has done extensive research on the success of drug decriminalization in Portugal and wonders why America hasn't made a move in the same direction...or why we are so hesitant to. I agree with Greendwald's opinion that breeding  a "war" on drugs just creates a cyclical effect that fuels the growth of them. I have always believed that the only reason marijuana was prohibited in the first place was in order to make as much profit from it as possible by our very own government. They must and will control every resource that is produced from this land...or others for that matter. Think about how much of an economic loss it would mean to our government if marijuana were legalized. Look at the fines associated with possession of marijuana and how many people in this country are on years and years of probation on top of that. I do not condone the free use of other drugs that are actually harmful to our citizen's health and the people around them, but prohibiting marijuana is just preposterous to me. Greenwald also states his opinion that the War on Drugs is comparable to the War on Terrorism. Both of these so called wars are performed by instilling fear into the citizens of the U.S. in order to brain wash them into believing that the ridiculous propaganda that is fed them is the truth...and we will keep eating it up and voting to throw more money towards this "fight". Greenwald sums it up in a simplistic few sentences by saying

"These wars manufacture the very dangers they are ostensibly designed to combat.  Meanwhile, the industries which fight them become richer and richer.  The political officials those industries own become more and more powerful."


Glenn Greenwald is obviously speaking to the lefties on this one. I can't imagine Republican conservatives agreeing with any of his stances on these topics. He also was once a constitutional law and civil rights litigator in New York and has written two bestselling books analyzing the Bush administration and family legacy. His latest release, "Great American Hypocrites", was released in April of 2008.