The War on Drugs

Hearing some of the absolute right-wing garbage about how the new marajuana laws in Washington and Colorado are going to be the ruin of western society, I felt it necessary to post this quite poorly performed song from a show or two ago, in order to remind everyone what a glorious and spectacular failure the war on drugs has been so far.  Funny how some government failures are swept under the rug and others the pundits won't stop yammering about.  Anyway, enjoy:

What if I’d  told you I’d had a fix for poverty?

What if I’d said that we could end it permanently?
So we spent a lot of money, and for forty years we strived
To eradicate the problem,  ruining countless lives
Then after 40 years you asked me to report
Is poverty gone? Did we make progress? What sort?
What if I said, “It’s all about the same” and shrugged
Ladies and gentlemen, the war on drugs

2.

What if I’d told you that I could feed the world?

And you gave me the go ahead and I’d given it a whirl

And since 1970 I’d spent 1.5 trillion dollars
But fed no more people Would that raise a hoot and holler?
Or would you laugh and find it grievously funny
When with a straight face I hit you up for some more money
You’d ask me what kind of cough medicine I’d chugged
Ladies and gentlemen the war on drugs

Bridge

If this were some more progressive enterprise
Would anybody really be all that surprised,
If we had called it quits a long time ago?
If we had had the common sense to "just say no."
We quit all kinds of stuff, leave lots of things unsolved
Why is this diff’rent?  Is it cause guns are involved?
Cops, criminals and congressmen acting like thugs
Ladies and Gentlemen, the war on drugs

3.
What if I told you we could close so many prisons
Fund education better, lessen race divisions
Decrease urban blight and the causes underneath
Put cops back on the streets who aren't armed to the teeth
Stop providing price supports for drug-dealer's greed
And give suffering people the medical attention that they need
We could do all those things if we just pulled the plug, on…

Ladies and Gentlemen...