the global drug war

What is this world coming to when the right and the left can agree on something? More over-reaching, ineffective government legislation is coming down the pipeline...

http://www.alternet.org/drugs/153416/pr ... re_science
Prohibition in Real-Time: the House Votes to Criminalize Dozens of New Chemicals, Putting Politics Before Science
By Kristen Gwynne
December 13, 2011

Despite the failures of prohibition and the widespread availability of illegal drugs, the House of Representatives decided last week not to accept the reality that drugs will not go away. Instead of re-evaluating the drug war, they escalated the same tactics that facilitate the harm and violence drugs' illegal status creates. On Thursday, a bipartisan-led effort to pass bill HR 1254, which puts dozens of of new chemicals found in synthetic drugs like bath salts and fake marijuana into the most rigid category of drugs, Schedule I, succeeded, despite a minority of members' efforts to convince others to put the science before the politics.

"Outright criminalization compromises both public health and safety by shifting demand for synthetic drugs into the criminal market. It would be more effective for Congress to pursue comprehensive drug education and create a regulatory framework to reduce youth access to synthetic drugs. This approach is working for tobacco, which has contributed to more deaths than alcohol and illicit drugs combined."