The Truth about Drugs

If we are ever going to win “The War on Drugs” we have got to start telling the truth about ourselves. Our society would be much better off if we were to decriminalize all substances. That’s right, it’s time to wave the proverbial white flag; to end the war on drugs we must make them—all of them—legal. The truth is simple: WE DO DRUGS—a lot of them. We are the major market for every legal and illegal substance known to man (and more are being created daily to satisfy our ever-increasing appetites for mind-altering substances). The fact that many drugs are illegal has not stopped us from doing them, indeed, it’s a subtle encouragement. Half of the allure of illegal drugs is the very fact that they are illegal. They help us feel special and encourage the adolescent delusion that laws and laws-of-nature don’t apply to us. We feel like rules that limit freedom are for someone else to follow—it’s as American as apple pie (there’s my favorite cliche, again) which, by the way, is loaded with the biggest killer of all legal drugs: sugar. We are the great consumer-nation of all illegal drugs and we are the paying customers that enrich the worst criminals in our hemisphere. The drug cartels are not the problem; we are. By making all drugs legal, we would instantly put all these horrible criminals out of business. We would also protect ourselves from all the dangerous substances used to “cut” illegal drugs to expand their illegal profitability. People don’t OD on their drug of choice, they kill themselves with the cheap poisons their drugs are cut with. If all drugs were legal and regulated, they would be cheaper and safer, that is sure.

But isn’t legalization a tacit endorsement to do drugs? Wouldn’t legalization create an overabundance of drug users and further endanger our society? My answer to these fears is very simple. Ask anyone who uses an illegal substance if the fact that it is illegal has made it unavailable? All drugs are here to stay, and new drugs are sure to come along to operate outside of any legal restrictions we can devise. So, let’s start telling the truth and dealing with our drug use in an open and honest way. The ostrich approach has not worked. “Just say no” only increases their appeal. We need to move from a culture of Drug Enforcement to one of Drug Education. How about taking all the billions of dollars we waste to wage the unwinnable war on drugs and spend them instead on drug awareness and addiction treatments. Let’s encourage citizens to make good choices not try to force them to. By demystifying drug use and telling the plain truth about all the different drugs out there, we will surely lessen their current appeal, or at the very least, make them safer to consume.

Prohibition never works (in a “free society”). It takes a popular drug of choice (like alcohol in the 1920’s) and turns its users into criminals. It creates a black market to supply these new criminals who are not going to give up their drug of choice, only find new, illegal ways of getting it. Prohibition removes a commodity from the tax base and loses all of its control and safety regulations. Keeping substances illegal is totally counterproductive: it wastes money on a fruitless cause, encourages what it attempts to curtail, poisons the citizens it attempts to protect, and creates the arch criminals who make us all less safe. For a century now we have tried to legislate and enforce laws against drug use, and it has not produced the slightest positive result; it’s time for a new approach—an honest one.

This can also be said when addressing gun laws, where the opposite situation exists. Whereas our non-stop attempts to fight with law enforcement the dangers of drugs, we have been, to an equal degree, un-inclined to pass and enforce gun laws. The powerful gun lobbies, most notably the National Rifle Association, have long held sway over politics surrounding gun control. Citing the Second Amendment to The Constitution, the NRA has traditionally had its way, keeping most sensible gun laws blocked by a twisted interpretation of our “Right to Bear Arms.” The Second Amendment was designed as a means for citizens to protect themselves from a corrupt government by forming armed militias to preserve freedom. Today, almost everyone who buys a weapon does so, not to protect themselves from their government, but to protect themselves from each other. This idea is not as irrational as it is impractical. It is normal to think that owning a gun will keep one safe, it’s just not true. Owning a gun endangers the owner far more often than it protects him or her. True, it’s nice to have a gun when you need one, but a family’s gun is used to harm or kill family members far more often than it is used to protect them. This is mentioned here, however, not as an argument in favor of more gun laws, just as an argument against the apparent logic of owning one for protection. Anyone who owns a gun, who also has children, will tell you that it is safe only if it is kept under lock and key with the ammunition stored separately. So, how is this a good way to stop someone entering your home with a weapon in hand?

The president of the NRA recently stated that the only defense against a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. I am not the president of anything, but I have to disagree. We don’t need more citizens with guns to be safe, we need more regulation of our citizens with guns. How is, for example, a national registry of guns and criminals who should not own them in any way an affront to the Second Amendment? Why are people of questionable character still allowed to buy guns anonymously at gun shows without a background check? Why does anyone but a criminal (or a cop now) need army style weapons? Shouldn’t anyone who owns a weapon be responsible for its falling into the wrong hands? Shouldn’t we know who bought every gun used in a crime? The NRA also states continually that the recent increase in mass murder shootings of innocent civilians is not a gun ownership issue but a mental health issue. In actuality, it’s both. Ignoring half the issue is not a whole solution. The NRA has had its way for a long time, and things are getting worse. Maybe it’s time for a different approach.