Legalize it. All of it.

-- By JohnAlbanese - 25 Feb 2010

Introduction

The United States' policies to combat the use of drugs are failures. The so-called “War on Drugs” costs billions of dollars, ruins millions of lives, and finances violent criminal organizations. The policies of interdiction and incarceration to fight drug use are ineffective. It is time to try a new solution. The United States should legalize and regulate the use of all drugs.

The Current Policies Do Not Work

The current policies mainly try to limit the supply of drugs. It attempts to do this in two ways: interdiction and incarceration.

Current policies?

Confiscation and Eradication are Ineffective

Interdiction is the use of police or military force to try to limit the supply of drugs before they are brought into the country. The drugs are either confiscated in transit or eradicated at the source. Confiscating drugs is largely ineffective. The National Drug Intelligence Center estimates at most law enforcement is able to seize only thirty-eight percent of cocaine that enters the United States. Despite these seizures, the price of cocaine has decreased and the quality has increased since 1980.

Eradication is equally useless. The United States gives hundred of millions of dollars in aid each year to foreign governments to try to eradicate the production of drugs. Eradication generally involves the spraying of toxic chemicals over vast swaths of farmland. Perhaps the most glaring example of the ineffectiveness of eradication is poppy production in Afghanistan. Although the country has been occupied by the United States for nearly a decade, poppy production is at high levels. Recently, the United States gave up on its eradication efforts to focus on alternative methods.

Incarceration is Costly and Counterproductive

Likewise, incarceration efforts have failed. Over 300,000 people in this country are imprisoned for drug law violations. A conservative estimate for the cost of imprisoning a person is $20,000 per year. This means that the government is spending about six billion dollars a year to keep drug offenders in prison. Many of these people are unable to find jobs after serving their sentence and return to using or selling drugs. Due to the violent nature of prison, imprisoning people can transform the non-violent drug offender into a violent one.

Drug Laws Have Painful Side Effects

Besides failing to limit the supply of drugs, these laws have two tragic side effects. Since drugs are illegal, the main producers and sellers are criminal organizations, including large drug cartels, terrorist organizations, and street gangs. It is estimated that the illicit drug trade makes $321.6 billion a year. The lucrative nature of the drug trade creates competition that often leads to extreme violence.

UN statistics are so good they know this number down to the nearest hundred million? And that's a 2005 report estimating on the basis of 2003 data, which is rather a long time ago. Surely it's not exactly $321.6 billion any more? Don't you think "hundreds of billions" would be about as good as the data justifies? Order of magnitude is usually what we really need to know and the most we will remember.

In addition, the drug laws are particularly harsh on addicts. Since drug use is illegal, addicts are unable to receive the help that they need. They are forced to try to hide their addiction and are reluctant to seek treatment. Due to a lack of clean needles, they are at risk for AIDS and other diseases. Because of the the unregulated nature of the product, addicts never truly know what they are taking. Drugs are often cut with poisonous chemicals such as bleach or rat poison. Addicts are one bad hit away from death.

The lessons to be learned from the failures of interdiction and incarceration are simple. Drug producers will produce more drugs to compensate for the amount that will be seized or eradicated. People will continue to sell drugs because it is a lucrative business. Without reducing demand, the supply of drugs will not decrease.

Drugs Should Be Legalized and Regulated

The government should legalize use and regulate the sale of all drugs. This policy will eliminate current wasteful expenditures while providing a source of revenue, stop the harmful side effects of current laws, and allow the government to focus on rehabilitation rather than punishment.

Legalization and Regulation Will Provide Revenue

Besides eliminating ineffective and costly efforts to limit supply, legalizing drugs will provide the government with a source of revenue. Currently illegal drugs should be sold and taxed like tobacco and alcohol. In addition to regmoving this stream of revenue from violent organizations, this money can be used to fund education and rehabilitation programs to try to decrease demand for drugs. These programs are cheaper and more effective than attempts to limit supply.

Legalization Will Provide Better Treatment

Moving these substances out of the black market will benefit the victims of drugs, the addicts. Drugs will be safer to take as there is no danger that they will be cut with poisonous substances. Addicts will no longer be at risk for AIDS by using dirty needles. The government will be able to identify at-risk people and offer them treatment. The Swiss program for treating heroin addicts is a good model to follow. The users go to center where they can obtain the drugs. These centers offer rehabilitative, medical, and educational services.

Legalization Will Not Increase Use Among Youth

Contrary to popular belief, legalization will not necessarily lead to an increase in use. Portugal, while not legalizing, has decriminalized drug use since 2001. Many at the time feared that drug use would increase, especially among children. This has not happened. The use of marijuana, cocaine, heroin, and ecstacy among youth has actually fallen. This policy has allowed the Portugese government to focus on rehabilitation rather than punishment for drug use.

Conclusion

Current drug laws are wholly ineffective. While not significantly limiting supply or use, they waste billions of dollars, incarcerate hundreds of thousands of people, and fund criminal enterprises. Legalization and regulation will eliminate the problems with limiting supply and will finance efforts to limit demand. President Obama, an admitted cocaine user, managed to avoid the consequences of the laws that he now continues to enforce. All drug users should hope to be so fortunate.

I think you mean "cocaine and marijuana" user, don't you?

There are many more rational things that we could do than what we do. I think there is no one professionally associated with prosecuting or defending or apprehending or sentencing people in the drug trade who doesn't believe that something would be better than the current approach. Not everyone would endorse your approach, either.

But writing down rational improvements on the current system is hardly important, because no rational improvement on the current system can gain a sufficient degree of political support. You don't need to have explained to you, I'm sure, why Mr Obama is absolutely certain not to be the President of the United States who tries to legalize narcotics. So was John McCain. Stupid as the former Governor of Alaska is, she's not that dumb either. Mitt Romney perhaps? John Edwards? Let's get real.

So that's what the essay might more usefully be about. The argument to the thinking man fails, because that's not how politics works, I seem to hear a still, small voice saying. All this stuff is so old that even the data in the statistics are ancient. If it were going to work, it would have worked by now. If you're not interested in Arnold, you are interested in the consequences of his ideas, because you're up against them.

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I moved the discussion here. -- JohnAlbanese - 02 Mar 2010