The Drug Warriors' biggest argument against medical marijuana is
that it's only the opening wedge in a movement toward total
legalization of drugs. So, supposedly, we have to "nip it in the
bud" - in the words of Deputy Barney Fife, the nation's first Drug
Czar.
What if the Drug Warriors are right?
What if legalizing medical marijuana turned out to be the first
step on a journey that ended in the outright repeal of every drug
law? What would America be like?
Understandably, many Americans fear that with no drug laws, we
would have hundreds of thousands of addicts, crack babies, children
trying drugs, and other evils. But that's what we have now.
Let's assume the worst
If all drugs were legal, addicts would no longer pay black-market
prices to criminals for drugs of questionable and dangerous origin.
They would get drugs produced by legitimate pharmaceutical
companies and pay market prices. They would no longer die from
buying toxic drugs, and they would no longer have to mug innocent
people to support their habits.
If all drugs were legal, addicts could seek help by going to
doctors - no longer afraid of being prosecuted for their medical
problems.
If all drugs were legal, criminal drug dealers would no longer be
on our streets. They couldn't compete with the low, free-market
prices for drugs sold at pharmacies.
If all drugs were legal, criminal drug dealers would no longer prey
upon our children - any more than distilleries and breweries try to
infiltrate schools to hook kids on alcohol. When I grew up in Los
Angeles in the 1940s, the worst schools were safer than L.A.'s best
schools are today.
If all drugs were legal, our government would no longer be
dispensing propaganda that makes children want to try the forbidden
fruit.
Reducing street violence
If all drugs were legal, our prisons would be emptied of hundreds
of thousands of non-violent people who have never done harm to
anyone else. No longer would over-crowded prisons cause truly
violent criminals to be free on early release and plea bargains to
terrorize the rest of us.
If all drugs were legal, law-enforcement resources would be
available to fight violent crime, instead of being used to chase
people who may harm themselves but are no threat to us.
If all drugs were legal, much of the street violence would end - as
it did when Alcohol Prohibition ended - because gangs of thugs
would no longer be fighting over drug territories.
If all drugs were legal, police corruption would diminish, because
criminals could no longer use black-market drug money to gain
immunity by subverting weak policemen.
If all drugs were legal, the government could no longer use the
Drug War as an excuse to tear up the Bill of Rights and pry into
your bank account, strip-search you at an airport, tear your car
apart, monitor your e-mail, or seize your property without even
charging you with a crime.
Why do we know this?
Why do I think America would be like this if all drugs were
legal?
Because that's the way it was before the drug laws were passed.
Yes, there were people whose lives were destroyed by drugs then -
just as some people today destroy their lives with drugs, alcohol,
financial mistakes, or various character weaknesses - but far fewer
people lost their lives to drugs when they were legal.
And America's streets were peaceful.
Has America changed since then? Of course it has. But
cause-and-effect relationships don't change. Force still begets
force. Government programs still lead to unintended and destructive
consequences.
Re-legalizing drugs would put a stop to those destructive
consequences - end the criminal black market, end the violence, end
the incentive to hook children, and end the production of toxic
drugs that kill people.
We have to quit being afraid of the unknown, and instead recognize
what we do know - that the Drug War is doing enormous harm to
society.
If we care about our children, if we care about our cities, if we
care about our country, we have to end the insane War on
Drugs.
