To Our Next President: End the War – via pardon

To the next President of the United States of America:

On your Day One, show the American people that we can get real Hope from our government – end the War. Pull out the presidential pardon pen, and release from prison all the millions of Americans currently incarcerated for the crime of non-violent simple possession.

It is in your power as the Executive to do this, and you should.

It is painfully obvious that the War on the American people – also known as the War on Drugs – was a mistake. It is far more devastating than any foreign war, past or present, this country has engaged in. Millions of lives have been lost or ruined. That which could have been an economic boon in the form of taxes has been turned over to gangs as profit. Now is the time for it to stop – and you can do it.

At the Federal level, pardon all of those who have committed no violent crime. Let the conservative states (like Kansas and Utah) come up with their own conservative laws for dealing with drugs, and let liberal states (like California and Alaska) have their own laws for distributing and taxing drugs.

If you empty our prisons of the millions who have committed no violence, there will be two cells available for every murderer, rapist and robber we ought to be keeping under raps for the public safety. Our criminal justice system might actually work for a change, seeing that no one will have to deal with petty cases of possession, and juries judges and justice can get down to punishing the violent. Our police will be much more effective, as they can take all of the time that they currently spend (and it is a lot) chasing down dopers and spend it chasing down murderers.

Time has judged the repeal of Alcohol Prohibition, and found it to be only common sense. No one in this day and age could even imagine an America where a small special interest group could make a bottle of whiskey illegal. Future generations will look back at drug prohibition as Americas Dumbest War.

You, Our Next President, can be the level headed, common sense voice of reason recognized by future generations as the Great American who ended this ignorant, unjust, unconstitutional war against the People of these United States.

All you have to do is pick up that pardoning pen, and put it to use.