Not just "overrated". Downright dangerous and we are still paying the price. So many of the problems in US & all over the world today can be traced back to Reagan. Even the Aryan Khan case!
He was in the right place at the right time, gets random credit for USSR collapse.
He was in the right place at the right time, gets random credit for USSR collapse.
https://twitter.com/GreyingnCranky/status/1466340306920493063
The most evil and destructive legacy of Reagan is criminalizing the possession of drugs, often with mandatory minimum sentencing disproportionately targeting minorities. And then going around the world forcing countries, including India, to criminalize drug possession too.
Most of us have grown up in a world fed on Reagan initiated alarmism about drugs. So we take it as a default that yes, if you have marijuana or cocaine or ecstasy or whatever in your possession, cops can arrest you.
Ever stopped and wondered... Why? Why is possession a "crime"?
Ever stopped and wondered... Why? Why is possession a "crime"?
Possession of mind altering drugs was never seen as a crime in a widespread way around the world. Addiction, yes. Health issue, yes. Something to frown upon, yes. Something to get help for, yes.
But possession as crime? That's a Reagan thing.
Sent millions to jail worldwide.
But possession as crime? That's a Reagan thing.
Sent millions to jail worldwide.
Think of all the people you know in your life. How many have cardiovascular issues? How many have diabetes? How many are alcoholic? How many are addicted to cocaine?
Pretty sure that for most people, that last number is minuscule. But it's the only one criminalized.
Pretty sure that for most people, that last number is minuscule. But it's the only one criminalized.
BTW, if you check my old blogs, you will see that I was also once favorable towards Reagan. Fed on "Reagan saved humanity from Soviet Union" and "saved US economy through deregulation" propaganda by libertarian blogs. Usually rewarded financially by American conservative groups.
It's only after reading actual US history and hearing opinions outside my then mostly brahmin male or mostly white male influence bubble, that I over the years, started realizing just how much harm Reagan did to the world. Long-lasting harm. So widespread!
Cocaine, marijuana, opium, mushrooms, pretty much all "Schedule 1" drugs have been around for centuries, if not millennia. A small percentage of humans would over indulge, maybe get addicted, ruin their lives.
The world generally thought of it as a "bad habit" not a crime.
The world generally thought of it as a "bad habit" not a crime.
Reagan changed that. Nixon started it. But Reagan used the most powerful position in the world to reshape it into a default where we treat drug addicts as criminals. Spend way more money on police catching never ending suppliers than on treatment or rehab.
100 years after Bolstead Act, pretty much all of USA, left right center, agrees that Prohibition was an absolutely batshit insane puritanical idea that helped organized crime more than anyone else. 100 years later, if humans survive, they will talk of "war on drugs" like that.
But they will note how Prohibition, while batshit insane and destructive, did not incarcerate, at least in large numbers, those who possessed or consumed alcohol. The gormint went after bootleggers and vendors, not alcoholics. Alcoholics weren't being jailed en masse.
Reagan has created an America (and a world) where tens if not hundreds of millions of people have been forever tagged criminals for possessing narcotic drugs. Every year, over a million people in the US are arrested for just possessing drugs. Making them felons for life.
When the US passed Prohibition, it inspired similar acts elsewhere, from Finland to the Bombay province. But at least the US govt then wasn't going around the world spreading the Prohibition gospel using carrots and sticks.
Reagan did that with his drugs obsession.
Reagan did that with his drugs obsession.
Reagan and later Bush Sr went around the world pretty much bribing and cajoling the world into also making possession of drugs illegal. And to waste resources on arresting the suppliers and vendors.
Most countries didn't really care, for centuries and millennia.
Most countries didn't really care, for centuries and millennia.
Every time I watch Narcos, I feel more and more upset at Reagan. Sleazebag played both sides of the aisle. Worked with drug cartels, took their money, when it was convenient in fighting leftist revolutionaries. Then started the war on drugs when these empowered goons flourished.
This is not some loony conspiracy theory. It has been the subject of multiple investigations. On the one hand, Reagan was criminalizing addicts. On the other hand, his administration was working with cocaine traffickers, often taking money from them.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA_invol…
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA_invol…
Every year, over a million Americans are arrested for drug possession. A plurality of them for marijuana.
That's over a million people, every single year, forever branded criminals, just in the US. Not for robbing, killing, beating, harassing, embezzling. Just for possession.
That's over a million people, every single year, forever branded criminals, just in the US. Not for robbing, killing, beating, harassing, embezzling. Just for possession.
In other countries, that number might even be higher. In some countries, to impress Reagan/Bush, they even death penalty for drug trafficking!
Including India! Did you know that although never used, Indian law allows capital punishment for a second trafficking offense? WTF?
Including India! Did you know that although never used, Indian law allows capital punishment for a second trafficking offense? WTF?
So yes, the number of lives Reagan directly and indirectly destroyed just through his drug obsession, numbers in tens if not hundreds of millions. Addiction is a real problem. But it's a health problem not a law enforcement problem. The way alcoholism is treated now.
Have you ever heard of Diageo and Suntory distributors and sales reps having pitched gun battles and beheading each other? But that was the Al Capone phenomenon basically. Criminalize alcohol. And hand a great cash source to violent criminals.
That's Escobar, Chapo now.
That's Escobar, Chapo now.
Until Nixon and Reagan came along, no one was really thinking of drugs as a widespread problem. Coke was (and is) mostly a rich kids' indulgence. Weed, almost everyone tries, a few get hooked, no violent behavior. Heroin, serious problem, but painkillers muddy it.
The only Indian state that has, for decades, had regular gang wars between people selling alcohol - Gujarat. Which has had Prohibition forever.
You don't really see Kingfisher and Bira area managers having shootouts in Bangalore.
You don't really see Kingfisher and Bira area managers having shootouts in Bangalore.
I am all for #AbolishICE but I'm also very much #AbolishDEA. You tell me there isn't enough money for NPR & PBS & covid relief but y'all spending billions of our tax dollars on arresting some dude in Mexico who sells coke to many people on wall street. It's such a scam!
And then they privatize prisons and give contracts too their buddies. The whole US criminal justice system is very much like Teja's dream in Andaz Apna Apna. Drug addict ka prison kholoonga.uske Liye private prison Mai hi doonga. Arrests ka badshah, prisons ka raja. Humara Reagan
I'll just end this thread by saying please people, realize how absolutely horrific and also inhuman it is that in most of the world, we arrest people for possessing some mind altering drugs. We just take it as a given. We weren't like this as a species until Reagan.
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