LEGALISE AND REGULATE DRUG TRADE

One must marvel at the unlimited capacity of the human race not to
learn from the past.

Take wars, for example. No war has in the long run achieved anything.
Millions of people have died unnecessarily, mostly at the a whim of
the regent, president, paramount chief, prime minister or reichs-chancellor.

Another case in point relates to what one could call "synthetic"
political systems, such as communism.

While attractive in theory, it gets mangled by imperfect humans such
as Lenin, Stalin or Chaiman Mao and their personal agendas. Mostly
such systems have been discredited.

Even the Chinese are converting to capitalism at a rapid pace.

But I would like to discuss the way the world has not learned to deal
with the drug problem.

Drugs exploded onto the social scene in a big way during the hippy
era, first in a fairly mild form but very soon spawned new versions
of ever-increasing strength and variety. The governments of the
"civilised" world considered recreational drugs a danger to society.
One is reminded of a similar response, by the US, to the perceived
dangers of alcohol. Prohibition, it was called.

Alcohol was "verboten". What was the outcome of this prohibition?
Well, like all activities or things that certain groups of people
find attractive and thereby provide a market, it simply went underground.

This had several consequences. It attracted organised crime, as the
profits were very good. It made a fairly harmless activity of having
an occasional drink or two a criminal offence, and the government
wasted ernormous manpower and resources in trying to enforce a law
that was not enforceable.

We all know what happened: it could not be contained and eventually
prohibition was lifted.

The response to drugs has been similar, except that it involves the
concerted effort of practically all governments on this planet. This
has been going on ever since the hippy era and the effort has
increased as the supply has increased.

The success rate of all this effort is questionable.

We all know that anyone determined to obtain drugs will do so with
relative ease.

So what is the point of all this seemingly wasted effort?

We all know that it is part of human nature to want the things that
are forbidden. This is what makes a man with a perfectly good wife
visit prostitutes.

Just as alcohol was de-criminalised after prohibition, the
authorities should do the same with drugs.

Just as alcohol is sold (in this country) by specially licensed
outlets, so should drug dealers be licensed and become taxpayers.
This type of response would have several beneficial results: the
underground trade would die, the price of drugs would collapse, it
would not be so "cool" anymore to use drugs as they would not be a
forbidden fruit.

The state would save all the cost related to trying to suppress the
drug trade and would in addition take in a considerable amount in taxes.

The underlying logic of this approach is simple: treat people like
adults. By all means highlight the dangers, but in the final
analysis, every human being has the right to take responsibility for
his own life and, if he wishes, ruin himself, be it through drink,
drugs or excessive smoking.

It is about time the state stopped being a nanny to every citizen. We
all know that most people react positively if they are given
responsibility for their own lives.

Why should that be different with regard to drugs. It must be worth a
try. The current method has failed and will continue to fail. We must
stop thumping the head against the wall. That is exactly what the
drug lords want us to do.

Richard Gruning