The war on drugs has routinely failed. Drug use is increasing, overdoses are increasing. We have seen nothing but failure despite all of the efforts, all of the money, all of the lives wasted on it, all of the arrests, all of the jail time, all of the ignoring of treatment for people who need it and instead incarcerating them and putting them through hellish withdrawals in the worst environments possible, and all of the suicide associated with these things.
All of that has been spent for no gain, only worsening conditions. And yet, with alcohol, we already have the model. We saw what alcohol prohibition did. It bred organized crime throughout the United States. It really brought organized crime to the U.S. in a way that hadn’t existed before. And still, somehow, we say, "Oh yeah, this is good."
No, it wasn’t. They repealed prohibition because they realized they could not prohibit alcohol. People will always find a way to drink. They will find a way to make it and use it. So you have the other option: regulate, not eliminate.
I am not a big fan of regulation, but if regulation brings safer environments for our kids, where they are just going to have a little pill and have a little fun – because that is the overwhelming majority of recreational drug use, someone having a little bit of something and having a little fun – then that is better. Most recreational drug use is not chronic addictive behavior. It is not that. And if you think it is, then you are ignorant of how many people around you occasionally use recreational drugs.
The president here is acknowledging that, so acknowledge it and govern better. Make a better system. We already have models for it.
Of course people should be penalized if they are driving under the influence of some illegal drug, especially if they cause harm. Those laws already exist. So what are we doing?
Many of these drugs were made illegal specifically to stifle foreign farmers, in an environment where global trade was wildly different and competition was wildly different. These substances can be made in America, in approved, inspected labs. They could be distributed through prescriptions or a controlled program, with limits similar to what we have for Sudafed or pseudoephedrine, where you can only buy a regulated amount in a given time.
We already have all the mechanisms needed to do this. And frankly, if pharmaceutical companies were allowed to test and experiment with currently illegal drugs, they could start eliminating some of the harmful aspects of them. They really could. They do it all the time.
It is crazy how much logic we have abandoned in the drug war, throwing eggs at a brick wall hoping it breaks. It never will.
