Ed Haas

Overview: The War on Drugs

February 18, 2005 -- DISCLAIMER: Drug abuse is bad. The War on Drugs is worse. Drugs do not fund terrorists. Drug prohibition funds terrorism. By decriminalizing all substances - cocaine, marijuana, heroin, ecstasy, etc., the government will essentially remove the substance from the hands of the criminal or terrorist. Once the substances are regulated and taxed by governments, the black market will vanish. Drug users and addicts will no longer have to roam neighborhoods looking for their drug of choice, thus neighorhoods will be safer.

Prices will drop substantially, so the need for users to steal to support their habits will decrease dramatically. Licensed distributors would be required to display information regarding where and how the user can get help for their addiction. The states will save enormous amounts of taxpayer dollars on law enforcement, prosecution, incarceration, and adult probation. In South Carolina alone, we could save seventy-five million dollars a year just on the cost of locking up drug offenders in our state prisons. Currently, South Carolina has approximately 5300 state inmates that are incarcerated for drug possession. It's time to end the madness and bring drugs out of the shadows and regulate the distribution.

Why would we want to continue allowing dangerous street criminals to profit from the black market we have created? Why should they be allowed to roam the streets and make certain neighborhoods unsafe? Why should drug addicts be forces into an environment where quite often they become victims of sexual assault or are compelled to sell sex just to support their habit?

Opponents to decriminalization voice concern regarding what message decriminalization would send to our children. Decriminalization would send the same message that is currently sent regarding tobacco, alcohol, sex, violence, etc. Tax revenue from regulated drug distribution could be used to further the education of our children so that they never begin using drugs in the first place.

Alcohol is a legal substance that cause many problems in society. Statistics show that when compared to marijuana, alcohol is far more harmful to children and adults. Yet even though alcohol is legal and advertised, many people of all ages never drink it. Why? Some do not drink for religious reasons. Some drank earlier in life, had some problems with it, and stopped. Others just don't like the way alcohol makes them feel. The point is that we can expect the same response to decriminalized substances. The question that needs to be asked is whether you or your children would begin to use cocaine if it became legal. How about heroin? If heroin were legal today, would you go buy some needles and start injecting the substance into your bloodstream? Ninety-nine percent of the population says NO!

America need to face its shadows, embrace them, bring them into the light of day, and change the drug laws. Drug addicts are people too. We shouldn't lock these people up in prisons and we shouldn't allow the underground, violent drug culture to continue to operate. For over thirty years, we have tried with force to get drugs off the streets. We have failed. Let's stop doing the same thing repeatedly while expecting different results. It cost to much; emotionally, spiritually, physically, and mentally.

Decriminalization would change the world. Countries like Afghanistan and Columbia would be able to make their crops legal. Legal crops translates into dollars for governments. Mexico's economy would impove greatly by the legalization of marijuana. An improved Mexican economy is in our best interest.

Your donations sustain the Muckraker Report Archive. Please donate.