DRUG WAR ADDICTION

Just when you thought it was safe to turn on the boob tube, the Office of
National Drug Policy starts a new TV ad campaign. The previous campaign
attempted to tie drug use to terrorism. Among the more sinister ads was one
where an apparition of a dead girl tells a woman working in an office, "you
killed me," implying she died in a terrorist attack due to the woman's
"illegal" drug consumption. Using the government's logic, not only are all
drug users aiding and abetting terrorist, they're murderers too. The latest
ad campaign takes aim at internal dissenters and critics of the drug war.
It features two men talking, one of them saying simply to legalize drugs.
The response is, "so you want drugs sold to kids on playgrounds.....," to
which the original speaker says, "I guess it's not such a good idea." To
attempt to discuss the 30+ year drug war in a 30 second snippet is a
serious attempt to insult most Americans intelligence.

The ad campaign does prove that, not only do bureaucrats and politicians
not get out much, but they also have too much time and money on their
hands. These ads cost hundreds of millions of tax dollars to produce and
air, yet by the Office of National Drug policy's own admission, have little
if any effect on drug consumption.

Unlike the governments ads, lets seriously consider some of the causes and
effects of the drug war. The first assumption made by the drug warriors is
that legalization will bring drugs onto our nations playgrounds. If the
folks at the National Drug Policy Office would leave the office more often,
or venture out of the confines of their gated suburban neighborhoods, they
would see that drugs are not only being sold on playgrounds already, but
near schools as well. Most of this happens in lower income areas which
crosses racial lines and is based purely on economic and political
conditions. Naturally, the people living in these areas have little if any
political or economic clout. Add to that the facts that too many of the
people living in these areas are on some sort of government assistance, and
sometimes view children as an added government check, and you have the main
ingredients for disaster. This attracts thugs seeking the high profits made
possible by the "illegal" status placed on these drugs by the government.
These thugs usually take over corners, buildings and even whole streets
making life much more dangerous and difficult for law abiding citizens who
have to live and work in these areas.

The death and violence that accompanies the drug trade are due mainly to
the fact that drugs are illegal. Young people are enticed away from entry
level jobs, with the lure of making thousands of dollars a week in illegal
drug trafficking. Of course all this money will attract competition,
causing drive by shootings and other forms of deadly violence. The profits
are so astronomical that even the possibility of death can't deter those
with criminal inclinations seeking a quick and "easy" buck.

The ads imply that those buying drugs are helping fund criminal enterprises
and, therefore, directly responsible for terrorism and murder. If that
ain't the pot calling the kettle black! The truth is that the only thing
keeping "illegal" drug prices and profits artificially high, is the
government's war on drugs. The reason that criminal gangs and terrorists
around the globe profit from illegal drug sales is strictly because they
are illegal. Those buying drugs in the inner city are no more responsible
for funding terrorism than those pumping gas at the local gas station.

Contrary to popular perceptions, drug use and addiction are not confined to
the poverty stricken. Many of the customers of the inner city drug
traffickers are college age suburbanites, and sometimes even their
professionally employed parents. Most of the individuals that purchase
drugs do not commit violent crimes, yet are susceptible to fines and prison
terms if caught possessing an "illegal" substance. This, of course, leads
to overcrowded conditions in jails, too often allowing for early release of
violent criminals.

So, why would the government continue to pursue a policy for decades that
actually increases drug use and violence? To put it as succinctly as
possible, money and power. The truth is that the drug war has created huge
bureaucracies hooked on tax dollars that fund their existence. These
bureaucracies successes are not measured in the reduction of drug use, but
rather on the amount of money they spend and the number of arrests made. In
reality, they benefit more from an increase in drug use than from a
decrease. They are just as addicted to taxpayer dollars, as street corner
drug dealers are to quick and easy drug profits or a junkie to his heroin.
The existence of dealers, addicts and bureaucrats are mutually dependent.

Power is also an incentive for the government continuing its war.
Politicians have used the drug war as an excuse to trample the second,
fourth and fifth amendments to the constitution, while allowing law
enforcement officers to profit by circumventing due process (Zero
Tolerance). The drug war has spawned laws that allows the government to
snoop into everyone's business dealings and bank transactions. It has
allowed our governments influence and money to spread beyond our borders.
Today, drug agents and military personnel are involved in anti-drug
trafficking operations all over the globe, including Peru where a
missionary and her infant son where killed during a US sponsored
interdiction exercise. If one counts the number of peasant farmers
terrorized by guerrilla groups funded by illegal drug profits, the
casualties of the war on drugs rise astronomically.

Will ending the drug war end the problem of drug abuse? Absolutely not.
Drugs that alter a human's state of consciousness have been around as long
as humans have. Legalizing certain drugs does not equal moralizing their
use or making them healthy to consume. Strangely enough, the majority of
drugs that alter consciousness and mental function are legal and even
advertised on TV and magazines. There are many biological and social
factors that lead to a person's desire for, or addiction to certain drugs.
History has shown time and again that all the laws in the world, or all the
law enforcement officers on this planet can not curtail some people's
appetite for drugs or money.

Will making drugs more available cause more use and or overdoses? No one
knows for sure, but ending prohibition did not cause any measurable rise in
alcoholism. If anything it made it easier for all those who felt they had a
problem to seek treatment without fear of legal repercussions. It also
ended the violence between bootleggers and gangsters that sought to control
the illegal flow of booze. Who will be more vigilant of the quality of his
product and the customers survivability, a legitimate business that can be
sued or a faceless thug standing on a corner?

Speaking of prohibition, at least those that favored it were responsible
enough to follow the letter of the law by adding an amendment to the
constitution (18th Amendment). Fortunately, it was later repealed (21st
Amendment). Today's drug warriors have chosen to violate and circumvent the
constitution, sacrificing our rights in the interim. Much like ending
prohibition, ending the war on drugs will vaporize profits for criminals,
ending most drug related violence and help to put an end to the
infringement of our constitutional rights. Who knows? It may even get drugs
off our streets, out of the playground, and away from our schools.

(Editor's note: The author of this piece seems to have forgotten another
powerful incentive for government to continue the "war on [some] drugs
indefinitely. They have given themselves the power to confiscate the
personal property of whomever they wish, even on very thin pretext of
involvement with drugs, often with no charges ever being made and certainly
not depending on any conviction of actual criminal activity. This, along
with the vast amounts of taxpayer money, makes the drug trade extremely
profitable for all levels of the government and they will do murder and
worse to prevent anything from challenging or changing this situation. The
sad part is that the people of this country have been hoodwinked into
letting them get away with it. Sad. Susan Callaway, Editor)