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Murphy’s Law, written by Barbara Murphy, appears monthly in The Golden Times. The column represents the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the opinion of the publisher.
Let’s Drink To The End Of The Futile
And Expensive War On Drugs
We have entered the season when millions of Americans drink themselves silly, thousands die in booze-related auto accidents, and countless families are fractured, perhaps torn apart forever, because of fights and infidelities fueled by alcohol.
Yet no one suggests a War on Booze, not should they. Prohibition taught us that banning alcohol only enriched bootleggers, led to a tidal wave of horrific crime, and never stopped a single person who wanted a drink from getting one.
The War on Drugs is just as futile and drenched in even more blood than Prohibition. It has been totally unsuccessful in eliminating drug use. The time has come to stop kidding ourselves and face reality. We should legalize drugs just as we legalized alcohol and tobacco.
This is not to suggest that using mood-enhancing drugs is a good idea. It’s a very bad idea but so is smoking and so is drinking to excess. Yet smoking and drinking are still legal. Though anti-smoking campaigns are now commonplace and often successful, no one has suggested that tobacco be made an illegal product because it is obvious that such action would only create the same problems which prohibition of alcohol created.
The only war we make on any mind-altering substances is the War on Drugs, despite a mountain of evidence that this war is a useless, crime-breeding, insanely expensive and cruel exercise of government’s police power.
The federal and state governments together spend an estimated total of $54.1 billion per year on the drug war at a time when the country is neck-deep in debt; when teachers, police officers and firemen are being laid off; and when essential programs that help poor children and other disadvantaged members of our society are being shut down.
In his excellent book, “Why Our Drug Laws Have Failed and What We Can Do About It,” Judge James P. Gray (a California trial judge and former federal prosecutor) wrote: “We have been following essentially the same drug prohibition policy for many decades and it has given us the worst of all worlds. Today there are more drugs available in our communities and at a lower price than ever before. We have greatly expanded the number of prisons in the United States, but all of them are overflowing. As a direct result of the enormous amount of money from illicit drug sales, the corruption of public officials and private individuals in our society has increased substantially.”
Among the greatest evils produced by the War on Drugs, according to Judge Gray, are the growth in size and influence of the prison industry and the “three strikes and your out” laws, which have been enacted by many states.
Under the three strikes laws, an individual who is caught with a bag or marijuana in his or her possession is sent to prison for life if that individual had been convicted of two prior criminal offenses, no matter how minor. Why the Supreme Court has not outlawed “three strikes” as cruel and inhuman punishment is one of the great mysteries of our judicial system.
The only beneficiary of such barbaric laws, as Judge Gray points out, is the prison industry. Those who build and staff our huge network of prisons — one of the biggest in the world — are making a bundle of money out of human misery.
For a variety of reasons — one is the influence of the prison lobby — politicians are terrified to utter one word of criticism against the War on Drugs. Instead, they struggle to out-do each other in howling for preservation of the “zero tolerance” policy towards drug use and the prosecution and imprisonment of drug offers — no matter how petty their offenses.
As a result of the War on Drugs, our prisons are filled to overflowing with minor drug offenders, with the result that violent criminals are very often set free to relieve the overcrowding.
Even more horrific is the fact the America’s drug policy is fueling the bloody war between Mexican drug cartels in which thousands of innocent Mexicans have been killed.
Our insane, unwinnable war on drugs has got to stop.
I am on the side of those who would legalize drug use. Legalization would permit a user to purchase his or her drug of choice, pay a tax on it, and use the drug in the privacy of his or her home.
On the other hand, those who make drugs available to children or commit a crime — like burglary to obtain money to buy drugs or anything else — would be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
I don’t drink, smoke or use drugs myself. But I think what people drink, smoke, snort or inject is their own business as long as they harm only themselves.
*
Barbara Murphy, 79, writes about controversial issues each month.
And Expensive War On Drugs
We have entered the season when millions of Americans drink themselves silly, thousands die in booze-related auto accidents, and countless families are fractured, perhaps torn apart forever, because of fights and infidelities fueled by alcohol.
Yet no one suggests a War on Booze, not should they. Prohibition taught us that banning alcohol only enriched bootleggers, led to a tidal wave of horrific crime, and never stopped a single person who wanted a drink from getting one.
The War on Drugs is just as futile and drenched in even more blood than Prohibition. It has been totally unsuccessful in eliminating drug use. The time has come to stop kidding ourselves and face reality. We should legalize drugs just as we legalized alcohol and tobacco.
This is not to suggest that using mood-enhancing drugs is a good idea. It’s a very bad idea but so is smoking and so is drinking to excess. Yet smoking and drinking are still legal. Though anti-smoking campaigns are now commonplace and often successful, no one has suggested that tobacco be made an illegal product because it is obvious that such action would only create the same problems which prohibition of alcohol created.
The only war we make on any mind-altering substances is the War on Drugs, despite a mountain of evidence that this war is a useless, crime-breeding, insanely expensive and cruel exercise of government’s police power.
The federal and state governments together spend an estimated total of $54.1 billion per year on the drug war at a time when the country is neck-deep in debt; when teachers, police officers and firemen are being laid off; and when essential programs that help poor children and other disadvantaged members of our society are being shut down.
In his excellent book, “Why Our Drug Laws Have Failed and What We Can Do About It,” Judge James P. Gray (a California trial judge and former federal prosecutor) wrote: “We have been following essentially the same drug prohibition policy for many decades and it has given us the worst of all worlds. Today there are more drugs available in our communities and at a lower price than ever before. We have greatly expanded the number of prisons in the United States, but all of them are overflowing. As a direct result of the enormous amount of money from illicit drug sales, the corruption of public officials and private individuals in our society has increased substantially.”
Among the greatest evils produced by the War on Drugs, according to Judge Gray, are the growth in size and influence of the prison industry and the “three strikes and your out” laws, which have been enacted by many states.
Under the three strikes laws, an individual who is caught with a bag or marijuana in his or her possession is sent to prison for life if that individual had been convicted of two prior criminal offenses, no matter how minor. Why the Supreme Court has not outlawed “three strikes” as cruel and inhuman punishment is one of the great mysteries of our judicial system.
The only beneficiary of such barbaric laws, as Judge Gray points out, is the prison industry. Those who build and staff our huge network of prisons — one of the biggest in the world — are making a bundle of money out of human misery.
For a variety of reasons — one is the influence of the prison lobby — politicians are terrified to utter one word of criticism against the War on Drugs. Instead, they struggle to out-do each other in howling for preservation of the “zero tolerance” policy towards drug use and the prosecution and imprisonment of drug offers — no matter how petty their offenses.
As a result of the War on Drugs, our prisons are filled to overflowing with minor drug offenders, with the result that violent criminals are very often set free to relieve the overcrowding.
Even more horrific is the fact the America’s drug policy is fueling the bloody war between Mexican drug cartels in which thousands of innocent Mexicans have been killed.
Our insane, unwinnable war on drugs has got to stop.
I am on the side of those who would legalize drug use. Legalization would permit a user to purchase his or her drug of choice, pay a tax on it, and use the drug in the privacy of his or her home.
On the other hand, those who make drugs available to children or commit a crime — like burglary to obtain money to buy drugs or anything else — would be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
I don’t drink, smoke or use drugs myself. But I think what people drink, smoke, snort or inject is their own business as long as they harm only themselves.
*
Barbara Murphy, 79, writes about controversial issues each month.