Mosmodule module=translation}

Moving toward Drug Legalization
by Jacob G. Hornberger

While he says he remains opposed to legalizing marijuana, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger just declared that he would welcome a debate on the issue.

In the 20 years I’ve been running The Future of Freedom Foundation, I have never seen as many pro-drug-legalization articles, editorials, and op-eds in the mainstream press as I have during the past year. During 2008, for example, we linked to 75 drug-war articles in our daily FFF Email Update. So far in 2009, we have linked to around 90. Here’s the list.

I think we’ve got a real shot at knocking out the drug war in the near future. Ten years ago, the average person would never even consider the idea, despite the fact that such notable figures as Milton Friedman (Nobel Prize winner), Bill Buckley (noted conservative), Kurt Schmoke (mayor of Baltimore), and others were calling for an end to the drug war.

Today, even though there are a still plenty of people who won’t let go of the drug war, despite its manifest failure and destructiveness, everyone would concede that drug legalization is now a credible position, one that is being debated all across the country.

Why, just a few months ago the City Council of El Paso unanimously enacted a resolution calling on the federal government to consider drug legalization as the solution to ending the violence along the U.S.-Mexico border. That’s amazing! And they’re right — drug legalization would end the border violence, immediately.

Thirty years ago, the drug warriors could raise people’s hope with the prospect that “victory” was just around the corner. Today, they have no arguments in their arsenal. Over the past 3 decades, they have tried everything: cracking down on the buyers, cracking down on the sellers, asset-forfeiture laws, infringements on the Bill of Rights, use of the military, plea bargains, snitches, mandatory minimum sentences, and on and on. None of it has worked, which even the drug warriors themselves will admit.

As libertarians have pointed out for years, drug prohibition is no different from alcohol prohibition. Drug addicts will continue to violate the law. But what ends up happening is that in the process of enforcing the law, a multitude of adverse side effects occur that are significantly worse than drug addition. Robberies, murders, racism in enforcement, corruption of public officials, gang wars, torture, drug cartels, killing of law-enforcement officials and judges, and on and on.

Legalizing drugs would put an end to all of those adverse side effects, just as ending Prohibition brought an end to all the adverse side effects brought by making booze illegal. It would also encourage drug addicts to be more open and forthright about their addictions, thereby leading more of them into therapy and rehabilitation.

And of course, taxpayers would be saved the millions of dollars of taxpayer monies that go into waging this senseless and idiotic war.

We should always keep in mind the biggest reason for ending the drug war: the concept of individual liberty. The government has no more business monitoring and punishing a person for what he ingests than it does for what he reads. The right to ingest anything you want goes to the core of a free society. When the government wields the power to punish people for ingesting substances that public officials don’t approve of, there is no way that people in that society can legitimately be considered free. That’s why such sentiments as “Thank God I’m an American because at least I know I’m free” are ridiculous. They reflect what might be called living “the life of the lie.”

Since the drug warriors no longer have any legitimate intellectual arguments to sustain their position, what are the biggest obstacles we face to bringing about an end to the drug war? Money and power. There are lots of people making money off the drug war, and they are rich, powerful, and influential.

Of course, I’m not just talking about the drug lords and the drug cartels, who wield tremendous influence among government officials all over the world. I’m also talking about public officials at all levels of government, including here in the United States. Those law-enforcement agents and other public officials who have become dependent on bribes and payoffs are not about to let go of this lucrative cash cow without a fight. Moreover, localities and law-enforcement agencies are making a killing off of asset-forfeiture laws, which enable them to seize untold amounts of money from people, many of whom are never even charged with a crime.

If libertarians are able to get the drug war knocked out in the near term, the American people will see the benefits immediately. That could start a trend toward dismantling other aspects of socialism, interventionism, and imperialism that have infected our land.

Governor Schwarnegger, the debate over drug legalization has been going on for a long time. Welcome to it!  

Recommend this article...

Did you enjoy this article? Please bookmark it onto:

Comments (3)

Write Comment

Please keep the topic of messages relevant to the subject of the article. Personal verbal attacks will be deleted. Please don't use comments to plug your web site. Such material will be removed. Just ensure to *Refresh* your browser for a new security code to be displayed prior to clicking on the 'Send' button. Keep in mind that the above process only applies if you simply entered the wrong security code.
Name:
E-mail
Homepage
Title:
BBCode:
Comment:
Code:*
	I wish to be contacted by email regarding additional comments

Powered by AkoComment Tweaked Special Edition v.1.4.4