Pubdate: Wed, 15 May 2013
Source: Observer, The (Rio Rancho, NM)
Contact:  2013 Rio Rancho Observer.
Website: http://www.observer-online.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2299
Author: Michael Swickard

AMERICA ADDICTED TO DRUG WAR

"The only justification is always in terms of the existence of 
innocent victims. In the case of drugs, the major effect of drug 
prohibition is to multiply the number of innocent victims, not to 
reduce it." - Milton Friedman, 1991

The prohibition against alcohol took most of a hundred years to reach 
its final stage in the 1930s. Then, society gave up on prohibition 
and settled for alcohol regulation. A surprising thing happened when 
the same forces of the society who pushed alcohol prohibition applied 
the same prohibition logic to recreational drugs. Sadly they have 
gotten the same result from drug prohibition as they did from alcohol 
prohibition. Albert Einstein contended the definition of insanity is 
doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different 
results. So how long do we intend to be insane?

When I arrived at college in 1968, even my cow college had people 
doing illegal drugs. It was common knowledge that recreational drugs 
were readily available at "reasonable" prices. Today, at the same 
college, drugs are still readily available at "reasonable" prices 
after more than 40 years of the "War on Drugs."

Many people over the decades looked at the results and recognized the 
efforts were not effective and did more harm than good. Yet the 
efforts continue unabated. The sticking point is the principle that 
society should not allow people to hurt themselves. So we incarcerate 
millions of American citizens, "for their own good."

Like alcohol prohibition, the drug war has had three results: crime 
organizations have grown large and influential; police enforcement 
and incarceration have become an industry; and more people take drugs 
than before. More people started drinking during prohibition than 
before. Prohibition made our nation a nation of drinkers. The drug 
war seems to have increased the number of drug users.

So why not stop the drug war? Two reasons: No politician wants to 
face re-election accused of being soft on drugs - and the drug wars 
are an industry for our government.

The drug cartels are very sophisticated and technologically savvy. 
While they have the muscle of the prohibition crime syndicates, the 
cartels also have the means and inclination to engage in corruption 
of public officials on a scale never before seen.

Opposing them is the government enforcement industry. Look at the 
millions of government workers on the enforcement side. They range 
from the prosecutors and judicial workers to the enforcement agents 
to the prisons. Recreational illegal drugs are a godsend for 
government jobs. I am all for the emotion of keeping innocents from 
harming themselves; it is just the century of our country trying to 
stop the illegal drug use has had nothing but failure.

So, in many minds, principle needs to be trumped by expediency. This 
is perhaps as it should be. Imagine if the principle of not harming 
oneself became a mainstream notion in our government. Let us look at 
all the ways that Americans make what some believe are unwise 
choices. One thing at the forefront of government concern is excess 
calories. As a society, Americans are fat. I know every pound I carry 
first went through my mouth to my middle. So why resist the 
government having a war on our being fat? Should there be a ban on 
large sugary drinks? What about salt? It is a target-rich environment 
for our government wanting to save us fat people from ourselves.

What about not going to college or not having a job? If our 
Intervention Industry really wants a challenge, how about making sure 
each American does not marry the wrong person? That would get rid of 
divorce in our lifetime. Just imagine all of the government workers 
that could be hired to monitor our dating and possible marriage 
partners. No matter what the desire is to save innocents from one 
harm or another, I suspect the cure will be far worse than the 
disease. None of the above interventions will really work. Innocent 
citizens will be hurt more by the government efforts than they could 
possibly be hurt by their own actions. We need to regulate drugs like 
we have with alcohol and stop this endless unsuccessful "War on Drugs."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom