Pubdate: Thu,  5 Dec 2002
Source: Boulder Weekly (CO)
Copyright: 2002 Boulder Weekly
Contact:  http://www.boulderweekly.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/57
Author: Eric Johnson

DRUG MONEY

It may be true, as Pamela White writes in "OD at the DOC" (News, Nov. 21) 
that the war on drugs is "an enormous waste of money." It may be true that 
"about $50 billion in taxpayer money could be saved if the war on drugs 
ended." However, while I would be willing to see that money put to better 
use elsewhere-or simply returned to the citizens who earned it-White can't 
have it both ways.

That is, if the war on drugs were ended, I for one would certainly not want 
to pay for state-run "treatment" programs for drug users.

And even if the war continues, I agree with Colorado's decision to spend 
the least amount of any state on such programs.

Ending the war on drugs would simply make clearer the fact that an 
individual bears responsibility for using or not using drugs. If drug use 
were no longer illegal, the state would be leaving it as a matter of 
personal choice. Therefore, the individual drug user would also accept the 
burden for treatment, if at some point he or she desired to quit.

Drug use is not a clear-cut "medical" problem, as Christie Donner asserts 
in White's article-not in the way that cancer is a medical problem or 
malaria is a medical problem. You can't "quit" cancer by an act of will. 
You can't decide to "stop using" malaria.

Drug use is entirely voluntary. Coke powder does not ambush the noses of 
hapless victims. Ecstasy pills do not insinuate themselves into the mouths 
of unwilling people.

And a balloon filled with heroin did not climb into Charlene Marquez's 
stomach by itself.

Up until six years ago, my father was a smoker for 53 years. Then he had an 
emergency triple bypass. Since he got out of surgery, he has not smoked a 
single cigarette. Had he tried to quit before the bypass? Yes, several 
times. Had he succeeded? No.

So why was he suddenly able to stop using a drug (nicotine) that is-if we 
are to believe the medical pundits-as addictive as heroin? In a word, 
motivation.

It's not a medical matter; it's a matter of motivation.

So sure, why not grant people complete freedom to make their own choices 
with respect to drug use? Just don't ask taxpayers to foot the bill for any 
negative consequences of such a choice.

Eric Johnson

Boulder
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