Rick Raw: The Case for Legalizing Drugs –Prohibition Revisited
By Rick Grant Commentary rickgrant01@comcast.net www.rickatnight.com
Today, the drug violence in Mexico has reached critical levels with thousands of innocent people killed in the cross-fire. The Mexican and Colombian drug Cartels have more money than their respective governments, enabling them to buy their own armies and corrupt the local police and politicians.
The Cartel agents make an offer the officials can’t refuse: "lead or gold" –a bullet or money.
Consequently, breaking this chain of corruption has been almost impossible. The Mexican government has called in the regular army in large numbers to patrol the towns near the America’s border. Still, the Cartels have pervasive operations in these towns and the killings continues. They have the best weapons and the latest electronic surveillance gear bought in the United States.
More significantly, since most of the drugs are consumed in America, the Cartels and other organized crime operators have spread out across our land like a virus. It has been this way since the 1980s when the crack epidemic hit the streets of America’s big cities which established the drug trade routes through California and the East Coast of Florida.
The Reagan Administration’s so called "War on Drugs" was an abysmal failure. Later when Carlos Escobar was finally gunned down in a small town in Colombia by the Colombian army, he was immediately replaced by others. The lure of easy money from the obscene profits of running cocaine, heroin, and now methamphetamine has a very strong appeal.
Historically, we learned that the government can not control vices such as drinking alcohol. Clearly, Prohibition failed for the same reasons the war on drugs failed. People will get their whiskey, drugs, and prostitutes regardless of the law. The only way to control these human weaknesses is to make all vices legal. Blasphemy you say! No, it’s common sense.
The problem is: America is a puritanical culture that can’t seem to get over the moral aspects of making drugs legal, when, in fact, tons of drugs are flowing into the country and distributed by a sophisticated network of established drug wholesalers with large warehouses, and street dealers. This means millions of people are using drugs.
The police love to "show and tell," displaying the latest tonnage of drugs they just intercepted. But the truth is, it’s only a small sample of the total amount of drugs coming into the country. The Cartels know that a certain percentage of their product will get seized. However, in toto, it barely makes a dent in their massive profits.
Legalizing marijuana is already happening in some states. The ultimate national legalization of pot is a no-brainer. It’s a benign drug that is not lethal or addictive. It helps terminally ill cancer patients restore their appetite and feel better taking chemo-therapy. Then we have to consider the hard drugs like heroin, cocaine, and methamphetamine controlled by a government program.
Obviously, these are dangerous drugs that kill many people annually. Thus, we would have to work out a special distribution program for addicts that weans them off the drugs, but still making it legal to buy them. Is that a contradiction in goals? Yes and no. If addicts bought these drugs, they would have to register and receive counseling and treatment if they so desired. They will get the drugs illegally anyway, so why not monitor their progress toward eventual sobriety. It would be an ongoing intervention.
There are 3 million people incarcerated in America’s prisons. A large percentage of these inmates are serving long sentences for non-violent drug offences. Legalization would be retroactive on a case by case basis and relieve prison overcrowding.
Of course, the major benefit of legalization would be to take the drugs out of the hands of the powerful Cartels and establish legal networks using the shipping lanes of spirits, wine, and beer.
Indeed, this is a radical solution, but as long as drugs are illegal, the drug wars will go on indefinitely. But I doubt most Americans could make this leap of morality to justify such a solution. It would be politically unpopular and the preachers and churches would rise up in protest.
Still, I believe that with intelligent policies in place using regulation, taxation, education, and intervention for addiction, the drug crisis can be solved. Otherwise, we will be fighting an endless war on drugs that can’t be won. It’s time to get over the religious morality of legalization and use common sense to end the violence. Remember, in large volumes, alcohol can be deadly to the consumer. Yet, it’s legal to buy it and consume it.
By Rick Grant Commentary rickgrant01@comcast.net www.rickatnight.com
Today, the drug violence in Mexico has reached critical levels with thousands of innocent people killed in the cross-fire. The Mexican and Colombian drug Cartels have more money than their respective governments, enabling them to buy their own armies and corrupt the local police and politicians.
The Cartel agents make an offer the officials can’t refuse: "lead or gold" –a bullet or money.
Consequently, breaking this chain of corruption has been almost impossible. The Mexican government has called in the regular army in large numbers to patrol the towns near the America’s border. Still, the Cartels have pervasive operations in these towns and the killings continues. They have the best weapons and the latest electronic surveillance gear bought in the United States.
More significantly, since most of the drugs are consumed in America, the Cartels and other organized crime operators have spread out across our land like a virus. It has been this way since the 1980s when the crack epidemic hit the streets of America’s big cities which established the drug trade routes through California and the East Coast of Florida.
The Reagan Administration’s so called "War on Drugs" was an abysmal failure. Later when Carlos Escobar was finally gunned down in a small town in Colombia by the Colombian army, he was immediately replaced by others. The lure of easy money from the obscene profits of running cocaine, heroin, and now methamphetamine has a very strong appeal.
Historically, we learned that the government can not control vices such as drinking alcohol. Clearly, Prohibition failed for the same reasons the war on drugs failed. People will get their whiskey, drugs, and prostitutes regardless of the law. The only way to control these human weaknesses is to make all vices legal. Blasphemy you say! No, it’s common sense.
The problem is: America is a puritanical culture that can’t seem to get over the moral aspects of making drugs legal, when, in fact, tons of drugs are flowing into the country and distributed by a sophisticated network of established drug wholesalers with large warehouses, and street dealers. This means millions of people are using drugs.
The police love to "show and tell," displaying the latest tonnage of drugs they just intercepted. But the truth is, it’s only a small sample of the total amount of drugs coming into the country. The Cartels know that a certain percentage of their product will get seized. However, in toto, it barely makes a dent in their massive profits.
Legalizing marijuana is already happening in some states. The ultimate national legalization of pot is a no-brainer. It’s a benign drug that is not lethal or addictive. It helps terminally ill cancer patients restore their appetite and feel better taking chemo-therapy. Then we have to consider the hard drugs like heroin, cocaine, and methamphetamine controlled by a government program.
Obviously, these are dangerous drugs that kill many people annually. Thus, we would have to work out a special distribution program for addicts that weans them off the drugs, but still making it legal to buy them. Is that a contradiction in goals? Yes and no. If addicts bought these drugs, they would have to register and receive counseling and treatment if they so desired. They will get the drugs illegally anyway, so why not monitor their progress toward eventual sobriety. It would be an ongoing intervention.
There are 3 million people incarcerated in America’s prisons. A large percentage of these inmates are serving long sentences for non-violent drug offences. Legalization would be retroactive on a case by case basis and relieve prison overcrowding.
Of course, the major benefit of legalization would be to take the drugs out of the hands of the powerful Cartels and establish legal networks using the shipping lanes of spirits, wine, and beer.
Indeed, this is a radical solution, but as long as drugs are illegal, the drug wars will go on indefinitely. But I doubt most Americans could make this leap of morality to justify such a solution. It would be politically unpopular and the preachers and churches would rise up in protest.
Still, I believe that with intelligent policies in place using regulation, taxation, education, and intervention for addiction, the drug crisis can be solved. Otherwise, we will be fighting an endless war on drugs that can’t be won. It’s time to get over the religious morality of legalization and use common sense to end the violence. Remember, in large volumes, alcohol can be deadly to the consumer. Yet, it’s legal to buy it and consume it.
posted by barney @ 10:23 AM
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