>>>If that $3.4 million gets even one kid to never touch drugs, it's money well spent.<<<
A few points.
First, it's proven that folks who wanna do drugs are gonna do 'em whether legal or not, as the Prohibition era showed us and as the continuing failure of America's Drug War has shown us.
Second, America can't keep drugs out of closed-in prisons, so how can you expect to keep 'em out of a free society?
lindesmith.org
drugpolicy.org
[NOTE: Government is shallow, repressive even, when it assumes the very, very great majority of citizens don't hold considered opinions about their lives, their own welfare and how they wish to live. Don't you think most people do the right thing, or do they do the right thing only when government tells 'em?]
Third, most of the problems which stem from drug use tend to come from those who have addictive personalities (medical problems), or from those resorting to crime as a means to obtain illicit drugs. The criminal model leaves too many users who want help not getting it, this while the innocent citizen over and over gets victimized from property crimes and whatnot. Harm reduction is a far better policy:
drugpolicy.org
Fourth, with respect to juvenile delinquency laws, the pressure by dealers to get underaged teens to do the dealing is tremendous. Why? If caught, as soon as those teens hit a certain age criminal records are wiped clean. In other words, the Drug War inherently puts pressure to make younger dealers. Most people don't realize this very important fact.
Fifth, the lure from money of the illicit drug trade is so powerful it corruptly infects citizens of all walks of life, most especially the enforcement agents called upon to wage the war.
Sixth, the underground economy from the illicit drug trade truly pads the wrong pockets; whether the pockets of the mob, terrorists or tinpot dictators the wrong people are getting rewarded. Were drugs cheap, legal and distributed from a medical point of view, crime would cease and government would reap the benefit of drug purchases such that treatment programs could become widespread and easily funded.
Seventh, were drugs treated medically instead of criminally murder rates would drop and there'd be less status among competing gangs which control distribution zones of various innercity territories.
Eighth, drug enforcement tends to be very discriminatory in practice and has profound and very negative effects on America's foreign policy. Many civil liberties have eroded from America's drug war and, more and more we become a society of 'snitches' as folks supposedly get rewarded when they turn their friends, family and neighbors in; and policies of forfieture of property sometimes impacting the innocent.
drugpolicy.org
I could go on and on. I'll simply conclude that America's system for dealing with drugs seems more for America's politicans than anyone. Over and over, election after election, politicians continue to milk the free ride of Drug War issues as they postulate tougher and tougher (look busy) positions before a genuinely concerned citizenry. So much money gets wasted and we don't get anywhere near a solution. I think many of the ills which plague our society and our relationships with other nations could be cured if America were to completely reexamine and completely overhaul how it deals with drugs.
On the plus side, the Drug War's forfeiture laws have caused police departments to become rich. So instead of every three or five years to wait to buy new police cars, they get new ones almost every year or two. Who gets the old police cars? The taxi cab companies who buy the old vehicles at government auction. Yes, taxi cabs have improved due to the Drug War--an unanticipated benefit. Perhaps the only one! |
