Another Spectacular Failure: The War on Drugs

We Americans seem to be incapable of learning from past mistakes. We learned nothing from the debacle of 1929. We learned nothing from Vietnam. And we learned nothing from Prohibition. The neo-conservative movement that Reagan initiated has managed to repeat all three.

Prohibition skyrocketed organized crime and violence, deprived the government of tax revenue, and had little impact on the consumption of alcohol. The 'War' on drugs has had the same effect, as well as filling our prisons to overflowing with nonviolent 'offenders'. No nation in the world comes anywhere near the supposedly 'free' United States in locking up such a high percentage of its own citizens. And since it costs more to send a person to prison than to put that same person through college, we're wasting money training criminals that could be spent training useful white-collar workers.

If all drugs were decriminalized and taxed tomorrow--all but marijuana made available only through a doctor's prescription, with clinics for the supervision of addicts--the following events would immediately take place:

1. Billions of dollars would flow into federal, state, and local coffers.

2. The drug cartels in Mexico, Colombia, and elsewhere would collapse.

3. The Taliban would be de-funded.

4. The expensive 'war' on drugs would end, saving more billions.

5. Nonviolent prisoners could be released and retrained, saving more billions, and creating useful, tax-paying citizens.

6. The crime rate would drop, and police would be freed to perform more useful functions.

Those with a vested interest in the status quo scream bloody murder whenever decriminalization is suggested, although they certainly don't recommend banning alcohol again. Did alcohol consumption skyrocket when Prohibition ended? There may have been an increase in moderate use, but no one claims legalization of alcohol was a bad idea. Two of the three most addictive drugs that exist in the world today--alcohol and tobacco--are legal.

The old nonsense about marijuana being a 'gateway' drug is still trotted out today--no one seems to realize that this argument is double-edged. People move on from marijuana to harder drugs (alcohol being one) precisely because marijuana is too mild for them. Addictive personalities will always gravitate to more addictive substances. There will always be drunks and junkies, and they'll always find something. It's ironic that those same folks who claim that 'people, not guns, kill people' refuse make the same argument for drugs--instead assigning them magical properties: "My child isn't a junkie, the big, bad drugs did it!"

Decriminalization doesn't mean you'd be able to buy methamphetamine at your local 7-11. All addictive drugs would require a prescription and addicts would have to register. They would be able to hold jobs, their addictions would cost little, so they wouldn't need to steal to maintain their habit, and they would have assistance quitting if they were motivated. There are, after all, wealthy people addicted to heroin today who have held jobs more successfully and for longer durations than 'functioning alcoholics'.

The only real downside to the decriminalization of drugs would be that the CIA would have to find another way to finance some of its more covert operations.

(In his inauguration speech, President Obama talked of a new way of doing things. To understand the cultural paradigm shift that engendered this change--the change that both the neo-cons and the Taliban have resisted so fiercely, see my latest book, The Chrysalis Effect: THE Metamorphosis of Global Culture).

Comments

[dv416]

i dont even smoke, but if ever there was a time to let go of this pathetic anti "drug" struggle, its now.

we can booze, smoke cigarettes, watch porn, gamble, and drink coffee...t­here's plenty of addictive vices out there. who cares if we smoke some doobies? plus weed doesn't even really even have chemically addictive qualities.­..

seriously, we gotta pick our battles, and this isn't one of em.

[000Jade000]

Another downside: decriminalization would take away from private prison revenue. We can't have that.

[Oblivion]

William Stewart Halsted (1852-1922), “the father of modern surgery,” is widely regarded as one of this country’s most important and influential surgeons. Among other accomplishments, he invented surgical gloves and promoted strict aseptic techniques, making surgery safer and more effective. He was the first surgeon-in-chief of the Johns Hopkins Hospital in 1890 and was named first professor of surgery of its school of medicine in 1892. He is also credited with transforming the training of doctors from a disorganized apprenticeship system to the type of residency programs still in use today. And, although almost no one knew it at the time, while this brilliant surgeon ascended to the pinnacle of his profession, he was for more than 30 years addicted to morphine.

[Nicon]

Marijuana has never ever killed anyone, not a single person ever. Nor has Marijuana been shown to cause cancer or brain damage.

Alcohol kills around 200,000 people every year, by it self, no car needed.

Prescription drugs (you know the Good Drugs) kill around 20,000 Americans every year.

HUMMM

why are we spending 70 billion dollars every year on Marijuana smokers?

[successfulpothead]

I am so glad that there seem to be more and more people talking sense every day. Obama is talking about unconstitutionally putting federal troops on the border. Has it come to this? Has it come to the point when everyone would rather have their own country be a cage than allow me to smoke a joint and play GTA? We potheads have been begging for a legal market for 40 years. We've been BEGGING to be allowed to pay our share of taxes.

If you have a legal, regulated market with normal prices, much like alcohol, then the black market will go away. Do you think I would pay $60.00 an eighth if I could grow my own for free? Do you think I'll walk by a liquor store that sells pot just so I can make an illegal deal in the alley? Its not perfect. After all, there are still moonshiners. But they aren't even a shadow of the likes of Al Capone and the bootleggers any more are they?

[RamonBackwards]

Why would you pay taxes on it if you were growing it yourself?

[juxtapostle]

Here on huffpo, Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld has proposed a brilliant 'solution'. Mycoherbicides.

The good doctor's 'solution' to the curbing societal drug woes is ecological warfare.
Grand solution. Final solution.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-rachel-ehrenfeld/defeating-narco-terrorism_b_175537.html

Read more about our brilliant doctor here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel_Ehrenfeld

[Will78]

This country has invested billions into conditioning it's electorit to be scared of drugs with such sham groups like the partnership for a drug free america. Meanwhile the alcohol and pharmicutical industries were major funders of the PDFA. The war on drug is a policy that is gaining more of the public's skepticism as the number of critical articles like this one see the light of day. With groups like LEAP leading the cause, I am optimistic that Americans will reject the war on drugs as it's failure become known facts to the public.

[disgustedcitizen]

I can't remember who said it, I believe it was a stand up comedian, but it is so true. Anytime the US Government declares war on a subjective entity, that entity is going to win. Witness, the "War on Poverty", the "War on Terrorism", and the "War on Drugs". We can not win a "war" on an intangible.

[JohnFromCensornati]

Our citizens isn’t learnin.
They don’t learn logic. We teach how to be useful, but expendable corporate pawns and, on Sunday, how to bow down to the god of prohibited behavior. It is little wonder that they have their heads in the sand about availability of illegal substances to “the children”.
BHO promised to eliminate programs that “don’t work”. I get the impression that he means education, social security, and medicare.
Let’s not blame this on the GOP. I think it’s safe to say that congressional Dems will not touch The War on Some Drugs with a ten foot pole. Maybe a wave of Mexican refugees will wake them up, but I doubt it.