My favorite definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. When Reagan started the drug war back in the 80’s, he should have been smacked upside the head with a book that talked about the problems brought on by Prohibition. Because, thanks to Reagan, we’ve wasted hundreds of billions of dollars and countless lives fighting a war that is unwinnable.
As Prohibition showed us, if people want to use drugs (and alcohol is a drug), they’re going to find a way to do it. And according to the Declaration of Independence, if they think it will make them happy, and they’re not violating anyone else’s right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, then they have the right to use their drug of choice!
It’s complete and utter insanity to keep drugs illegal. Below, I’ve compiled just a few of the reasons why we should legalize all drugs.
- It would save tens of billions of dollars every year trying to prevent the flow of drugs into the US.
- It would free up jail space so we can keep the really harmful criminals like child molesters and rapists and murderers in jail.
- It would free up the court system, which is bogged down by so many drug trials it’s ridiculous. Estimates are that about 50% of judicial case loads now are drug cases. And 50% of inmates are there on drug charges.
- It would preserve families. Mothers/fathers who go to jail can’t take care of their kids.
- It would lessen the welfare load. People who go to jail or get a criminal record even if no jail time is served have a hard time getting a job when they get out. As a result, they end up working for minimum wage and can’t support themselves and end up on welfare.
- It would create a huge new tax revenue. It could be taxed as outrageously high as cigarettes and we’d make tens of billions of dollars every year.
- It could be regulated and therefore accidental overdoses from stuff that’s too pure or stuff that’s been cut with rat poison or some other lethal chemical won’t cause any harm to users.
- It will slow the spread of HIV, hepatitis and other blood-born diseases that pass from IV drug user to IV drug user and their intimate partners and even to their children if a pregnancy results.
- It will remove the power that gangs and drug cartels hold nowadays. If it’s legal, gangs don’t have turf to fight over. Drug cartels can’t wield the power and fear that they have now. Getting rid of gangs and drug cartels removes a whole host of OTHER problems as well.
- Farmers who are now being paid to keep from planting their fields can now grow crops like pot. Hemp plants are very useful not only for the leaves but for rope and a whole host of other products that can be made from hemp. It is one of the most versatile and useful plants on the planet.
- If drugs are legal, the stigma associated with getting help for being an addict is lessened. Some of the money from taxing the drugs can be used for effective treatment facilities for those who want to quit.
We’ve now spent more than 20 years trying to stem to flow of drugs into the US and it’s not working. And yet we keep pouring money into this black hole called the war on drugs. Not only money but lives of police officers killed trying to stop the drug traffickers, innocent civilians caught in the crossfire of drug wars, the children and families of not only the addicts but those killed in this insane war…
It’s time to try something new.