Another Reason to End the War on Drugs

Nearly everyday you can read about non-violent drug offenders being sent to prison or a police officer injured or killed trying to stop a drug-related crime, or a drive-bu shooting tied to warring gangs.

Today, the news is that more than 47,000 people have died from drug violence in Mexico in the past five years -- since President Felipe Calerdon began using the military to deal with drug cartels.

Not an American problem you say? If the war on drugs ceased in our country -- and if we decriminalized drug use -- who do you think would be clamoring to buy drugs from the Mexican drug cartels with the profit margin enjoyed by drug dealers in America?

Eliminate the profit margin in drug dealing...make it illegal for anyone other than government-approved sites to sell drugs...and the drug trade in our country will dry up.

But, oh my gosh, everyone in America will then be on drugs! Not so, at least not in countries who have already decriminalized drugs have found.

It is human nature to seek anything that is forbidden. When drugs are legally accessible, it removes some of the desire for it.

And let's be real. There are lots of people in America already doing drugs. If drugs were legalized and their manufacture and sale regulated, there would be fewer people using dirty needles or syringes. Dirty needles and syringes lead to HIV/AIDS infection and hepatitis.

I believe this is the common sense answer to the current drug problem. What are your thoughts? Have I gone off the deep end?


Here's a link to a news story provided by LEAP (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition) on the topic of drug war deaths.

Decriminalization of Drugs: Support from Unlikely Sources

The decriminalization of drugs has garnered new advocates from a source that can best be described as unlikely--the political right wing. On Dec. 16, 2010, Reverend Pat Robertson spoke out against jailing people for the use and possession of "a few ounces of pot." Robertson decried the unnecessary costs to people's lives and the financial burden to taxpayers.

Jan. 8, 2011 found another right-wing-er, Newt Gingrich, potential presidential candidate for the Republican party in 2012, speak out against the high costs of imprisoning people for drugs. Gingrich and Pat Nolan, vice president of Prison Fellowship co-wrote an editorial for the Washington Post speaking in favor of criminal justice and prison reform. As had Robertson, Gingrich and Nolan noted not only the financial costs of imprisoning people for drugs, but also the cost in human lives.

On Jan. 10, 2011 Georgia's newly-elected Republican governor, Nathan Deal, spoke out about the "unsustainable financial and civic burden" that jailing drug users placed on that state.

While I maintain that any law that criminalizes an activity that a person does to themselves, including drug use, is constitutionally wrong, I also realize that it matters not what the rationale is if we can successfully decriminalize drug use. The end result will be the same; it doesn't matter so much why we do it, but that we do it.

The United States' 40 year war on drugs is no closer to being won today than it was before hundreds of billions of dollars was thrown at the problem in an effort to control it. That money could be spent more prudently and to the advantage of citizens rather than incarcerating non-violent drug offenders.

There will be those along the way who oppose the decriminalization of drugs, not the least of which will be the private prison industry. Prison is big business. Twenty percent or more of those in prison in most states are there for drug-related offenses. Decriminalizing drugs will take a large portion of funds away from prisons.

Children of one or more parents who have been incarcerated are 75 percent more likely than other children to one day be incarcerated themselves. Decriminalizing drug use will prevent hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of children from that sad statistic.

On January 27, 2011 President Barack Obama, in response to a question about legalizing drugs, answered that it was a topic worthy of debate. For the complete story, including the YouTube video featuring the president and his comments, go here.

It is time to end the war on drugs--it's just common sense.

Iraq Not the Only Battle We Are Losing

America has many wars declared, but most of them are wars declared right here at home. There is the war on drugs, the war on poverty, the war on crime, the war on prostitution, the war on illiteracy--and probably more than I've named here. Most of these "wars" have seen little positive action and certainly not enough to say that even important battles have been won.

These "wars" are often declared by elected officials to grab headlines and the actions taken in the name of ridding society of the "evils" result in someone making money and many result in further crowding our prisons. America is the land of freedom, yet we have more people incarcerated percentage-wise than any country in the world.

Common sense would dictate that the war on drug use will have a success rate no better than that of prohibition. All prohibition served to do was to give organized crime a stronger foothold in America; the drug trade is no different. There has to be a better answer than the current way we deal with drug use. Legalizing drugs wouldn't mean we endorse their use; it would mean we accept the reality of the situation and have decided not to make laws on moral issues. How refreshing would that be?

Legalizing drug use would give the government an additional revenue source thereby eliminating the need for the creation of more taxes. Legalizing drug use would take some of the power away from organized crime and would certainly reduce crime in the streets, thereby aiding another war--that of the war on crime.

No politician wants to take a public stand on the real common sense solutions for our internal wars; it might jeopardize his/her career. But the adage "If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always gotten" is as true for the wars in America as it is applied to our personal lives.

So, what's in it for the powers that be to maintain the status quo? This is a question we need to ask ourselves rather than turning our heads away from the reality of the situation. In many ways, Americans have become like the ostrich, sticking our heads in the ground to avoid the things that frighten or upset us. But that isn't the attitude that got our country its independence or its position of greatness in the world. It is, however, the attitude that guarantees elected officials and big business will continue to put their values and profits ahead of all else. If we don't get our heads out of the ground, we won't be able to see our freedoms slipping away, one by one.