The Failed War on Drugs

The results of a 20 year study on marijuana use, published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association, concluded that "occasional and low cumulative marijuana use was not associated with adverse effects on pulmonary function."  In other words, it's not the same as cigarettes which contain known carcinogens and lead to lung as well as heart disease.  This adds yet another reason to decriminalize marijuana. 

But maybe we should go beyond this relatively harmless drug and examine the decriminalization of all currently illegal drugs. 

More than half of the prisoners in state and Federal prisons are there for drug offenses.  Since 1980, the number of prisoners incarcerated for drugs has increased 1412%.  The US, the Land of the Free, leads the world in the per capita incarceration with its more than 2 million prisoners .  The savings for the country would be in the tens of billions of dollars annually - not to mention the enormous expenditure of law enforcement resources on battling drugs.  All this money that could be better spent on education and improving people's lives so that they don't have to turn to drugs for escape from a sometimes harsh and brutal existence. 

Decriminalization would also reduce the bias built into our legal system.  The odds that you will be incarcerated for a drug offense are significantly greater if you are a person of color or poor.

It seems that hardly a week goes by without our hearing of murder and mayhem in Mexico related to the war on drugs, a failed war by any measure.  Drug decriminalization would take the profit out of the narcotics trade and reduce the violence that has been all too common - especially in recent years.    Economist Jeffrey Miron in a 2009 CNN commentary advocated this position.  He noted that prohibition causes violence because it drives the market underground and pointed out that "violence was common in the alcohol industry when it was banned during Prohibition, but not before or after."  Drugs could be taxed and controlled in the same way as alcohol and tobacco - two other potentially addictive substances.

Which brings us to addiction...drug addiction is not always a victimless crime.  The toll on families can be great.  The toll on the individual can be devastating.  To reduce the danger of addiction, the more addictive drugs could be controlled with the issue of licenses for consumption.  The goal would be preventing or curing addiction.  When addiction is detected (for example, by someone applying for drugs above the licensed amount), medical assistance would be given to the addicted user.  (For details on one suggested approach to achieve total decriminalization, follow the link to a 1996 report prepared by a task force in the Netherlands.)