DOOMED DRUG WAR DRAINS RESOURCES FROM FIGHTING WORSE CRIMES

Getting high can be bad. Putting people in prison for it is worse.
And doing the latter doesn't stop the former.

I was once among the majority who believe that drug use must be
illegal. But then I noticed that when vice laws conflict with the law
of supply and demand, the conflict is ugly, and the law of supply and
demand generally wins.

The drug war costs taxpayers about $40 billion. We're winning the
drug war, according to the federal Drug Enforcement Administration,
which might get less money if people thought it was losing.
Prosecutors hold news conferences announcing the "biggest seizure
ever." But what they confiscate makes little difference. We can't
even keep drugs out of prisons.

Even as the drug war fails to reduce the drug supply, many argue that
there are still moral reasons to fight the war.

"When we fight against drugs, we fight for the souls of our fellow
Americans," said President Bush. But the war destroys American souls,
too. America locks up a higher percentage of her people than almost
any other country. Nearly 4,000 people are arrested every day for
mere possession of drugs. That's more people than are arrested for
aggravated assault, burglary, vandalism, forcible rape and murder combined.

I have teenage kids. My first instinct is to be glad cocaine and
heroin are illegal. It means my kids can't trot down to the local
drugstore to buy something that gets them high. Maybe that would deter them.

Or maybe not. The law certainly doesn't prevent them from getting the
drugs. Kids say illegal drugs are no harder to get than alcohol.

Perhaps a certain percentage of Americans will use or abuse drugs --
no matter what the law says.

I cannot know. What I do know now, however, are some of the
unintended consequences of drug prohibition:

. More crime. Rarely do people get high and then run out to commit
crimes. Most "drug crime" happens because the product is illegal.
Since drug sellers can't rely on the police to protect their
property, they form gangs and arm themselves.

. More terrorism. The profits of the drug trade fund terrorists from
Afghanistan to Colombia. Our herbicide spraying planes teach South
American farmers to hate America.

. Richer criminal gangs. Alcohol prohibition created Al Capone. The
gangs drug prohibition is creating are even richer, probably rich
enough to buy nuclear weapons. Osama bin Laden was funded partly by drug money.

Government's declaring drugs illegal doesn't mean people can't get
them. It just creates a black market, where even nastier things
happen. That's why I have come to think that although drug addiction
is bad, the drug war is worse.