U.S. STILL LACKS RATIONAL, COST-EFFECTIVE APPROACH TO DRUG USE

The world owes no man freedom from strife, so we should have reason to
think that the establishment of laws will not contribute to our daily
woes. Unfortunately our good English Christian cousins passed down to
us as much prudish law as prudence. The upshot being that we are
strapped with a schizophrenic and archaic criminal justice system.
Seeing that calls for resolution to the "drug problem" continue, as
writers in the Times-News often refer to it, many people misdirect
their proposed solutions to criminal justice alone, heedless of
alternative perspectives.

Murder, rape, DUI, spousal abuse, arson, etc., is wrong per se,
whether a legislative body labels it wrong or not. The Latin phrase
"malum in se" is an act that is wrong because it is inherently wrong
in itself. This concept was used to develop the various common law
crimes, laws that were based on common sense.

Prostitution, drug use, consensual sex, buying liquor on Sunday, etc.,
is not inherently wrong, but is a crime only because some group or
legislative body says it is. "Malum prohibitum" is an act that is
wrong because it is prohibited, not because it is innately wrong.
These are acts that are neither necessarily immoral nor hurtful, but
merely wrong by arbitrary decree. This concept is used, in part, to
develop victimless crimes. These are laws that are based on the views
of judgmental people, and by many who have this creepy notion that
they need to treat other adults as if they were children.

This enforced moralizing creates a failure of wisdom to establish an
open society of standards that allows for freedom of adult choice.
Many who clamor for punishment disapprove of some choices, or acts,
that are simply personal behavior, not criminal intent. Thus, this
draconian approach leads to a host of social conflicts: Gangs,
unlicensed drug dealing, corruption, burglary, drug abuse, poverty,
etc.

Undoubtedly earthly creatures have long consumed drugs for medicinal,
recreational and spiritual uses. The fact that we take drugs for fun
stands above the debate. You see, it's biological and getting "high"
has been with us since our dawn of time. Consequently, it isn't a
question of how we stop it, or even decree that it is wrong. It is a
question of how we regulate and license any intoxicant for an "adult"
purchasing market. But since some of us have created an artificial
edifice of legal versus illegal, quite naturally there will be an
official wall intended to divide and conquer adult behavior. Sadly, we
are unable to deal with adult drug use in a way that is rational and
cost effective.

So we start a war with ourselves and like any other war we have
casualties and collateral damage that beg the question: Why are adults
fighting over drugs? Not to protect the children, surely. After all,
if you want to send the right message to kids, wouldn't you want
adults to set a good example with resolutions that are peaceful? With
behavior that is moderate? Is exposing kids to the violence and
excesses of war and gangs really done in their best interest?

An anonymous ancient once said this about society's ills, "If there be
a pox upon the house you built, censor none but yourselves." Evidently
the kingdoms of legal and Illegal are chockfull of self-interested
motives, and they are related. Many people who want drugs illegal, and
the dealers who sell them, both benefit from the same thing:
Profiteering in one form or the other! And, since adult consumers are
only doing what comes naturally to them, both parties are guilty of
wanting to perpetuate their ill-begotten goods at the expense of a
biologically driven mass-market of adult consumers. It's no wonder
then that criminal justice is bigger than General Motors.

Dave Crockett

Cumberland