How the ‘War on Drugs’ turned Ferguson into a warzone

[neversickanymore]

How the ‘War on Drugs’ turned Ferguson into a warzone
Robert Bridge
August 19, 2014

The violent protests that continue to plague Ferguson, Missouri, where an unarmed black teenager was shot dead by a white police officer, has brought military-grade hardware onto the streets in a frightening display of force. How did America get here?

LIVE UPDATES: Militarized US cops face off against Ferguson protesters

Just as disturbing as the violence that has rocked Ferguson for the last eight days and nights, and the horror over the shooting death of an unarmed teenager by a police officer, is the spectacle of watching armored vehicles roll down city streets and police who look better equipped to fight a war in the Middle East than a protest rally in the Midwestern United States.

In addition to armored vehicles, the Ferguson police have at their disposal body armor, full combat gear and futuristic crowd-control weapons, like acoustic weapons that disperse protesters by emitting a powerful, ear-splitting electronic signal.

The death of teenager Michael Brown, and the ensuing violence it has reaped, has thrown a spotlight on what has been largely concealed from public scrutiny: the militarization of local US police forces.

Many observers are wondering exactly how armored vehicles and other combat equipment landed on the streets of Ferguson in the first place.

Continued http://rt.com/op-edge/181380-ferguson-police-military-drugs/

 

[neversickanymore]

Libertarians: 'War on Drugs,' 'Law and Order' Caused Firestorm
Monday, 18 Aug 2014
By John Gizzi

The federal "war on drugs" and "law and order" issues stressed by many politicians are major reasons for the clashes involving heavily armed police in Ferguson, Missouri, say leaders of America's Libertarian Party.

In interviews with Newsmax last week, both Carla Howell, the party's political director, and 2012 Libertarian presidential nominee Gary Johnson said their party has had a longtime history of opposing government programs that they feel have led to the "militarization" of local police in cities such as Ferguson.

Their remarks are the latest evidence of a shift by some on the right from the strong "law and order" position that was a mainstay of conservative politicians going back to Richard Nixon in the late 1960s.

In his new book, "The Greatest Comeback," onetime Nixon staffer Pat Buchanan recalls how his candidate "staked out our claim to the law and order issue" in 1966 and two years later, how Nixon called for rapid "retaliation against the perpetrators of violence" and wanted the response to be "swift and sure."

Libertarians today look at the issue differently from Nixon and Buchanan in 1968. They argue local police are now armed to fight terrorism rather than simply contain crime.

"The 'war on drugs,' which we have opposed vigorously from the start, is one of the real root causes of the problem in Ferguson," Howell told Newsmax. "Local police forces have become way too prolific in the weapons they use to the point that they act like SWAT [Special Weapons and Tactics] teams, which use military-style weapons and tactics which are normally reserved for operations outside the capabilities of local law enforcement officers."

Howell added that such tactics "have their roots in the federal 'war on drugs,' which we Libertarians have opposed since it was started in 1971."


continued http://www.newsmax.com/Politics/Lib...tary/2014/08/18/id/589300/?promo_code=165C6-1

 

[ro4eva]

The war on drugs certainly has been the biggest contributor to the militarization of local and state law enforcement in the US.

Alas, since many prohibitionists appear to be living in denial regarding the sad state of progress with respect to the WoD (what progress?), we can only hope that something eventually snaps them back into reality. Usually, the death of a loved one due to the war on drugs gets the job done, but I would prefer if people stopped dying needlessly.