RETHINKING THE WAR ON DRUGS

In 2006, the United States witnessed close to 800 identifiable
drug-related murders.

Since January 2008, 7,000 Mexicans have died in a brutal drug war
between rival cartels.

In Afghanistan, NATO forces continue to be killed and maimed by
Taliban insurgents financed primarily by opium production. Following
the inception of the War on Drugs in 1969 , hundreds of billions of
dollars and countless lives have been poured into an unwinnable
enterprise-one that America must strongly reconsider.

Of any tactic employed against organized crime (and the terrorism it
often supports), legalization is certainly the most potent and the
most controversial. Currently, the War on Drugs serves to cut back on
supply, thereby inflating prices and allowing criminals to profit.

If drugs were to be legalized, the government could set the supply
such that prices were too low to make organized crime profitable, but
still high enough to generate handsome tax revenue-in other words, it
would do exactly what it does with alcohol and tobacco.

This second point, taxation, is another key point in favor of
legalization, which is why states like California are now considering
legislation that would decriminalize and tax marijuana in order to
help reduce their budget deficits.

Production costs for drugs make up only 4 percent of distribution
value.

Given this incredible differential, the United States government could
conceivably realize tens of billions of dollars in tax revenue, not to
mention the additional tens of billions that would be saved on
enforcement.

As the world's single greatest market for drugs, it is clear that the
United States has both a moral and strategic responsibility to
aggressively target drug producers abroad.

America has been involved with Colombia in fighting its drug rebels
for decades, and is now beginning to devote more resources to helping
Mexico combat its drug cartels. These drug producers are some of the
most vicious and barbaric organizations in the world, and their threat
to American national security is greater than terrorism if you just
consider the body count.

In order to effectively take on these groups, the United States needs
to start using the full power of its overt and clandestine arsenals
against them. This goes beyond just funneling money and weapons to the
Mexican government-it means having the CIA conduct operations against
the leaders of drug cartels.

Standing alone, these forceful tactics are likely to have few positive
benefits, but in conjunction with the legalization of drugs in the
United States, they threaten to hit drug producers on two fronts,
cutting profits while also sending the message that the United States
is still tough on drugs where it counts.

The final and most difficult issue is how to manage the domestic
consequences of legalization. I think in this case, our guiding
principle has to be a belief in the individual's liberty to choose
what substances he or she takes, in addition to recognizing that the
consequences of an individual's choice fall to him or her alone.

The reason most people refrain from heroin and cocaine is not because
they are illegal, but because they are dangerous.

Educating people to make responsible choices is the true path to
victory in the War on Drugs, which is why the current policy is so
futile-it has tricked Americans into believing that the Drug
Enforcement Authority can solve what is really a parental issue.

Moreover, society should not use free medical treatment and housing to
support the habits of people who make poor choices and refuse to take
steps to end their addiction, such as hardcore heroin addicts.

Those who want to slowly kill themselves by taking hard drugs will do
so regardless of the legality-the question is whether we allow them to
exist as wards of the state or simply let nature take its course.

I understand that this opinion may seem overly callous to many, but we
need to realize that drug legalization grants people liberty, and
liberty is a two-way street.

Fundamentally, the current prosecution of the War on Drugs has failed.
It costs the United States tens of billions of dollars a year, funds
organized crime and terrorism, and denies citizens the basic right of
control over their own bodies.

The only way for the United States to move forward on this issue is
through a new policy grounded in economic logic, individual
responsibility, and a willingness to keep America safe from criminals
and thugs at home and abroad. Such an approach worked with alcohol,
and I steadfastly believe it can work with drugs.

Jon Hollander is a Columbia college junior majoring in economics.
Reasonably Right runs alternate Thursdays.