DRUGS SHOULD BE LEGALIZED, CONTROLLED

For years I have bemoaned the absence of a rational approach to drugs
and drug policy, repeatedly stating that if my fellow members of the
criminal justice system had the courage, united and individually to
say that the "War on Drugs" was a bad idea gone worse, then and only
then could we as a society find a better way to deal with the
problems associated with those who abuse drugs.

When I moved to New Mexico, Gary Johnson was the governor; I was
amazed at his efforts to legalize marijuana, but not at the success
of those efforts.

I would like to offer the proposition that all drugs should be
legalized and controlled in the manner that alcohol and tobacco are currently.

The facts are evident and simple: The War on Drugs has not and does
not work; drugs are as easy to get or easier to get, and are cheaper
and more potent than they were when I began my law enforcement career
with an assignment to the narcotics unit. That was the constant I saw
over the three assignments I had in our narcotics unit in
Gainesville, Fla. Every time I returned to narcotics the drugs were
cheaper, more potent and easier to get. The changes I saw were that
everyone involved was more likely to have a fire-arm.

The stakes were higher and increasingly large amounts of money were
involved. Although I did not know it at the time, the War on Drugs
provides a perfect example of what Thomas Crum described in his book,
"The Magic of Conflict." When two persons, organizations, ideologies,
etc., are in opposition or conflict, the energy spent on the conflict
tends to escalate.

The drug dealers were finding new ways to import and distribute their
wares because law enforcement was interdicting the traffic. So when
the dealers got better, the cops had to get better. When the cops got
better, the dealers had to get better.

In fact, the only improvements resulting from the War on Drugs were
improvements in acquisi-tion and distribution, and improvements in
detection and interdiction. There was no improvement in the lives of
those affected by the drugs or those who were collateral casualties
of the War on Drugs. As the stakes got higher, the toll on people and
their lives also grew. The damage done to our society, the loss of
respect for government -- especially law enforcement -- and the
creation and growth of the "corrections industry," all stem from the
War on Drugs.

The sooner we, as a society, accept that we cannot end the desire of
people for the effects of drugs, the sooner we can end this
unsuc-cessful prohibition and set about making our communities safer.
We cannot com-pletely prevent our young people from obtaining drugs,
but we stand a lot better chance if they are legalized and controlled
than if they remain a black-market commodity over which criminals who
do not check IDs, exert more control than do law -abiding citizens.
There are several organizations with Internet links that have
accurate, factual information regarding the War on Drugs: Drug War
Distortions ( www.drugwardistortions.org ); Drug War Facts (
www.drugwarfacts.org ); Common Sense for Drug Policy (
www.csdp.org/publicservice ); and Law Enforcement Against Prohibition
( www.leap.cc). I encourage everyone to check the facts and make a
rational, objective decision about their position on the War on
Drugs. I am confident that a decision made without the fear-based
emotional rheto-ric used by those with their own agenda will be to
support an end to prohibition. Remember that insanity is doing the
same thing over and over, but expecting differ-ent results. Can the
War on Drugs be anything but insane?