Wars on Drugs

The effort to keep our people from victimizing themselves by using dangerous drugs without sound medical needs is a recent phenomenon.  In previous centuries governments did not have the resources that a wealthy society provided to attempt to regulate drugs.  Whether or not to take drugs was a matter of personal responsibility. 

In the nineteenth century, the Qing dynasty in China was unhappy with the effects of opium smoking, so they outlawed the importation of opium.  The importers, who believed in free trade, went to war with China and forced the Qing to allow importation.  The drug traffickers in this case were the British, who had plenty of firepower to force the Chinese to allow them free trade in opium. 

One addictive drug has been with us for maybe 3000 years.  Genesis chapter 9 tells us that Noah cursed one of his three sons due to the effects of a drug called Ethanol or Grain Alcohol.  In the early twentieth century Ethanol was causing suffering in its addicts and their families.  In the USA the war on this drug was declared with the ratification of the 18th amendment to the Constitution.  In 1920, the war began.  Great effort went into enforcement, but this war was a resounding failure.  Those who wanted a drink could still get one.  The ethanol industry became property of crime syndicates who ignored the law.  These criminal enterprises became rich and powerful.  Many jobs were created.  My grandfather did some construction work for the Capone mob in south Cook County, and was paid well.  The gang money bought corruption.  At one point the chief of police in Chicago Heights was caught transporting liquor in the sidecar of his motorcycle. 

The law was thwarted because too few people agreed with this incursion on our freedom.  A great many workers felt that it is their right to have a couple of beers after work, and a few more on Saturday night. 

Finally, enough people were convinced that this war was creating crime and suffering, and costing a great deal of money, without any success.  When you are in a war and cannot win it, it is time to give up.  The 18^th amendment was repealed in 1933.  Today we prohibit minors from using ethanol, and we get a lot of tax money from it.  We prohibit driving a car while using ethanol.  These newer laws are things most people agree with, so they do not generate great criminal industries. The new laws get some support from the people, such support as Prohibition could not get. 

Today, forgetting the lessons of the 1920’s, we are again in the midst of a protracted war on drugs.  Again, people learn to hate the cops who interfere with their right to get high.  Again, illegal trafficking finances corruption and crime.  We spend billions of dollars to stop the supply, and dopers do not find it hard to get their fix.  Illegal drugs are expensive, so addicts commit crimes to finance their drug purchases.  Our police are stuck with the impossible task of stopping the use of drugs, when they would be better off saving their efforts for other crimes that we can hope to control, such as robbery, murder, and rape.  John Stossel remarked, “War on Drugs – Who are we kidding.  We can’t even keep drugs out of prison!” 

Our prisons are crowded with people who got caught with drugs, and think it should their right to decide whether to ruin their health with “recreational” drugs. 

When it becomes clear that we are in a war that we cannot win, it is time to sue for peace.  It would be wonderful to stop the “recreational” use of drugs, but if we can’t we should be seeking another alternative.  The situation with ethanol is not ideal, but it is better than it was while we were losing the all-out war.  Allow fools the right to buy and take drugs.  Prohibit supplying drugs to minors.  Prohibit driving under the influence.  Tax the drugs to maximize revenue.  150 years ago, opium was readily available in India, and the country survived. 

Our neighbor Mexico is racked by violence from criminal gangs who are financed by our purchases of illegal drugs.  We too have gang problems, but not as bad as Mexico. 

As was the case with ethanol, legalization would “defund” the worst of our criminal gangs and their violence. 

Is it time to ask our police to concentrate on crimes that everybody hates, like robbery, rape, and murder, and stop wasting their efforts on unwinnable wars on drugs ?