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Sep

27

The War On Drugs — Another victim

September 27, 2005 |

How’s this for an example of unintended consequences ALWAYS happening when the government gets its hands in the mix?

We are no fan of the drug war for a variety of reasons. First and foremost, prohibitions do not solve the problem. They make existing ones worse, and create a whole host of new ones. (You’d think we’d have learnd from the booze prohibition in the 1920s.) Such prblems include:

  • Creating the BIG PROFIT incentive for selling otherwise worthless or extremely cheap substances
  • Those profits encourage drug dealers to try to get our kids hooked on free stuff before they know any better.
  • Gang turf wars and countless murders over massive profits in what are otherwise worthless substances (Murder are often teenagers)
  • Forcing addicted individuals into other destructive habits in order to afford to feed the addiction. They include stealing and prostitution.
  • Forcing people who are escaping, self medicating or set out to destroy themselves through drugs further into the dregs of society where there is no help.
  • Placing many non-violent people in jail for a crime for which there is no victim but the user
  • Flooding the country with expensive incarcerations, many from the inner city where few economic opportunities exist, making drug sales a more rational option.
  • Clogging the courts and jails with countless user violations
  • Wasting $ billions on an un-winnable war
  • Foreign populations, like those in Columbia, come to hate U.S. meddling and sponsored killing as we demand their people obey our rules.
  • Property rights violations in the U.S. related to drug property seizures.
  • Complete loss of financial privacy thanks to anti-money laundering laws tied to fighting the drug war.
  • Turning the financial services and banking industry into a branch of the police state to monitor these activities, under threat of fines and incarceration for lack of compliance. (Did you know your bank teller is watching you for any “suspicious” activity?)
  • Loss of currency rights and privacy — those carrying too much cash can have it confiscated merely for suspicion.

    • But, the Drug War is a multi-Billion Dollar industry for those fighting it. And where there are billions of dollars, there is corruption all to its own. One thing you should always remember: Where there is a war, some politically connected people are always getting rich while others — and their children — are dying.

    Oh, and lest we forget, Drugs are great bogeyman for the politicians who prey on the fears of voters by campaigning on promises they can’t deliver — like wiping out destructive drug use — while denying any responsibility for creating the problems like those listed above.

    Its time we woke up and held them accountable for this tragedy.

    [Also, while few people seem to care about our Constitution these days, the drug war is flat out unconstitutional for the very same reasons that a Constitutional Amendment was required to make alcohol illegal in the 1920s, and why it was revoked to kill prohibition a few years later. It’s been said before, but a constitution is only as good as the people willing to defend the freedom it is supposed to protect.]


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