Legalized Drugs: Dumber Than You May Think

The Weekly Standard ^ | May 7, 2012 | JOHN P. WALTERS

[DannyTN]

May 7, 2012, Vol. 17, No. 32 • By JOHN P. WALTERS Single Page Print Larger Text Smaller Text Alerts

Even smart people make mistakes;sometimes surprisingly large ones. A current example is drug legalization, which way too many smart people consider a good idea.

They offer three bad arguments.

First, they contend, “the drug war has failed” despite years of effort we have been unable to reduce the drug problem. Actually, as imperfect as surveys may be, they present overwhelming evidence that the drug problem is growing smaller and has fallen in response to known, effective measures.

Americans use illegal drugs at substantially lower rates than

[DannyTN]

In before the libertarians bash this...

I know, I posted the article, but you have to be fast on drug war articles.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Bashety bashety bashety bash...

They tell on themselves. Better rehab and education on dangers has helped where interdiction has failed. Just because it’s still legal to eat, say, Drano doesn’t mean people are lining up to do it.

[glorgau]

This is a bunch of circular reasoning and avoidance of facts.

The article is chock full of specious assertions.

[rarestia]

I am Libertarian on the subject, but I am personally against the use of most drugs. As a recovering alcoholic and a former pot smoker, I can say that neither does anything positive for your life. I’ve destroyed relationships and careers with booze and pot, and being clean and sober now for 2 years, I can say definitively that life is better without.

I didn’t go through rehab, but I would support redirecting funds currently going toward “fighting” the war on drugs to rehab program subsidies for those who truly need it.

[trapped_in_LA]

I don’t agree with legalization of hard drugs but things like pot should never have been made illegal. Also what this article really needs to address is all the freedoms we’ve lost due to the “war on drugs” and why Mexico is melting down because of cartels made rich off the drugs that we buy. The unintended (or maybe intended) consequences of the war on drugs is not worth it in my opinion. However, if you like the police state that we live in then party on!

[free me]

The former “drug czar” for Bush doesn’t cite any sources for his made up facts.

Not worth reading.

[Twotone]

For me, legalizing drugs is about limiting government. I don’t expect government to keep me safe from my own stupidity. I’m royally tired of the gazillions of agencies running around minding my business. It’s time for it to stop & drug laws are a good place to make it stop.

Sorry if that’s too Libertarian of me.

[donna]

drug problem is growing smaller and has fallen

Replaced with prescription drugs for: ADHA, depression and various other happy drugs.

Obamacare will make the Federal government our drug dealer.

If the elites don't like our behavior, they will cut off our legal drugs. We will be slaves.

[DannyTN]

I would agree that better education might reduce the need for interdiction.

There are still not enough people making the leap between Sinead O'Connor's pot parties, and Sinead O'Connor's bipolar disease. The Harvard studies pinpoint the causative effect, but the claim that pot is no more harmful than alcohol still resonates in society.

I'd be for showing middle school and high school students, some graphic videos on the effects of drug addiction as well as what addiction to alcohol does to your liver and your relationships.

[DannyTN]

I would agree that better education might reduce the need for interdiction.

There are still not enough people making the leap between Sinead O'Connor's pot parties, and Sinead O'Connor's bipolar disease. The Harvard studies pinpoint the causative effect, but the claim that pot is no more harmful than alcohol still resonates in society.

I'd be for showing middle school and high school students, some graphic videos on the effects of drug addiction as well as what addiction to alcohol does to your liver and your relationships.

[Gigantor]

As illegal as drugs are, they are widely available on city street corners to anyone who wants them. Do you really think the fact that pot is illegal means someone who wants to, can’t buy it?

The black market of illegal drugs makes crooked politicians, judges, and cops very wealthy.

[PGR88]

The article is chock full of specious assertions.

Indeed. The reason drug use has declined over 40 years is because the biggest age cohort of those who did the stuff are now either dead, or in their 60-70's. Many younger people of the next generations (and their parents) learned the lessons of what drug addiction means, and avoid the stuff. Others have not learned, nor will they ever.

Sadly, the USA faces a conundrum. We have created a pleasure-seeking, entertainment-addled, irresponsible society where many will indeed chase illegal drugs. We also have a massive, and expensive, welfare, medical and prison public bureaucracy in place that burdens the taxpayer by any temporary increase in addiction. As such, we are stuck - we can't afford to legalize drugs, and we can't afford to keep them illegal.

[JimRed]

Put undercovers into the supply chain to poison the crap. End of problem.

[dsrtsage]

Drugs will be legalized because no amount of commerce is allowed without giving a cut to Uncle Sam. The money involved makes government types salivate.

One thing I have always wondered, why do we have to have an entire federal police agency devoted to 3 perfectly legal things...Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms???

[Idaho_Cowboy]

It's a matter of benefits versus costs. For the fiscal conservative look up the millions spent on the the “war on drugs.” It has been a major cause of pushing back the rights of citizens in search and seizure cases. It has led to a massive growth in Federal authority over the states. The precedent from those cases may be used to push Obama care down our throats as constitutional.

Economically, the war on drugs keeps the price high for drugs and allows the cartels to have monopoly profits.

Drugs are bad, government is worse. Just say no to both.

[starlifter]

The people who benefit from he WOD are all the law enforcement types and the parasites who sell them goods and services.

[Dead Corpse]

Yeah... I noticed that too.

Kinda makes you wonder what a cost/benefit analysis of flushing the Constitutions limits on the FedGov VS running a multi-trillion dollar drug war would look like.

[I cannot think of a name]

Wish my cousin were still alive.

He spent his entire life fighting the drug war, and when he knew his life's end was near, he was willing to call it what it had been - a total waste.

The war has been fought almost exclusively on the supply side, and you have to be a complete idiot to think you can ever win like that. As long as demand exists, all you are doing is raising the price. And of course as the price goes up, so does the profit for those involved.

More profit means more powerful, dangerous, and sophisticated drug cartels. And that is abundant in spades. The hippy couple that brought three pounds of pot across the boarder under the back seat of a Volkswagen bus has been replaced with a well oiled, deadly, multinational criminal enterprise.

The complete and utter damnation of the “war on drugs” is that the average middle school kid can now get pot easier than beer. That sums it up.

[Dead Corpse]

Not to mention Drug companies and Doctors.

Try and convict them all under RICO...

Yeah... I know. Pipe dream. And I don't even smoke. Doesn't seem fair somehow... ;-)

[nickcarraway]

Will it limit government or expand it? Once it’s legal the taxpayers have to pay for the healthcare, rehab, and welfare of people who indulge. The government will have to establish a huge agency to deal with regulating and taxing these businesses. Plus, the government will have to pay for the drugs for anyone who can’t afford them. George Soros has promoted drug legalization, because he thought it is the ticket to socialized medicine.