War on Drugs

In our great Country, the war on drugs seems to be never ending. We appear to increase the budgets at every level of government each year, yet nothing gets better. We have created a bureaucratic monster that has more heads than Hydra. Perhaps we need a modern Hercules to slay the monster.

This is such a complex subject to attempt to cover in even a remotely complete way in a few hundred words. The solutions are probably as complex as the problems, but one thing, I think, is obvious, the solution lies only in some form of legalization. Or as some would say decriminalization. I believe this to be a distinction without a difference and decriminalization is just a euphemism for legalization, but the subject is far too serious to debate semantics rather than substance.

In doing a fair amount of research over several years, I have come to believe that Jesus Himself probably cannot determine how much money has been spent directly on the "War on Drugs." There seems to be no consensus, but several sources place the annual cost of local, state and federal government direct costs of corrections and enforcement at 140-160 billion dollars annually. This figure does not sound unreasonable, but who knows? In any case it is surely an obscene amount of money. An example, according to the National Association of State Budget Officers in 2005 the aggregate amount spent by states on corrections alone at 42.89 billion dollars, (corrections cost are 50-70% for drug related crimes.) Contrast this to an aggregate expenditure on public assistance of 24.69 billion.

Were one to assume the figure of $140 billion a years as correct and one were to recall Pres. Nixon in 1972 declared "War on Drugs" and for inflation et al , assume a figure on average of $70 billion a year, one would arrive at an expenditure of more than $2.5 TRILLION. This being only the direct cost. A true number of cost to our society and government would also include much indirect costs such as lost wages and productivity losses.

Is there anyone out there that thinks, after all this money and effort, the drug situation is better today than it was in 1972?

If one proposes legalization of drugs, they are usually immediately vilified. Such is our culture and such almost insures nothing will change. After all a good definition of insanity is keep doing the same things the same way and hope for a different result. There have been many good and great Americans who have long favored legalization. Some are gone now but just a few William F. Buckley, Jr., arguably the father of modern conservatism and a man respected by all, Milton Friedman, Nobel Prize winning economist and George Schultz, Democratic Sec. of State.

As Yogi Berra stated, "It's like de ja vue all over again." We have been down this road before. It was called Prohibition. When we outlawed alcohol we created organized crime of the scale it became today. During this Era, the cops were made crooks and the crooks were idolized. Most children today know Al Capone, Baby Face Nelson, Bonny and Clyde, Machine Gun Kelly, John Dillinger, et al. I wager they cannot name one noted policeman. Ok, Elliot Ness, but he was a US Treasury Agent, what our southern fathers called a "revenuer", not a policeman.

We must realize, as we were forced to in 1933, legalization in a highly regulated and highly taxed manner was far preferable to illegal liquor. One need not condone the underlying behavior to recognize regulation is much preferable to criminalization. Just as then, one need not champion the use of the substance at question to recognize the benefits of legalization and regulation. I myself am of a generation who has not, as far as I am aware ever seen an illegal drug except a hand made cigarette I was told was marijuana. I have raised 4 children and have 11 grandchildren who have been or will be raised in the environment we have now and it's not working!

Just think reasonably and unemotionally about the boon to farmers and the huge decrease in corrections and police costs if such were to come to past. The biggest opponents of such a move would be police forces and other government bureaucracys Bureaucrats value their worth by the number of people they manage and the size of their budgets so by definition if they win, we lose.

These bureaucrats have another totally self-serving reason for not giving up easily. That is the grossly onerous forfeiture laws. They are allowed to confiscate peoples assets on suspicion not conviction. And they keep the assets and money they confiscate in their own operation. Totally off budget and with very little controls by any oversight agency. We have created a situation of cops on commission who can keep what they take. If some reporter would care to look, you will find many District Attorneys and Police Departments actually budget how many forfeiture dollars they are going to confiscate in the next fiscal year. Bet you didn't know this. This is where and why the bulk of resistance will come from should any serious attempt be made to legalize drugs.