Bring the Troops Home From the Drug War
78 years ago, our nation admitted defeat in a war. Puritanical elements hoped that by outlawing demon rum they could cure society of all its ills.
So, they passed a constitutional amendment outlawing it. It's interesting to note, that they didn't think a law would suffice. The constitution didn't grant them the authority to make such a law.
Instead, they found that just the opposite happened. Drunkenness, along with is associated problems, didn't decrease. Organized crime skyrocketed. Our streets became a war zone as increasingly militant police tried to track down dealers who could afford heavy weaponry along with men to use them.
Rival gangs couldn't take their disputes to the courts because their product was illegal. Instead, they shot their rivals to try and gain a business advantage.
Our own government deliberately poisoned our citizens. Frustrated at it's failure to stop alcohol consumption, our government deliberately poisoned alcohol supplies. After all, only criminals were going to be drinking it right? According to some estimates, this deliberate campaign resulted in the murder of 10,000 American citizens.
With the possible exception of a government poison campaign, this should all sound disappointingly familiar. While our alcohol prohibition ended in 1933, we clearly didn't learn the bigger lesson from the experience. Outlawing a highly desirable product doesn't eliminate demand it just drives it underground.
When that happens, gangsters profit from the sale instead of businessmen. The gangsters profits will be high enough to entice people to do crazy things like machine gun his rivals. You never hear about Coors drivers gunning down Budweiser trucks today, but that is exactly the sort of thing that happened during prohibition. That's exactly the sort of thing that happens today because of drug prohibition.
In addition to the myriad practical considerations, which are almost universally agreed upon, there are moral considerations. America is supposed to be the land of the free. We built our society upon the principle of individual rights. In short, if your actions don't harm anyone else they should be legal. That doesn't mean its a good idea to do, it just means that the government has no business getting involved.
Many will say that drug use does harm others. Drug addicts are likely to steal to support their habits, public healthcare dollars are spent caring for junkies, and we have to shoulder the burden of a massive amount of police along with prisons. These are all valid complaints, but the source is not drugs it is government.
All of those problems stem from drug prohibition, and socialism, not from drug use per se. In a free market, drugs would be dirt cheap, and no one would need to steal to support a habit. Practically no one resorts to a life of crime to supply their malt liquor fix. If you can come up with 4 or 5 bucks, you can afford to get drunk.
In a free market, there would be no such thing as public healthcare dollars. Obviously these non-existent dollars wouldn't be spent on helping junkies who hurt themselves. Hospitals wouldn't be required to treat all comers regardless of their ability to pay, and therefore there would be no costs to pass on to the rest of society.
The police state is obviously a product of prohibition and not drugs themselves. If we ended the drug war, we could save billions of dollars annually at a federal and state level. We wouldn't need the DEA. The Coast Guard could focus on keeping America safe, and stop worrying about drug runners. We could shut down a large portion of our prisons.
Most importantly of all, we could regain the liberty that our founders fought and died to secure. By recognizing the principle of individual rights, and applying them consistently, we could once again become consistent defenders of rights. It's impossible to hold the constitution, and its spirit of freedom, as sacred while prosecuting people who haven't initiated force or fraud against their fellow man.
Comments
"Outlawing a highly desirable product doesn't eliminate demand it just drives it underground." This speaks volumes. Thanks Gene,
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