Hoover Institution: Video: Issues on My Mind: George P. Schultz: Drugs, The War With No Winner

Source:The FreeState

It’s good to hear a Republican and a Conservative, who worked for both President Richard Nixon, when the War on Drugs was declared and President Ronald Reagan, when the Drug War was escalated in the 1980s, like George Schultz. Listen to what Secretary Schultz says here. “We have forty years of experience and we know that the War on Drugs doesn’t work. That it’s a failure, that we have more people who use illegal narcotics than other developed countries and have higher rates of illegal drugs use than our competitors.” Now, George Schultz, was Secretary of Treasury for President Nixon and then Secretary of State for President Reagan. And even though he might be the best Secretary of State the United States has ever had, he’s not directly responsible for the War on Drugs.

But Schultz, was a very trusted member of both President Nixon’s and President Reagan’s cabinet and knew about the War on Drugs and saw reports about them. And is someone who is very interested in current affairs, especially as they relate to America. And has thought and researched a lot about issues other than economic and foreign policy. He knows about our high incarceration rate and how many of those people in prison are there for something relating t the War on Drugs. And that a lot of those people are there for simple usage, or possession. He knows what our narcotics issue was pre-War on Drugs and where we are forty years later.

So to hear someone with the depth of knowledge, intelligence and experience as a George Schultz, who was a cabinet officer in both Richard Nixon’s and Ronald Reagan’s administration’s, who also happens to be a Conservative Republican, say the War on Drugs has failed and he was part of two administration’s where the War on Drugs was pushed real hard, is very refreshing. And it is also very refreshing to hear someone of the background of a George Schultz, say we can do better. There are better ways and policies in how we deal with narcotics in America. That we shouldn’t be promoting narcotics usage, but at the same time we shouldn’t be holding people criminally responsible and sending them to prison as convicted felons, simply for using narcotics.