A HISTORY OF DRUGS

Before opining about "drugs," prosecutor Ricky R. Damerville should
check into the history of drug prohibition. He would find that there
was no such thing as "drug crime" before drugs were outlawed. No one
was robbing, whoring or murdering because of drugs when addicts could
buy all the morphine, heroin, cocaine and anything else they wanted
cheaply and legally at the corner pharmacy. Addicts worked regular
jobs, raised decent families and were indistinguishable from
teetotalers. There were no drug gangs and no international cartels
and no real problem with drug addiction.

All of the trouble Damerville sees connected to "drugs" come from a
lunatic policy that has failed for 94 straight years. The failure is
so devastating that the drug war has made the United States the world
leader in incarceration. We have more prisoners than all of Europe
combined and most prisoners are doing time because of "drugs."

Mr. Damerville may be too young to remember how Prohibition went, but
a little research will show an exact parallel to the current drug
crusade. The bootleggers made millions and the public endured a
13-year crime wave that was unequaled until the drug war.

It's worth remembering that Eliot Ness and the prohibition agents
never put the bootleggers out of business (TV and movies are almost
complete fiction). Repeal and a regulated market for adult alcohol
sales did that in quick order.

Redford Givens

DRCNet Online Library -of Drug Policy

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