An "Idiot" Says
"Call Off the War on Drugs"
New Mexico Governor Gary
Johnson is an "idiot."
Or, at least, so thinks a
sheriff in the "Land of Enchantment."
For Johnson, in an act of
uncommon courage, even for a lame duck governor, calls the war on drugs a
failure, and urges their legalization.
For this act of heresy, a
local sheriff not only called him an "idiot," but also suggested
Johnson stay in a mental institution. A middle school cheerleading squad
boycotted Johnson’s appearance because of the governor’s advocacy of drug
use. Of course, Johnson does not advocate "drug use." The athletic
governor recently competed in Hawaii’s Ironman Triathlon, requiring him to
swim nearly two-and-a-half miles, ride a bike for over 100 miles, and then run a
marathon. He neither drinks, smokes, nor does drugs, having quit alcohol nearly
twelve years ago. He admits to previous cocaine and marijuana use, but stopped
doing drugs after graduating from college.
Fellow Republicans, Johnson
says, "wish I would hush up." Jittery Democrats, says Johnson, also
prefer silence. "Nobody," he says, "wants to deal with the
issue."
According to William F.
Buckley, America spends over 200 billion dollars each year fighting the war on
drugs. This includes the cost of incarceration, the increased insurance premiums
because of drug-related crime, the inflated cost of drugs, the cost of policing,
and other related expenses.
Alcohol prohibition failed.
From 1919 to 1933, crime grew, alcoholic consumption increased, and organized
crime strengthened. Following the repeal of prohibition, crime fell as did
alcohol consumption.
But doesn’t legalization
suggest encouragement if not endorsement? No! Children who abstain from
drugs do so for a number of commonsensical reasons. They don’t do drugs
because they consider them stupid, harmful, and offensive to the morals and
values of their parents and friends. As a deterrent, drugs’ illegality ranked
near the bottom. Indeed, a Center for Disease Control study shows that teenage
cigarette consumption grew in the last three years—a period of shrill
anti-smoking ads, price hikes, lawsuits against cigarette manufacturers, and the
demonization and death of Joe Camel. Why? Quite possibly the attack on
cigarettes make them all the more alluring to the authority-defying attitude
possessed by young people. Why is this not true for drugs?
Besides, who owns your
body? You do. One can, therefore, abuse one’s own body with drugs,
alcohol, cigarettes or fatty foods. Why can a guy come home from work, hit the
liquor cabinet and mix a highball, while the law stops the neighbor next door
from smoking marijuana?
Legalization reduces
crime. Dirk Chase Eldredge, in Ending the War on Drugs, says,
"Law enforcement agencies estimate that over half of today’s
crimes are drug-related."
The drug war creates
hostility between the police and some minorities. America imprisons, for
drug-related crimes, a disproportionate number of blacks, many of whom never
committed violent offenses. The Connecticut Director of Addiction Services said
in 1995 that America imprisoned 3,109 black men for every 100,000. By contrast,
apartheid South Africa, before releasing Nelson Mandela from prison,
incarcerated "just" 729 black men for every 100,000!
The drug war corrupts. "Supplier
countries," like Colombia and Mexico, find their judicial and political
institutions riddled with graft. Are U. S. police departments, the DEA, the
border patrol, and other drug-fighting institutions immune from temptation?
The war on drugs
compromises civil rights. The Clinton Administration, in fighting the war on
drugs, dramatically increased authorization for wiretaps and asset forfeitures.
Also, the growing use of informants, many of whom lie to cut deals for
themselves, imperils the integrity of our criminal justice system.
Draconian laws against
drugs lead to unjust results. Michigan’s zero-tolerance laws sent a young
black woman to prison for 20 years to life. Her crime? Her boyfriend drove a car
and, she says unbeknownst to her, transported drugs. But, the law required a
lengthy sentence for anybody even ignorantly in the presence of someone
transporting drugs.
Meanwhile, cops recently
found the son of U. S. Senator Rod Grams (R-Minnesota) in a car with ten bags of
marijuana. The Senator’s son, already on probation, drove the car without a
license. The punishment? No arrest, no charges, no ticket. And an officer drove
him home!
But, legalize all
drugs? Yes, including cocaine, heroin and other harder drugs. If stupid
people wish to do stupid things, a free society allows this.
If this makes Governor
Johnson an idiot, well, move over, Guv. Other "idiots" advocating a
re-thinking of the war on drugs include:
Walter Cronkite, Dear Abby,
Charlie Manson prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi, former Secretary of State George P.
Shultz, Nobel laureate Milton Friedman, and former U. N. Secretary-General
Javier Perez de Cuellar.
So, Governor Johnson, take
comfort. When they institutionalize all you "idiots" in the anti-drug
mental ward, you can at least expect lively conversation.