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How Do We Stop Our Insane War on Drugs?
I was feeling positive the other day. That's not out of the realm of possibility when it comes to my thoughts on politics. I like to call myself a cynical optimist - cynical about individuals in the short term, optimistic about the general progress of civilization. Thinking about the progress that has been made in gay rights in the past decade, I thought of how much progress would be made in other areas in the next decade. To me the burgeoning opposition to our nation's insane war on drugs could be the next decade's great progressive achievement.

When I say the drug war is “insane” I mean it literally. Often people use words like “insane” or “idiotic” or “moron” to shut down debate. If it’s idiotic then how could I possibly argue against it, or even engage in meaningful debate about it. When I say “insane” though, I mean it fits with the definition of insanity. Now, by “definition” I mean the popularized definition that “insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

I read Daniel Okrent’s wonderful Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition last year and was just floored at how many parallels there were to our current war on drugs. Even without further research it’s common knowledge in America that “prohibition was a failure”. And yet, we haven’t learned any lessons from it. Prohibitionists thought alcohol was ruining people’s lives so fought to ban it. Drug warriors think drugs are too dangerous to legalize, so they stay illegal. Americans almost universally ignored prohibition then and a large part of the population today ignores the rules that govern the war on drugs. Prohibition lead to a massive increase in crime, and now the war on drugs represents a large part of the violence we see in cities across the country. To fight the corresponding increase in crime Americans massively increased the power of government in both cases. Worse, both cases exported crime and violence outside our borders - prohibition to Canada, the war on drugs to Latin America.

While I’m optimistic that change will be coming soon to the war on drugs, it’s hard to see when that change might come about. There was a flaw in my optimism that stopped me cold. There is a major difference between the issues of gay rights and drug legalization. It boils down to who benefits from the war on drugs. There is no money in opposing gay marriage. In fact, it’s probably more lucrative for religious zealots if gay marriage continues to advance. That way they can keep preaching about the deterioration of morals and the downfall of America. (Have fun with that.) The war on drugs is a different animal. More behavior classified as crime means more cops. So there’s one interest. Banning gay marriage doesn't require a bureaucracy. More importantly, with the increasing militarization of police forces you have an entire industry built around supplying them. That industry will lobby for the continuation of its existence. There are not only political beliefs keeping the war alive. The more powerful force of money is involved.
What is your stance on the legalization of drugs such as marijuana? You can't condone legalizing anything harder then that? Change may come in the United States, but until the governments of Latin American countries such as Mexico and Columbia get some type of control over the cartels and violence that is just gripping things, it will be very difficult to see changes in LA. Demand controls the fact that the cartels run havoc in these countries, and I don't see demand for narcotics going away any time soon. Legalizing things will not decrease demand, and will lead to more problems within our government trying to figure out who gets the biggest piece of the drug pie. I myself see things in Latin America taking a different rout. The cartels are bigger then the governments themselves, and that corruption must be dealt with before people can worry about solving a drug problem, or legalizing anything. I am not optimistic on change coming soon when it comes to this problem.

I think the next issue American has to tackle is climate control and change, and alternate energy. Long term this may pose a bigger threat to this country then the drug problem. It is insane to me that a country, or even more the human race cannot get a grip on climate control, move away from sources of energy that pollute our world and help empower many of our enemies, and attempt to make alternate sources of energy realistic to buy and own for the masses. Climate control is not only essential for protecting the future of America, but protecting the future of the world and the human race.

Posted at 4/27/2012 2:26:14 PM by Uncle Ry Ry


Ryan, marijuana is where I would start because it is clearly less dangerous than an already legal drug, alcohol. I am not so arrogant to think that nothing could go wrong if America implemented my views. Marijuana poses so little danger to people that it would be a perfect test run for implementing regulations - taxes (oh, we could tax it so much), age limits (should be 18+, but would probably be 21+), places allowed to sell - for legalization. If it works I would look at other drugs, because their prohibition is causing the same problems across the world as marijuana.

You are right that the cartels are a major problem, but you fail to see why. Let me pose this question: does Budweiser have a standing army? Do they assassinate politicians, journalists, or rival breweries? Do they kidnap people for ransom? Or course not. And it's because what they make is legal for the most part. It is only when things that people demand are made illegal that crime organizes to sell it. Only then do producers need to carry guns, because, unlike brewers, pot producers can get arrested for growing and selling.

Legalize marijuana in this country and people can grow and sell it legally here, whether it be in the woods of Upstate New York for personal use or on a converted tobacco farm to be sold to Philip Morris. Chop the cartels off at their knees.

Posted at 4/29/2012 3:10:22 PM by Jeff Egnaczyk


 
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