Futility

Last year, Prime Minister John Key tied himself to the war on drugs, promising to aggressively crack down on the supply and use of methamphetamine in New Zealand. Since then, they've restricted supply of the 'flu tablets used as precursors, massively increased police powers, and passed a law allowing the police to seize the homes of innocent people on suspicion. So has any of this had any effect on the drug trade?

Of course not:

Obtaining methamphetamine may be getting easier despite a Government crack down on the drug, a report says.

[...]

"If you look at price, availability and purity – the three main indicators of successful strategy – none of that has shifted an iota," Mike Sabin, group director of policy consultant MethCon, said.

The report says the availability of methamphetamine, also known as P, "may have become slightly easier" in the middle of last year compared to the year before.

Its a perfect example of the futility and wastefulness of the war on drugs. We're spending hundreds of millions on this, convicting thousands of people - and all we're doing is making the suppliers richer. It's like a land war in Asia - dragging on forever while achieving precisely nothing (speaking of which, how was Afghanistan, Mr Key?). About the only use for it is that it gives the police something to do, without which they'd be raping helpless women or spying on anyone who dares to speak out against the government. But we could achieve that result just by getting them to deal with burglaries.

P is not good stuff, and I don't think I'd want to see it legalised. But there has to be a better way than this. Our government should be looking for it. Instead, they're wasting our money beating their heads against the same old brick wall.