03.16.09
Time to end the “war on drugs”
I was just saying this a few days ago.
Actually, it has come up on us pretty quickly. What with the collapse of the US economy from the greed and criminal behavior of those who we foolishly entrusted to act responsibly, we are finding that we no longer can afford to run a perpetual “war on drugs” that only seems to be making things worse.
The cost of prisons and law enforcement is breaking us. Millions of marijuana users have been branded as criminals, served hard time, and found that the system is rigged to keep them from ever putting their lives back together again.
And now it looks like drug cartel violence is spilling over our borders from Mexico.
Why can’t we stop it with interdiction? Because drugs are the ultimate free market commodity. Where there is demand, there will be supply. It turns out that marijuana is the main fuel for the profits of drug cartels.
Now they used to say that we should be providing treatment if we want to cut demand. But the problem with that is that nobody’s really addicted to marijuana, not like cocaine, heroin, or tobacco.
Another problem is that a large number of people who take illegal drugs may be using the drugs to self-medicate for untreated mental health problems. Do you suppose this number might be rising in a bad economy? I think so.
Finally, much of human history has been dominated by the search for better mind-altering drugs. How else would people abuse substances in all countries and cultures, even though some of them are quite dangerous? It’s just human nature.
The “solution” as proposed is quite simple. Legalize and regulate the production and sale of marijuana. Take the importers out of the picture. Tax it like cigarettes or booze. The cartels will dry up as people buy home-grown and switch from illegal hard drugs to marijuana, which is pretty innocuous as far as drugs go.
Just a thought.
