REMEMBERING MILTON FRIEDMAN ON LIBERTY AND DRUGS

Since the death last week of Milton Friedman I've been thinking about
the times that my life crossed paths with his. I've got a photograph
on my bookshelf of me with him at the conference of the Drug Policy
Foundation in 1991. In that year we gave him our most prestigious
award, a lifetime achievement award named in honor of noted
philanthropist and Chicago commodities trader, Richard Dennis.

When we gave Dr. Friedman the award it was controversial. Many in
the reform movement are liberal Democrats who are offended by
Friedman's view that "the government solution to a problem is usually
as bad as the problem." But, no doubt all in the drug policy reform
movement would agree with that statement when it is applied to the
government's never-ending war on drugs. As Friedman correctly said:
"Most of the harm that comes from drugs is because they are illegal."

Indeed, Friedman came to the conclusion about the futility of drug
prohibition early. When President Nixon started the modern war on
drugs he wrote a column in /Newsweek/ criticizing the policy. He
warned that it would not reduce addiction but instead would promote
crime and corruption repeating the mistake of alcohol prohibition. He
concluded: "So long as large sums of money are involved-and they are
bound to be if drugs are illegal-it is literally hopeless to expect
to end the traffic or even to reduce seriously its scope. In drugs,
as in other areas, persuasion and example are likely to be far more
effective than the use of force to shape others in our image." See
"Prohibition and Drugs," at
http://www.druglibrary.org/special/friedman/prohibition_and_drugs.htm

In 1989 when drug czar Bill Bennett was escalating the drug war on
behalf of President George H.W. Bush, Friedman wrote an open letter
in the Wall Street Journal reminding him that the problems he was
trying to combat were the made worse by prohibition. He warned that
crack was a product of prohibition correctly pointing out "it was
invented because the high cost of illegal drugs made it profitable to
provide a cheaper version." He concluded the letter:

"Moreover, if even a small fraction of the money we now spend on
trying to enforce drug prohibition were devoted to treatment and
rehabilitation, in an atmosphere of compassion not punishment, the
reduction in drug usage and in the harm done to the users could be dramatic.

"This plea comes from the bottom of my heart. Every friend of
freedom, and I know you are one, must be as revolted as I am by the
prospect of turning the United States into an armed camp, by the
vision of jails filled with casual drug users and of an army of
enforcers empowered to invade the liberty of citizens on slight evidence."

See "An Open Letter to Bill Bennett, April 1990 at
http://www.fff.org/freedom/0490e.asp

Friedman's view of the harms from drugs was not only the wasted money
- -- now about $1 billion per week -- but more so the destruction of
inner cities, racially unfair incarceration, corruption of the
police, wars in Colombia, Mexico and other countries that cost
thousands of lives and the corruption of foreign economies as well as
our own. The drug war has spurred the largest prison system in
history with more than 2 million behind bars -- one in four of the
world's prisoners residing in the land of the free. As Friedman
pointed out: "Had drugs been decriminalized, crack would never have
been invented and there would today be fewer addicts... The ghettos
would not be drug-and-crime-infested no-man's lands... Colombia,
Bolivia and Peru would not be suffering from narco-terror, and we
would not be distorting our foreign policy because of it."

When Friedman gave his key note address at the Drug Policy Foundation
conference in 1991 he did not limit his talk to drug policy. He put
forward a wider ranging analysis that covered a host of issues --
schools, housing, medical care and the post office. Of course, this
just added to the controversy around his nomination. But it was an
opportunity to hear a perspective that no doubt held important truths
on the limits and fallibility of government -- truths that could lead
to more sensible approaches whether you completely agreed with
Friedman or not. (You can read a transcript of his speech and the
questions and answers at
http://www.druglibrary.org/special/friedman/socialist.htm

Friedman also appeared on a television show we produced, America's
Drug Forum, and I crossed paths with him at two conferences at the
Hoover Institution at Stanford University, and with Arnold Trebach
edited a book on the writings of him and psychiatrist Thomas Szasz.
He always put forward a clear vision and persistent attitude. Indeed,
his persistence is something all advocates can learn from -- he went
from being ignored and shunned to winning the Nobel prize for
economics and being an adviser to presidents. His life should give
all of us hope that change is possible, indeed it is inevitable, and
if we persist change will move in our direction.

For more on Milton Friedman you can purchase "On Liberty and Drugs"
edited by Arnold Trebach and Kevin Zeese at
http://www.amazon.com/Friedman-Szasz-Liberty-Drugs-Prohibition/dp/1879189054

Many of his writings are included in The Schaeffer Library of Drug
Policy at http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/Misc/friedm1.htm