The Deep Insight

Since former President Richard Nixon launched the “War on Drugs”, the United States has been fighting this “war” with no clear victories to show for this multi-generational effort.  With billions of tax dollars wasted, countless people killed in drug-related crimes and a over crowded prison system, is it time to come up with a new strategy to fix this problem?  It is abundantly clear that the current policy of eradication and criminalization is not working, if anything it is part of the problem.  A national study conducted by the National Research Council Commitee on Data and Researh for Policy on Illegal Drugs came to the same conclusion in 2001.

“The NRC Committee found that existing studies on efforts to address drug usage and smuggling, from U.S. military operations to eradicate coca fields in Colombia, to domestic drug treatment centers, have all been inconclusive, if the programs have been evaluated at all: “The existing drug-use monitoring systems are strikingly inadequate to support the full range of policy decisions that the nation must make…. It is unconscionable for this country to continue to carry out a public policy of this magnitude and cost without any way of knowing whether and to what extent it is having the desired effect.” (wikipedia.org)

The United States has funded drug eradication programs across the globe for decades, and has yet to make a dent in the supply or the demand for drugs.  The evidence is right in front of our faces believe it or not.  Afghanistan is a shining example of how eradication efforts have failed miserably.

 Afghanistan provides 90% of the world’s heroin supply. The country is occupied by a myriad of countries and yet the heroin still flows freely.  Something is wrong with this picture.  If the most highly trained armies in the world cannot stop the production of heroin right under their noses, who can?   The questions the government should be asking is, why are so many people taking drugs and what can we do to reduce this behavior?

In order to win the “war on drugs” the United States should  re-legalize the use and sale of drugs.  Making drugs like marijuana and cocaine illegal only benefits the drug cartels and war lords.  It is often said that groups like the Taliban of Afghanistan or the FARC of Colombia make enourmous amounts of money off of the drug trade.  Why not take this option away from these people?

These cartels and warlords don’t care about anything other than the large amounts of money drugs bring in.  Take away their cash crop and most of these groups would disappear.  International terrorism, and third world fiefdoms would be liberated from crushing heel of drug traffickers.

If drug sale and production were put under the jurisdiction of law and order instead of criminal gangs, neighborhoods would be safer and our jails would be less crowded. Re-Legalization alone would have a two fold affect in the United States.  One it would decrease drug related crimes to almost nothing because there would be no drugs sales to fight over.  Secondly, less crowded prisons means lower tax dollars spent on corrections facilites and more money to fund important things such crime prevention.  Ultimately opportunity, job creation, and a hope for a better tomorrow is the only true cure to make people turn away from drugs completely.  Here is a little snippet from the Libertarian party platform that I would like to share with you.

End Prohibition

Drug prohibition does more to make Americans unsafe than any other factor. Just as alcohol prohibition gave us Al Capone and the mafia, drug prohibition has given us the Crips, the Bloods and drive-by shootings. Consider the historical evidence: America’s murder rate rose nearly 70% during alcohol prohibition, but returned to its previous levels after prohibition ended. Now, since the War on Drugs began, America’s murder rates have doubled. The cause/effect relationship is clear. Prohibition is putting innocent lives at risk.

What’s more, drug prohibition also inflates the cost of drugs, leading users to steal to support their high priced habits. It is estimated that drug addicts commit 25% of all auto thefts, 40% of robberies and assaults, and 50% of burglaries and larcenies. Prohibition puts your property at risk. Finally, nearly one half of all police resources are devoted to stopping drug trafficking, instead of preventing violent crime. The bottom line? By ending drug prohibition Libertarians would double the resources available for crime prevention, and significantly reduce the number of violent criminals at work in your neighborhood. (www.lp.org)