The War on Drugs Creates Crime and Criminals
Never in my memory has there been an issue that so clearly presents the wrong headedness of government entities. Keeping recreational drugs illegal is a gross invasion of personal privacy. Keeping recreational drugs illegal supports international drug cartels and their penchant for violence. Keepiing recreational drugs illegal saps our national, state, and local economies.
I understand that the naysayers talk about how drugs ruin lives, etc. Most of them are control freaks who want to make sure others can't do what they won't. The point is that the people have spoken. If there was no market for drugs, no drug cartels would exist, and law enforcement could take on other crimes where victims are involved. But people want to use drugs, and will make themselves and others criminals to get them, at least under the current system.
Oakland California recently passed a law taxing medical pot. How many of us live in areas where the taxation of pot, cocaine, LSD, Ecstacy, and others would benefit our municipal coffers? I truly believe it is the economy which will end the war on drugs. Tax the growing, tax the selling, tax the using. Make drugs available legally, and end the cartels, and severely curtail gang wars in the urban areas.
Why aren't drugs legal now? Consider the plight of the poor drug companies if just marijuana was made legal. Librium, valium, mood elevators, all would take a big hit. So the drug lobbyists go to the politicians and tell them they will support there efforts in the war on drugs with PR and dollars. So the politicians look shining and bright, when they are really just being stupid, if not at least slightly coorupt for supporting something they have no passion for.
Consider the Afganistani Taliban. They are able to garner support for their nefarious activities by continuing to aid the poppy farmers. Legalize heroine, have it mass produced world wide, and the teeth of the tiger are shattered.
It's time we all grew up and had at least some of our personal rights returned. It's time we started taxing for our sins, and letting national, state, regional and municipal governments benefit. It's time we took the profits out of the cartels and gangs, and put them to use in a positive way.
The negative impact of the use of drugs is with us forever. We might as well control the size of the impact as much as possible, by controlling its source.