It's Time To Stop The "War On Drugs"

The War on Drugs hasn't made much sense for a while now. This country has spent wel over a trillion dollars to enforce drug prohibition and ballooned our prison population to the largest in the world (both in actual numbers and per capita the population). And exactly nothing has been accomplished. Drugs are just as available now as they ever were -- to all ages and levels of society. And making matters even crazier is the fact that the deadliest drug of all, alcohol, is legal because it is the drug of choice of those in power.

I say nothing has been accomplished, but what I mean by that is that nothing good has been accomplished. The War on Drugs has created several vicious drug cartels (who are very willing to kill to protect the vast profits they are making because drugs are illegal). It has also created a huge underground economy where no income taxes or sales taxes are ever paid (taxes that every level of government could really use in this recession). And it has created a huge prison population that is sucking both state and federal coffers dry.

It has also done something else (just like it did the first time prohibition was tried). It has diverted police efforts away from fighting real crimes -- crimes against persons and property. And it has greatly increased corruption in policing agencies at all levels. Since October of 2004 (just 7 years ago) at least 132 Customs Agents and Border Patrol Officers have been indicted or convicted of corruption/bribery. When you include the corruption in sheriff's departments, local police departments, and state police agencies that number grows much larger. Most police officers are honest hard-working individuals, but for many others the lure of big money is just too great.

The War on Drugs, just like the first attempt at prohibition, was started with good intentions. But it has never lived up to those intentions. Like the prohibition of alcohol in the past, the prohibition of drugs has done far more harm to this country than good. It is time to recognize that drug possession and use is not a crime, it is a medical problem. The only effective way to fight it is through treatment and education. Addicted individuals must be offered treatment and children must be taught from an early age the truth about drug use.

And when I say the truth must be taught, I don't mean students should be shown a fried egg and told that is their brain on drugs (which even a child can tell is ridiculous). And we must stop lumping all drugs together as though they are equally bad for your health. That is simply not true. Each drug has its own level of danger, and at least one (marijuana) is not life-threatening at all. In fact, two of the most dangerous drugs of all, alcohol and tobacco, are already legal -- in spite of the fact that they claim more lives each year than any of the illegal drugs.

We need to have a national discussion -- not on whether to decriminalize drugs, but on how to do it. I personally believe we should make the addicting drugs available with a doctor's prescription. Less dangerous drugs should be legalized and controlled similar to alcohol -- especially marijuana. And all of them should be heavily taxed (including at the growing and production and distribution levels).

There is already substantial support for doing this with marijuana. A recent Gallup Poll (taken between October 6th and 9th of a national sample of 1,005 adults with a margin of error of 4 points) verifies this. It shows that 50% of Americans think marijuana should be legalized, while only 46% oppose that. Here is the polls demographic breakdown (with the percentages shown being those in favor of legalization):

Men...............55%
Women...............46%

Liberals...............69%
Moderates...............57%
Conservatives...............34%

18 to 29...............62%
30 to 49...............56%
50 to 64...............49%
65 & over...............31%

Democrats...............57%
Independents...............57%
Republicans...............35%

West...............55%
Midwest...............54%
East...............51%
South...............44%

The War on Drugs has been a miserable failure -- both financially and in human terms. And it has done serious damage to our society. It is time to end it.