The Myth of Drug Control
I had a friend send me a link which can be viewed at the end of the article. It was his justification as to why drugs should be illegal. Now, this is an interesting topic, and I’ve only recently begun to dig into it. However, I will say that I’m neutral on this topic at this time. I’m neither for or against making drugs legal. I see benefits on both sides, and thus can not make an informed decision. However, err on the side of caution, I’d be willing to go along with legalization to support the rights of the individual. Now, this doesn’t mean I approve of reckless drug use or driving while under the influence of anything. Moderation is the key to life, and infringing on someone else’s rights to get your high on is not, and should not be tolerated.
This is a long article, so I’m breaking this one up. You’ll see a question that’s posed on their site. It’s going to lead with “MYTH” and then a statement that they say is a myth. Following that is a “FACT” which I’m only taking pieces out of for space concerns. I will however have the link at the end so you can read their page in an unedited form. Well, let us begin!
MYTH: Drug laws infringe on individual freedom and privacy as well as make criminals out of otherwise law-abiding citizens.
FACT: Civilized society has the right and the responsibility to regulate behavior in order to protect individuals from their own poor decisions
This is interesting here. What they’re saying is people can’t be trusted to make the right choices in their own life affairs. So, what’s needed, is a government body to set down laws to ensure that individuals don’t make the wrong choices. Hmm, sounds a lot like someone else living my life for me. What’s next? I can’t cut my hair short because I may sun burn the top of my head? Boy, that would be a poor choice, wouldn’t it?
MYTH: Drug use is a victimless crime.
FACT: Tell the mother and father whose child was killed by a drugged driver, or the husband whose wife was raped by somebody loaded on cocaine, Tragic stories of promising young adults dropping out or children beaten by their drug-using parents are all too common.
Last time I checked, driving while under the influence of alcohol was a major killer. Not too often do you hear of someone high on Marijuana or Cocaine killing a family while out driving. Also, I believe most “date” rapes occur while under the influence of alcohol.
As far as kids being beaten by drug induced raging parents, I still don’t see the connection. I’m more concerned with the kids who go home to alcoholic parents. Alcohol is a major factor in all of the above listed items, and anyone who doesn’t think so is blind to the facts.
MYTH: Alcohol and illicit drugs are no different; thus, it is hypocritical for society to allow alcohol use while outlawing other drugs.
FACT: Alcohol and illicit drugs have a major difference. Most people use alcohol as a beverage and don’t drink to become intoxicated
That’s funny, I thought the point of drinking alcohol was to benefit from, well, drinking alcohol. Intoxication happens when drinking even small amounts. Just because you don’t feel drunk and aren’t puking your guts out doesn’t mean you’re impaired. In fact, the major reason people drink and drive is because they “feel fine”.
illicit drugs are far more addicting than alcohol. In fact, there are almost as many people addicted to alcohol as use illicit drugs. The reason is that alcohol is legal, relatively inexpensive, readily available, and socially acceptable, whereas illicit drugs are not.
Ok, so drugs are far more addicting than alcohol, but there are as many people addicted to alcohol as there are drug users? Hmm, that seems a little odd, especially since both of these two sentences are next to each other.
And the reason so many people are addicted to alcohol which isn’t as addicting as drugs is because it’s legal, cheap, and easy to get. So, if drugs were legal, then we’d see much more dependencies than we already do? Or would the drinkers move to something else, perhaps Marijuana, which by all accounts, is not addictive?
MYTH: The legalization of illicit drugs should be based on the alcohol model.
FACT: Legal alcohol has been consumed by a majority of our young people, whereas only a small percentage use illegal drugs. There are almost as many people addicted to alcohol than use all the illicit drugs combined. Alcohol kills five times more people, the medical costs are triple, and economic costs are double those of all illicit drugs combined. There are also three times as many arrests for alcohol offenses as there are for drug offenses.
Ok, so, how does one completely disprove their own paper with one paragraph?
MYTH: We tried alcohol prohibition, which was a failure, proving that prohibition against drugs does not work.
FACT: Alcohol prohibition, under quite different circumstances in the 1920s, was an attempt to pass laws that the majority of the people did not support. Even with that, there was an approximate 50 percent reduction in alcohol consumption, deaths from alcohol-related diseases, admissions to mental institutions, and alcohol-related psychosis.
During the 1920’s arrests were at an all time high and so were incarcerations. Alcohol consumption did go down, but only by 50%. Doesn’t that seem like really not a lot? This means that 50% of the people were still able to get alcohol which was illegal. But if it’s illegal, how can people get it? Because if people want to, they will break the law. Laws do nothing except limit the law abiding. Also, the prohibition created a gateway for corruption into the law enforcement and judicial system. There was a skyrocket effect of corruption amongst cops, lawyers, and judges. Same as we have today, cops, lawyers, and judges break the law and do drugs.
Why was the prohibition act rescinded? Because it didn’t work! People still got drunk, and in fact, more people died from drinking during this time. Why? Because the black market would make bad alcohol with poisons mixed in so they could profit more. Sounds familiar, right? Exactly, it’s just like today with drugs.
MYTH Elimination of drugs would reduce crime and free prison space for the more serious violent offenders.
FACT: There are three times as many arrests for alcohol violations as there are for drug violations.
Again, you’re showing us that alcohol is just as bad or worse, yet it’s legal today. Today, we’re out of room in our prisons, so what are we doing? We’re releasing those non-violent drug offenders who don’t exist according to your paper.
MYTH: The cost of enforcing drug laws is too expensive, and the money could better be spent on social programs dealing with the root causes of drug abuse.
FACT: Making illicit drugs legal, inexpensive, and readily available would lead to a significant increase in the number of users and increased consumption among current users. Increased use and consumption would result in corresponding greater costs for homelessness, unemployment, welfare, lost productivity, disability payments, school dropouts, lawsuits, medical care, chronic mental illness, accidents, crime, and child neglect, to name a few.
Yes, because there’s no way to tax drugs just like alcohol or tobacco. Also, there would be no increase in taxes paid by the drug manufactures either. I mean, we couldn’t impose taxes on a new industry, now could we?
MYTH: The answer to the drug problem is increased drug prevention and treatment and not law enforcement.
FACT: It is interesting to note that most drug treatment and prevention professionals are against legalizing drugs. Drug treatment experts agree that law enforcement offers strong incentives not only to receive treatment, but once treatment has been completed, to stay off of drugs. Making drugs legal, inexpensive, and readily available would eliminate that important incentive.
Wow, really? Who would think that someone who has gone to school and is now working to prevent the use of drugs would be against legalizing it. That really had never occurred to me until now.
Yeah, going to prison, losing your house, losing your kids, losing your wife, your job, your car, your belongings, and your freedom, not only temporarily, but forever on some items, really is a huge incentive to not do drugs. I do have to agree on this point completely. However, why should someone sitting at home smoking Marijuana be subject to losing everything? He’s faced with the same punishment as someone who commits murder, except his term is shorter. Doesn’t that seem a little excessive for a crime that didn’t hurt anyone, and wasn’t a crime until 100 years ago?
MYTH: This country’s 80-year war on drugs has been a failure, proving that strict laws and enforcement do not work.
FACT: It should be noted that there is not actually a “war” on drugs, but a limited engagement. Even with that, drug sanctions and enforcement have been successful during this 80-year period. Experts estimate that in the early 1900s, prior to drug laws or enforcement, there were as many addicts in this country as there are today, even though the population was one-third smaller.
No war on drugs? Really? We’ve been actively fighting drugs for many years now, however it’s not a war right? We’ve never entered another countries land to kill a dealer, right? We don’t have a dedicated agency actively looking for drug dealers, right? Perhaps the DEA should be disbanded then… How about the local cops who actively search for drugs as well? Coast Guard also looks for drug runners, as does the national guard and border patrol. Hmm, seems like we sure have a lot of people fighting this “limited engagement” on a full time scale with massive resources. But hey, it’s not a war…
There have been few modern social problems in this country, such as welfare, teenage pregnancy, homelessness, high school dropouts, and test scores for American students that have shown the same degree of success as our country’s drug policy.
Yes, our great drug policy. Why is it that I can drive to the corner and get any number of drugs easier than I can find a gun store? Guns are legal, yet it’s actually easier to find a drug dealer instead of a gun dealer. Because the “not” war on drugs is working? Again, prohibition does NOT work, not in any form. The only way to remove drugs or anything else from a society is to unlearn it. However, how does one unlearn knowledge, especially on a large social scale?
So, again, I’m not for or against anything. I just find it odd that people try to make up their own truth to justify their views. Often these views are set to take rights away from people so that person can feel more secure with themselves. If they can’t or won’t do it, then no one else should either. This is the same reasoning behind gun control. It just does not work, at all. The liberals want to take away our guns, and legalize drugs. Their argument is drug laws don’t work, but gun laws do work. It’s a failed attempt to rationalize their fears or misunderstandings about the world around them. Like always, if anyone wants to discuss this please do so, and if you have any new information for me to refute my view, please show me, as I love reading new things.