SOTU on Drugs

For those didn’t watch the State of the Union but wanted to know what he said about drugs:

One of the worst decisions our children can make is to gamble their lives and futures on drugs.

True. And it’s a decision upon which government will have little impact.

Our government is helping parents confront this problem, with aggressive education, treatment, and law enforcement.

Education programs like D.A.R.E. which don’t work, and others that insult the intelligence of kids. Treatment slots wasted on non-addicted marijuana users who are referred by schools and the criminal justice system, while hard drug addicts are turned away. And law enforcement that has demonstrated major corruption while leading us to being the most incarcerated country on the planet.

Drug use in high school has declined by 11 percent over the past two years. Four hundred thousand fewer young people are using illegal drugs than in the year 2001.

Sure, no problem, just pick your statistics. “Monitoring the Future” shows drug use down in High Schools, “Pride Survey” shows drug use is up. Oh, and by the way, the ads don’t work.

In my budget, I have proposed new funding to continue our aggressive, community-based strategy to reduce demand for illegal drugs.

Oh, sure. Let’s spend even more on a failed war on drugs! We’ve got lots of money! 30 years and billions and billions of dollars with nothing to show for it? (I’m sorry, actually there’s a lot to show for it – increased crime, addiction, and drug abuse.) Let’s spend even more! Yeah, let’s get aggressive. Here’s some folks that can attest to the value of an aggressive drug war (or they could if they weren’t dead).

Drug testing in our schools has proven to be an effective part of this effort.

Not according to University of Michigan researchers who last year looked at survey data from 1998 through 2001 drawn from 772 high schools and middle schools.æ They found virtually identical rates of usage in schools that test and schools that do not.

So tonight I propose an additional 23 million dollars for schools that want to use drug testing as a tool to save children’s lives.

Ah, yes. More money for stuff that does nothing. Boy, money must just grow on trees!

The aim here is not to punish children, but to send them this message: We love you, and we don’t want to lose you.

Yes, we love you so much that we’ll point guns at you in school, send dogs after you, take away all your rights, and get you so used to it, that when we take away your medicine when you’re old, you’ll just roll over and die like a good citizen.
… And then he said some stuff about athletes needing to be role models and they shouldn’t use drugs.