Galen+E’s+OpEd+Article

By Galen E. ** "End The War on Drugs" **

America is fighting a war that it cannot win. This war has resulted in thousands upon thousands of deaths, both here in the United Sates and abroad. It has resulted in thousands of families being destroyed, either due to murder, incarceration, or easily avoidable accidents. It has stolen the hard earned money of taxpayers in order to fight a battle that will never be won, and has subsequently filled the pockets of thugs, gangsters, thieves, and murderers all around the world. And throughout its miserable history, the American government has constantly spewed out propaganda and outright fallacies to garner support for this lost cause. I’m talking about the War on Drugs. Ever since its beginnings with Richard Nixon and the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970, all of the atrocities mentioned above have been committed, along with countless others. And what do we have to show for it? One of the highest percentages of drug users in the world, millions of harmless civilians either killed or incarcerated domestically and internationally each year, and a completely unnecessary, yet ludicrously high bill to show for all of it. Prohibition has never worked, and it’s not working now. It’s time for America to save lives, money, and its integrity, and put a stop to these utterly pathetic and inefficient policies.

To understand why the War on Drugs has failed so miserably, one must examine its long and turbulent history. In 1919, the Eighteenth Amendment outlawed the sale, use, and manufacturing of alcohol at the federal level. This Prohibition was met with cries of joy from many citizens who were tired of alcohol abuse ruining their family, lives, jobs, and relationships with others. However, despite the federal law, alcohol consumption continued as if Prohibition didn’t exist. People could easily buy home-made “moonshine” and “bathtub whiskey”, or go to semi-secret bars called “speakeasies” to drink as much as they desired. Prohibition not only failed to stop very many people from drinking, but it created a new class of gangsters and criminals, like Al Capone, who got rich by manufacturing and distributing alcohol, and mowing down anyone who got in his way. In the 1930’s, during the Great Depression, America came to its senses and realized that Prohibition wasn’t working, and alcohol was legalized once more.

Now, one would think that we would have learned our lesson from this great, failed experiment. Surely we should have, but in true American fashion, we didn’t. The Marijuana Transfer Tax Act was passed in 1937, essentially destroying the hemp production industry. This act was only pushed through due to the efforts and support put forth by wealthy figures like William Randolph Hearst, who saw the hemp industry as a threat to his wealth that was reliant on his shares in the timber business. Propaganda films like “Reefer Madness” were released, portraying marijuana as a deadly, dangerous drug that could easily cause psychosis and insanity. These outright lies were supported and enforced by the US Government for decades into the future, and were continued with the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970. This act included the Controlled Substances Act, which placed a multitude of narcotics into different “Schedules”, based on their potential for addiction and abuse, whether or not they had medical value, and their perceived safety. It was during this time that Richard Nixon declared a national “War on Drugs”; an attempt to reduce drug use, production, and sale in America. This is undeniably a noble cause. However, the way that the government went about it was absolutely without a doubt flawed.

Abraham Lincoln once said “A prohibition law strikes a blow at the very principles upon which our government was founded. Prohibition goes beyond the bounds of reason in that it attempts to control a man's appetite by legislation, and makes a crime of things that are not crime.” And he is absolutely right. By making drug use illegal, the government turned something into a crime based on the moral standpoints of certain people. Drug users don’t view what they are doing as wrong, because they are hurting no one but themselves. They are making a conscious decision to put something in their bodies, and are willing to accept all the consequences of that action. The government of a “free country” should not have the right to tell these people that what they are doing is wrong and against the law, especially when certain drugs and mind altering substances are NOT illegal. Countless studies have shown alcohol and tobacco to be more addictive, and more harmful to the body than drugs such as Marijuana, MDMA, LSD, Psilocybin, and a plethora of others. Why should drug users feel bad about their usage when the president smokes cigarettes, and almost every adult around them drinks alcohol? Alcohol prohibition required an amendment to the constitution before it could be made into law. The same should apply to all other substances, especially ones that have been proven to be less harmful than alcohol. The Controlled Substance Act is hypocritical, unconstitutional, and just plain wrong. People should be allowed to make their own choices and deal with the appropriate consequences, not the consequences that the government assigns to such a “crime”.

Not only is the CSA unconstitutional, but it’s based on faulty information. The schedules go from I-V, I being the most harmful and least useful, V being the least harmful and most useful. The “Schedule 1” drugs, which are said to have a “High potential for abuse”, “no currently accepted medical use”, and a “lack of accepted safety for use of the drug”, include drugs such as Heroin, Marijuana, MDMA, AMT, Psilocybin, BZP, and LSD. It’s true, some of these drugs (especially heroin), have a high potential for abuse, and things like BZP have no accepted medical use. However, despite the fact that Marijuana has been proven to be effective in treatment of chronic pain, glaucoma, AIDS and Cancer related pain, appetite problems, and many other medical issues, it is still grouped in the same schedule as Heroin. LSD and Psilocybin have no physically addicting properties, and have been shown to be one of the only known treatments for cluster headaches, a condition that sufferers describe as “more painful than childbirth”. MDMA (or ecstasy) combined with psychotherapy has been proven time and time again as an effective treatment for people, especially soldiers, who are suffering from PTSD, or Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Yet despite the fact that these non addictive, and less harmful drugs have been shown to have medical uses, they are still scheduled higher than far more dangerous drugs such as Cocaine (Schedule II), PCP (Schedule II), Ketamine (Schedule III), and barbiturates and benzodiazepines (Schedule IV). Even with all of the evidence suggesting false information, these schedules remain unchanged, and completely inaccurate. If the government is going to try to take away our civil liberties and prohibit certain substances, the least they could do is get their facts straight, and stop blatantly lying to the country’s citizens.

Now, let us examine the effects that this war has on America, and other countries around the world. First of all, lets look at the cost in blood. Just like during the Prohibition era of the 1920’s, making drugs illegal has given rise to massive, worldwide crime organizations that make billions and billions of dollars manufacturing, transporting, and selling illegal drugs. And these gangsters will kill anybody they need to in order to make that money. Neill Franklin, a former narcotics agent for the Baltimore police force and commander of Maryland’s Bureau of Drug Investigation estimates that approximately 6,487 people die in the United States each year in drug related violence. And that doesn’t mean murders committed by people on drugs. That’s murders committed by cartels, gang members battling over territory where they can sell their products, and innocent citizens who are caught in the crossfire. And that’s just in America. Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last few years, you have undoubtedly heard about the massive amounts of violence going on in Mexico right now. Drug cartels kill thousands of people each year in order to get their products across the border. Towns like Juarez are being completely destroyed by this drug violence, which has resulted in massive amounts of death, destruction, and terror. Now, how could this problem be fixed? Despite all the efforts of the Mexican army, more soldiers doesn’t seem to be a solution. No matter how much force we throw against these cartels and drug pushers, they’re always going to find a way to persist. The only thing that will ever have a chance at halting this violence and saving those thousands of lives is legalization. If all drugs were legalized, there wouldn’t be a //need// for drug dealers. Users could simply walk to the store and purchase the products that they want, just like how we buy alcohol, tobacco, and caffeinated beverages. Drug related violence would plummet downwards, as almost every drug dealer in America, and every drug dealer that imports drugs into America would be put out of business. Jorge Roman, a top drug cartel chief, has been recorded on tape expressing his delight with the American Drug War. He called it a “sham put on for the American taxpayer”, and that it is “good for business”. Don’t you think it’s time we bite the hand that feeds these murderers?

Not all drug-related deaths are murders, however. According to a 2005 senate testimony, 22,400 American died of a drug overdose that year. When one discounts prescription drugs and looks at the overdoses caused by the illegal drugs heroin, cocaine, and methamphetamine, that number is now 8,763. With legalization, that number could be drastically reduced. Many overdoses are a result of the drug user putting impure drugs into their bodies. Distributors, especially of drugs like cocaine and heroin, can increase their profits exponentially by “cutting” their products with other substances. The exact same thing happened during the Prohibition era; people died because they got sick drinking “bathtub gin”. If cocaine was made by Pfizer instead of a Colombian drug kingpin, it would be infinitely safer for use, and far fewer people would die.

Many people don’t seen to accept this argument, though. They say that if drugs were legalized, then more people would do them, and therefore, there would be even more overdoses, and more drug related deaths. However, this is merely speculation, this theory has never been proven. In fact, recent findings show that the exact opposite may be true. Let’s take a look at a couple countries that have legalized certain drugs, shall we? The first country that comes to mind is the Netherlands, where marijuana is available for purchase in special “coffee shops” to patrons of a certain age. According to a survey of the year 2001, 17% of kids over 12 years old in the Netherlands had smoked marijuana in their lifetime. In America, that number was 36.9%. 5.4% of Americans ages 12 and up said they had used marijuana in the past month, while only 3.0% of people in the Netherlands said that they had. Another European country, Portugal, has also abolished its absurd drug laws. All penalties for possession of many different drugs, including marijuana, methamphetamine, cocaine, and heroin, were abolished in 2001. Critics thought that this new policy would result in huge amounts of drug tourism, and increase drug use exponentially. Well, in fact, the opposite happened. Portugal now has Europe's lowest lifetime marijuana use rate in people over 15: a mere 10%. Here in America, there are more cocaine users per capita than marijuana users in Portugal. Lifetime illegal drug use dropped almost 4% among 7th through 9th graders, and lifetime heroin use dropped .7% in 16 to 18 year olds. Between 1999 and 2003, drug users experienced a 17% drop in HIV infections, due to the fact that heroin and cocaine users who shoot up their drugs now had easy, legal access to clean needles. This, in turn, caused the number of deaths related to heroin use (and similar drugs), to be cut in half. Instead of punishing people for their dangerous choices, Portugal began to offer more drug addiction treatment programs to get addicts back on their feet again. This goal was also achieved, as the number of people who checked in for addiction treatment more than doubled after decriminalization, due to the fact that they no longer faced criminal charges for their drug use. Now obviously, America isn’t Portugal. The same results are not guaranteed here just because they worked over there. However, Portugal’s decriminalization experiment is working, and drug use didn’t increase. More addicts are being treated, less people are dying from their addictions, and vast amounts of money have been saved due to incredibly reduced prison costs. And that is a lot more than can be said about America’s current tactics in fighting drug use.

The War on Drugs doesn’t just cost us lives, though. As mentioned before, it takes a gigantic economic toll on our country. Jeffry A. Miron, an economist at Harvard University, published a report in February 2010 estimating how much money could be saved if drugs were legalized. The results are staggering. Roughly $48.7 billion dollars could be saved every single year just from taking away money spent on prohibition. This includes money spent on drug law enforcement, prison costs, and all other local and federal efforts to get drugs off our streets. And that’s just the money saved on prevention. If drugs were legalized and taxed in a manner similar to alcohol and tobacco, that would create another $34.3 billion annually, a total of $83 billion a year. Think of the possibilities with all that money! Our country is in the midst of an awful recession right now, and drug legalization could help enormously in pulling us out. It could make a gigantic new industry that could help create jobs and stimulate our shattered economy. The money saved in the prison system would be especially helpful. In 2008, an estimated 1.5 million Americans were arrested on drug charges. Of those 1.5 million, 500,000 were imprisoned. America has a higher incarceration percentage than any other country in the world (where statistics are deemed reliable). 55% of all federal prisoners were serving time for drug charges in 2004. Think of all the non-violent drug offenders whose lives and families have been ruined due to our ludicrous drug laws. Many of these poor people probably just made stupid mistakes when they were younger, and now they have felonies on their records even after their time spent in prison, making it harder for them to get jobs, and live a normal life again. With legalization, we could save huge amounts of money, and give these people their lives back.

It seems to me that one of the only ways to reduce drug use is to stop the problem before it starts. And if money was freed up through legalization, our country could do just that. With all those billions of dollars diverted from law enforcement, after-school programs could be set up to keep kids off the streets. Schools could be provided with extra funding so that children can find passions in learning and education that they never knew they even had. Organizations like the Boys and Girls Club would have more money for keeping children occupied in their free time. Kids and teenagers with nothing to do is an all too common problem, and one that could be curbed with extra funding from the government. Programs to teach kids about the //real// dangers of drug use can be set up. How do you think a teenager might feel towards their authority figures when they find out that taking LSD will not, in fact, make you think that you’re a glass of orange juice for the rest of your life? Or that there really isn’t any concrete study associating permanent brain damage with marijuana use? These kids will feel like they’ve been lied to, and will feel the need to lash out against authority, as many young people do. Stopping drug use is without a doubt the right thing to do, but right now the government is going about it in the worst possible way.

It’s time to stop this ridiculous excuse for a war. It’s time to stop the lies, the propaganda, and the outdated information. It’s time to stop wasting hard earned America tax dollars on a battle that has never even showed a glimmer of hope for victory. It’s time to embrace harm prevention and treatment, instead of punishments that get us nowhere. It’s time to save lives instead of saving face, and admit that we screwed up. The War on Drugs isn’t working. It never has, it never will, and I hope that one day, this country will open its eyes and see the truth. media type="file" key="galene-muckraker-0910-1.mp3" http://drugwarfacts.org/cms/?q=node/62 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/28/AR2009102803801.html http://modeledbehavior.com/2010/02/25/economic-impact-of-drug-legalization-again/
 * Sources**
 * Concerning Economics & Prison Statistics:**

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1893946,00.html http://www.drugwarfacts.org/cms/node/67 http://www.esquire.com/the-side/richardson-report/drug-war-facts-090109
 * Concerning Drug Use Statistics:**

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0254/is_3_59/ai_65348069/pg_2/?tag=content;col1 http://www.november.org/razorwire/rzold/01/essay1.html __After Prohibition: An Adult Approach to Drug Policies in the 21st Century__, by Timothy Lynch
 * General Drug War Information:**

http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/news/20030701/heavy-marijuana-use-doesnt-damage-brain http://www.helpforheadaches.com/articles/psilocybin.htm http://psychcentral.com/news/2009/03/10/mdma-ecstasy-for-ptsd/4642.html http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/health/article6899534.ece
 * Concerning Effects & Medical Uses for Drugs:**