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Time to Stop the Insanity

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This is a plea to stop the madness. The "Drug War" so beloved of politicians and cops and all of those who wish to exert control over the behavior of others is in reality a war against ourselves, perpetrated by ourselves and the only casualties are ourselves.

We have taken a public health issue and turned it into a moral crusade. We pack our courts and jails with people whose only crime is looking for a little escape from reality while we set violent criminals free. We deny substances with medicinal value to sick people because we have attached a moral value to their use. We watch in horror as children and old people and other innocent bystanders are killed in drug shootouts. We complain bitterly about the Escobars and Gachas and Noriegas who make billions in the drug trade, yet "we" created them. We weep and wail and ask how to end the slaughter while ignoring the most practical solution.

The only way to stop the drug violence is to end the "drug war", to admit once and for all that it's totally illogical and counterproductive. Consider if you will just what the drug war really is.

Someone decides that a group of chemicals, some natural, some refined natural substances, some synthetic, are offensive to their moral sense because they can be used to escape reality and may have addictive properties. This person enlists the aid of political power and has a law passed prohibiting the use and possession of these substances.

Laws need penalties for breaking them so a punishment system is added.

Consumers still want the substances so they seek ways of obtaining or producing them outside the law.

Some folks, perhaps more unscrupulous than others, go into the business of providing a supply to fit the demand.

The original moralist is outraged and demands that law enforcement halt the trade.

Law enforcement pleads that they have insufficient resources to stop the traffic.

The moralist goes to his friendly politician who happily appropriates some money.

The cops increase enforcement.

The dealers, seeing their business jeopardized, raise prices to cover the increased risk and to obtain increased protection.

The consumer has to pay more for his high and starts to divert money from the necessities of life.

The moralist, livid at the thought that his pet project might fail presents petitions or makes phone calls or threatens more direct action.

The police complain that they have run out of money.

The politicians appropriate more cash for law enforcement.

The police escalate their efforts.

The price goes up as the dealers have to purchase more protection.

Abusers become more desperate and begin to commit crimes to obtain money to purchase the desired substance.

The immense profits lead to violence as dealers seek to protect their turf and intimidate their competition.

Dealers see higher profit in increasing the demand so they "push" drugs to those who wouldn't otherwise use them.

The judicial system becomes overloaded with drug cases.

Ordinary people start winding up in jail.

The moralist and his band of zealots scream about the increasing problem.

The politicians supply more money to the cops.

The violence increases as dealers spend huge sums to match or exceed police firepower.

Politicians take over the role of the moralist and formulate grandiose, expensive and mostly unrealistic plans.

More money flows to law enforcement.

More citizens are jailed.

More and better weapons are purchased by the dealers.

More violent deaths occur.

Citizens demand action.

And on and on and on.

This is the drug war. It's a war we can't win because we're chasing our tails in an ever increasing spiral of profit and violence and moralizing.

Who benefits from the current drug situation?

1. Politicians who find drugs a wonderful campaign issue as well as a vehicle for the pork they love so much.

2. Religious groups» it's a great moral club and sermonizing against it helps to fill the collection plate.

3. Cops who love the big budgets and Federal dollars and property seizure laws. They also dig dressing up in combat gear, wearing masks, yelling and screaming and breaking down doors. Watch TV shows like "Cops" or "American Detective", etc., they really enjoy it. It must be a great high.

4. Purveyors of "legal" drugs like tobacco and alcohol who want to avoid competition for market share.

5. Pulp and fiber interests who would face a huge economic threat from hemp.

6. The emerging growth sector of the American economy, prison industry, which provides cheap labor to private business interests.

A subject which is never really examined in depth is; what's wrong with wanting to feel good? Why shouldn't a person be able to use a substance to make himself feel good as long as he doesn't harm others? Forget the morality and just consider the question on its own merit.

Then we have the mindless objection to medical uses of these drugs which has made it impossible for people to receive medication (like marijuana) they desperately need to combat the effects of chemotherapy or radiation or AIDs or glaucoma. The anti-drug cartel is so afraid of appearing ambiguous on the issue that they are quite willing to sacrifice sick people just to preserve their image. Medical journals report that physicians routinely under-prescribe pain-killers to avoid the appearance of "drugging" their patients. "Terminal" patients are denied prescribed heroin to alleviate pain, as if addiction is worse than death! Government bureaucrats (including the vaunted World Health Organization) withhold test results that might show beneficial aspects of marijuana and other drugs in order to maintain their rigid anti-drug stance.

The tremendous political pressure to be seen prosecuting drug criminals leads to excess or outright corruption in law enforcement. Unlawful acts are committed by police agencies who build relationships with criminal organizations. At the highest levels of government, the most egregious criminal activity or blatant coverups are condoned if they can be portrayed as part of an anti-drug effort. The pervasive attitude seems to be; all actions taken in support of the drug war are justified. In an ironic twist, the same moralists who trumpet their disgust with situational ethics in other venues accept and even applaud such unethical conduct in the name of fighting drugs.

It's time to reconsider the whole question. Here are a few things we could do:

1. Decriminalize the possession and sale of drugs for personal use. The experience of the Netherlands, where the drug problem (particularly in the case of marijuana) is a minute fraction of ours could be used as a model.

2. Take the thirteen billion or so dollars on the federal level, the twenty plus billion needed to incarcerate drug offenders and the untold billions spent at state and local levels fighting the "drug war" and use them to fund drug education in schools and rehabilitation programs for those who develop problems.

Among the benefits of such actions would be:

1. a precipitate decrease in violence; gangs won't fight over drugs and territory once the profit is gone.

2. No need to build new jails for a long time, we might even lose our world leadership in per capita incarceration.

3. The quantity of money and personnel needed by law enforcement would sink like a rock. (The police unions would hate this part.)

4. Crimes committed against citizens by addicts to support their habit would disappear. So would the vast, expensive private security industry which has grown up to protect us when the police cannot.

5. The schools would have a chance to educate students on the dangers of drugs and without the huge profits for the pushers there would be less temptation for young people to try them.

6. Research on the medical uses of currently prohibited drugs would resume.

7. The kind of police excess seen since the advent of seizure and forfeiture laws would go away.

8. The nation's "Drug Tsar" could finally accept that job flipping burgers and all the political hacks who inhabit his domain could stop sucking from the public trough.

9. There would be a decrease in diseases like AIDs and hepatitis that spread among drug addicts and eventually find their way into the community as a whole.

Finally, there are a few points that seem to be left out of most discussions of the "drug problem".

Most people who use drugs (including tobacco and alcohol) are not addicts or criminals. The majority of people who use these substances "recreationally" function normally in society.

All drugs (including tobacco and alcohol) are not created equal and shouldn't be lumped together. They affect the body and mind in different ways, their long term effects vary widely and the methods used in treatment differ. Nor can you lump all users together as some people are more easily addicted than others and reactions to drugs differ from individual to individual.

Use of the "legal drugs", tobacco and alcohol, are decreasing in this country due to changes in attitude, new perceptions of health and fitness and extensive educational programs.

The anti-drug forces continue to imply that a single use of a drug dooms one to the degradation of addiction (eggs and frying pans etc.). When young people see friends and schoolmates who use drugs recreationally yet function and even succeed in society they will know that the "Just Say No"ers have lied to them.

The anti-druggies like to refer to illegal drugs as killers, yet the number of people who die as a direct result of taking these substances is tiny compared to the nearly four hundred thousand Americans who die each year as a direct result of using the legal drugs tobacco and alcohol.

Real regulation of marijuana is impossible. It's not even necessary to smuggle it in because it can be grown in every state in the Union, indoors and out and can even be found growing wild.

Committing crimes or driving under the influence of drugs can be handled in the same way as committing crimes or driving under the influence of alcohol.

In the final analysis, there is no morality involved in the "drug war" so it's time we stopped being emotional and started thinking with a little bit of logic. Continuing to fight this ridiculous "war" will only destroy us.

© 2005 Charles Stone, Jr.

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