The "War on Drugs" Does More Harm Than Good
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A More Effective Drug Abuse Policy
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Current
Situation
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Have you ever experienced a
situation in your personal life where - the harder you work, the less
your result?
In the War on Drugs, the
government's efforts are backfiring, but the Democrats &
Republicans don't have the courage to acknowledge this reality. Just
like alcohol prohibition and the 18th amendment of the 1920s, the war on
drugs will be repealed ... it's just a question of when.
For you technically inclined folks, here's why the current war on drugs is
doomed to fail. The flow of illegal drugs from producers to
consumers follows a social version of "Ohm's Law" -
that's an engineering relationship between driving potential, flow &
resistance. Efforts of law enforcement agencies act to
restricts the flow of drugs.
Big profits for the drug pushers provide a push that creates the flow.
Here's the rub:
the law of supply & demand acts to increase prices after government restricts the flow. As law enforcement reduces drug flow, profit margins
increase ... The increased profit, or driving potential, keeps the flow
going despite ever increasing resistance. The government's war can only be "won"
by extreme levels of law enforcement, and the casualties will be human
rights and civil liberties.
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Proposed
Changes |
Proposed changes are intended to reduce the flow
of drugs from producers to consumers. Key objectives are to reduce consumer demand,
and to reduce black market profit margins.
 | Decriminalize non-violent drug usage of all types |
| Market based medical facilities will be allowed to open
"Substance Abuse Centers"
 | Primary mission is to educate abusers regarding the medical damage
they inflict upon themselves |
| "Work to Rehab" program
 | Offered when clients express desire to quit |
| Client selects charity group to serve
| Example charities: Habitat for Humanity, Salvation
Army, etc. |
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| Client is paid minimum wage to serve charity
| Salary is funded by excise tax |
| Program is limited to typical rehab time |
| Example: client can enter program only 3 times,
and program lasts up to 120 working hours - 3 weeks |
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| SAC's will sell commonly abused substances
| Prices are less that street price, so black market profit
margins are eliminated |
| Available products would include all types of drugs and clean
needles |
| Replace the existing black market product creation and
delivery system |
| Regulations prohibit standard commercial advertising |
| Products delivered intravenously would be consumed onsite |
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| "Clients" would receive mandatory training regarding the
dangers & medical consequences of the respective drug they plan
to procure & abuse
| Amount of training would be proportional to severity of
applicable drug - i.e., more hazardous drugs require more training |
| Types of training would include videos, meetings with
counselors, etc. |
| National Institute on Drug Abuse, www.nida.nih.gov,
would oversee private sector development of training videos |
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| After receipt of appropriate training, clients could sign for
& receive their poison |
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| Retain, but lower, criminal penalties for non-licensed manufacture
& distribution
| Eliminate mandatory minimum sentence |
| Violent crimes, including those committed in context of
black-market drug transactions, would still be prosecuted |
| Retain penalties for driving automobiles while under the influence
of controlled substances |
| Illegal distribution of drugs to minors would retain felony status |
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| Revise Employer Testing Requirements
| Repeal mandatory testing requirements by employers
| Employers retain their obligation to provide a safe work
environment for all employees |
| Employers may elect, at their discretion, to continue
employee drug
testing programs |
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| Revise Law Enforcement Task Assignments
| Reassign a portion of law enforcement agents who are currently
assigned to drug enforcement assignments |
| New assignments would involve interdiction of weapons of mass
destruction at the US border, and would typically be related to the
goal of reducing violent crime. |
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| Judicial Case Load
| Review current judicial case load, and dismiss all cases that
involve non-violent drug usage |
| Reassign the public legal staff that currently serves to prosecute
applicable drug related cases
| Some new assignments would be to identify those cases that are
in appeal, or that are closed, that involve non-violent drug
related cases that may merit special reconsideration |
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Expected
Benefits |
My proposed policy change is expected to deliver the
following benefits:
| Drug abuse may decline
| Training films MUST be striking enough to
prevent current drug non-users from starting |
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| Black market drug-pushers go out of business
| As clients migrate over toward usage of SACs, the drug creation
& distribution organizations will "wither on the
vine" |
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| Provide regulated commercial opportunities for legitimate businesses
| Domestic farmers & pharmaceutical companies are likely to
grab market share from black market organizations |
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| Non-violent citizens would no longer live in fear of needless
persecution
| Citizen's level of trust in their government would increase |
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| Medical Benefits:
| Spread of AIDS HIV will decrease
| Sharing of needles is one risk factor for transmission of
AIDS, and such sharing will be nearly eliminated |
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| Medical dangers from unsafe products would be eliminated
| Recall the government's damage to citizen health via their
marijuana "paraquat" herbicide program that was
performed in the 1970's |
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| Prison Improvements
| Qty of non-violent prisoners will decrease |
| Space will be made available for longer retention of violent
criminals |
| Reduced burden on taxpayers
| Assumes vacated space is not fully consumed by longer
retention of violent criminals |
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| Tax Benefits
| A decrease in prison population means that more folks will be
paying taxes, and not consuming resources |
| Reduction of prison population will improve national
productivity |
| Sales at SACs will be subject to excise taxes
| Similar to current taxes on tobacco and
alcohol |
| Applied toward reduction of violent crime, and "Work to
Rehab" program |
| "New" excise taxes may be "budget neutral" in
that they replace income that's already being
received from drug interdiction & seizure activities |
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| Public Safety
| Shift in prison population means that fewer violent
criminals will be on the street |
| Law enforcement response times should decrease, so citizens
distress calls will be serviced more promptly |
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| International Relationships
| International tensions should ease between the United States and
Latin/South America
| Flow of illicit drug traffic will be
eliminated by lack of profit margin |
| US will not need to coax countries into fighting the war on
drugs, and may even permit limited imports from authorized
foreign sources |
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