Pubdate: Sat, 21 Feb 2009 Source: York Daily Record (PA) Copyright: 2009 The York Daily Record Contact: http://ydr.inyork.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/512 Author: Philip L. Bloch Note: Philip L. Bloch lives in Straban Township. Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization) OBAMA SHOULD PUSH FOR DRUG LEGALIZATION There is one dramatic change in our social policies that we, as a society, desperately need, and which Barack Obama is uniquely positioned to confront. As the first president to admit using marijuana and cocaine, he understands how easily the vicissitudes of fate could have made him a casualty of the War on Drugs. Instead of pursuing the dreams which led him to the presidency, he could have been just another young man with a criminal record, limited options and the likelihood of further problems with the law. For this reason alone, he should use the moral authority of his office to push for the decriminalization of all drugs. Drugs can sometimes induce irrational fears. After having eaten brownies laced with hashish at a party, on the way home I became so convinced that the bridge across the Hudson River would collapse, that I turned around and spent the night at a friend's house. Similarly, good intentions laced with cultural prejudice, half-truths and sanctimonious moralizing can also induce irrational fears. You become convinced that society will collapse if drugs aren't criminalized. Are drugs so enticing that we will become a nation of addicts if the drug laws are repealed? In a recent Zogby Poll 99 percent of Americans said that they wouldn't use hard drugs if they were legal. So why are we still captive to the fear-mongering that insists that even marijuana can't be legalized because it will inexorably lead to an epidemic of cocaine and heroin addiction? How many of us know people who have used marijuana for years and are no more a danger to society than the typical alcohol user? When I worked for a Fortune 500 company, many of my friends and co-workers used marijuana regularly and cocaine occasionally. They were typical, modern-day Americans who believed that the main purpose of life was the pursuit of pleasure. The truth is that millions of Americans use illegal drugs responsibly. There are also millions of Americans who have tried illegal drugs and decided to discontinue using them. There is a very small percentage of people who are going to become hard-core drug addicts, and it doesn't matter whether the drugs are legal or illegal. This is why the War On Drugs has been such an abysmal failure: There will always be a demand. And as long as there is a demand, there are going to be suppliers, particularly with the extraordinarily high profit margins of a black market. Was nothing at all learned from the failure of alcohol prohibition? The War On Drugs is a textbook case of the cure being much worse than the disease. How much of our urban crime today is the direct result of the illegal drug trade? How much international terrorism is financed by the trade in illegal narcotics? How many tens of billions of dollars is spent prosecuting and incarcerating illegal drug users and sellers? How many millions of young people have to be thrown into prisons? What is the psychological toll on city residents living in areas controlled by gangs selling drugs? Why do we create a situation in which the allure of easy money tempts our most vulnerable youth, the urban poor, to become involved with drug selling? As we read in the papers every day, our politicians and business leaders don't have the character to resist the temptation to make a quick buck at the public expense. Why should we expect a much higher standard of morality from a poor kid from the inner city? Given its failure to curtail the availability of illegal drugs and given the massive collateral damage that the War on Drugs wreaks on our society, at some point it does become insane to keep redoubling one's efforts and expect to obtain different results. It is time for the new president to declare an end to the War On Drugs. It is time for the government to make peace with this vice, just as it has with the vice of alcohol. If you can't imagine a world in which heroin is legal, consider that 100 years ago Bayer's Heroin was sold in drugstores alongside Bayer's Aspirin at about the same cost. If the government is truly concerned with curtailing social misery, it should reconsider its legalization of another vice, gambling, which I would contend has ruined many more lives than heroin and cocaine. The government not only tolerates gambling but actively promotes it through lotteries. Considering the current financial crisis, it could reasonably be argued that the government has conspired with Wall Street to turn our economy into one big gaming table. And when it craps out, a lot of people are going to need something a little stronger than alcohol. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom