Of the many issues ignored by the mainstream media and candidates this election one of the largest is the war on drugs. Despite the fact that it costs billions of dollars every year and ruins countless lives it has received almost no attention.

When Paul Ryan made the “mistake” of saying that states should decide whether medical marijuana was legalized or not his spokesperson quickly corrected the record later saying that marijuana should never be legal.

What is rather disturbing is Barrack Obama’s hypocrisy and betrayal of his word. Even though he has called the war on drugs a failure and when campaigning in 2008 seemed to take a more moderate stance any change for the better has failed to materialize. Actually his administration has actually increased the amount of licensed marijuana dispensary raids around the country.

Mitt Romney it seems has never done drugs of any sort largely because his religion forbids the consumption of alcohol and even caffeine. But Barrack Obama has openly admitted to doing drugs regularly when younger. This is rather disturbing considering his current policies because had the laws he now enforces been emplace when he was younger and was caught doing drugs it is likely he would have gone to jail and probably not become president. The hypocrisy is astounding.

Yet here we are with another ridiculous election about to come to a close with another two ridiculous candidates who don’t address real issues. Meanwhile hundreds of thousands of non-violent drug offenders languish behind prison bars at both state and federal prisons.

These people have not shot anyone. They have not attacked anyone. They have simply used drugs which is a victimless crime. If a person wants to put harmful (or not harmful) substances in their body who is the government to stop them?

Alcohol does far more damage than drugs and yet it is legal and regularly used. While not one person has died from a marijuana overdose thousands of people die from alcohol use every year.

Have politicians never heard of Prohibition and how it didn’t work? Alcohol prohibition was an absolute failure and led to an increase in violence and yet here we are less than a century later trying and failing in exactly the same manner with drugs.

But what is especially despicable about the vast ambivalence to the war on drugs is the cost is has in foreign countries. Hopefully everyone is aware of the terrible violence that pervades Mexico as a result of the ongoing wars between the various drug cartels. If people were allowed to purchase drugs like they would purchase cigarettes or alcohol there would be no need for the cartels to fight over the ability to smuggle drugs into the United States and there would be no money in it and as a result the cartels would lose one of their main incentives to continue the terrible violence.

In fact several Central and South America nations have wanted to bring up the idea of legalization but the United States harshly refuses to. It seems that those who profit from this ridiculous failure, are too well entrenched in the system.

Another very negative aspect about the war on drugs is that young people who do drugs and are not hardened criminal types are put in with hard-core gangsters and despicable criminals. There they are exposed to real criminality and often leave in a worse state than they went in. So rather than the prison system rehabilitating drug offenders it simply pushes them into real criminal activity.

If you go to vote next Tuesday remember the thousands of people all over the world whose lives have been ruined by the United States flawed drug policy. Remember that both candidates will maintain the status quo or intensify it.

If you vote to support those who cause this suffering remember that you will bear the moral responsibility. Don’t be responsible for ruining innocent people’s lives.