"Drugs"   is a word that has polluted the well of language.

Part of the reason we have a drug problem is because we don't have an intelligent language to talk about substances, plants, psychedelic [and] sedative states of mind, states of amphetamine excitation. We can't make sense of the problem and the opportunities offered by substances unless we clean up our language.

"Drugs" is a word that's been used by governments to make it impossible to think creatively about the problem of substances and abuse and availability and so forth and so on.

So it's a kind of a paradox isn't it?

"Drugs" mean that which cures us and the greatest social problem of the generation.

Apparently there are "good drugs" sanctioned by science and medicine and "bad drugs" used by brown people in strange rites and growing in unusual plants in distant parts of the world. This kind of thinking, because it's naive, leads of course to social problems and bad politics and bad social policy.

Every society chooses a small number of substances, no matter how toxic, and enshrines them in its cultural values, then demonizes all other substances and then persecutes and launches witch hunts against those users whenever some political pretext requires...So it's an old game and it's been played in many places.

Hopefully part of the advancement of society toward ideas of universal human rights and that sort of thing it certainly must include the idea of the universal human right to take responsibility for and to alter your own state of consciousness as you see fit.

I don't think we can even pretend that we are on the edge of a civilized dialogue until we grant that people's minds, like their bodies, must be a domain free from government control. In American law we have the notion of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. If the pursuit of happiness means anything it must mean the right to use and experiment with substances and plants.

We need endless amounts of research. The fact that these things have been illegal in most countries for 50 years means there is a huge lag in understanding of the impact of these things on human beings.

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Earlier this week, Vox sat down with Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ)to discuss the racial disparities currently happening in America. Booker believes that the war on drugs has created a "caste system" in which African Americans are being treated more harshly than white Americans.

There seems to be a lot of truth to that statement, because according to the FBI Uniform Crime Reports and US Census Bureau, there is not much disparity between the amount of illicit drugs that white and black Americans are abusing. However, there is a huge disparity in the amount of drug-related arrests between these two races. According to this data, 332 white Americans are arrested with drug-related charges per every 100,000 white Americans, while Black Americans have almost three times the amount of arrests at 879 drug-related arrests per 100,000 American residents.

The War on Drugs has proven to be a failing policy in America. If we can not even keep illicit drugs out of our prison systems, how can we expect to keep these substances out of our entire society ?

A little over a decade ago, Portugal took the brave step in decriminalizing possession of all substances - from marijuana to heroin - and started treating their citizens with addictions medically as opposed to throwing their citizens in jail. Surprisingly enough, this brave legislation provided a society with a lot less drug addicts. They currently have the lowest rate of drug abusers in the entire European union.

Glenn Greenwald, the author of a CATO study of the drug addictions in Portugal noted, "By freeing its citizens from the fear of prosecution and imprisonment for drug usage, Portugal has dramatically improved its ability to encourage drug addicts to avail themselves of treatment. The resources that were previously devoted to prosecuting and imprisoning drug addicts are now available to provide treatment programs to addicts."

America could learn a lot from Portugal's legislation and legislation like this would benefit all Americans regardless of race.

To check out Vox's video with Senator Cory Booker, watch below.

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