DRUG WAR' HARMFUL AND INEFFECTIVE

As someone with a history degree, it is embarrassing to admit that I
learned something new in my research into the history of drug
prohibition. Contrary to assertions by drug policy reformers,
prohibition was a response to abusive drug addiction problems, not
the other way around. It occurred simultaneously in Europe and the
United States when soldiers returning from war became addicted to
morphine used to treat their injuries. Morphine was called the
"scourge of war" and was banned long before the turn of the century
in Europe and here.

In fact, heroin — and later, methadone — were developed as
alternatives to these "drug scourges."

Today, we are acutely aware of "Post Traumatic Stress" syndrome, or
PTS. It is a disorder unique to the battlefield and is a natural
result of the horrific nature of war and results in a soldier
becoming socially disconnected. Those soldiers with more solid
support networks have easier times re-connecting. If only the phrase
"Support our troops" involved diversion of resources to re-connecting soldiers

Even in lab rats, research has shown that socially integrated rats
have far fewer problems with abusive drug addictions than isolated
rats. Criminalizing drug use is the equivalent of throwing water on
gasoline fires. (Ask your fire marshal about that.)

It's not surprising that the incidences of abusive drug addictions
and corresponding crime occur disproportionately in socially
marginalized communities and households. And the drug war just makes
the problem worse. Those who do not know their history … keep messing up.