Last week, the BBC reported the Global Commission on Drug Policy had issued a report stating the global war on drugs had “failed.” The Commissions’ report called for the legalization of certain drugs and an end to criminalizing drug users.
This story is a tale we have all heard before. There’s always someone out there who wants to legalize everything and bring about a drug induced apocalypse.
Why should we give the Global Commission on Drug Policy any merit?
The Commission is composed of former world leaders and politicians. Among those who are notable include former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, the former leaders of Mexico, Columbia and Brazil, and founder of Virgin Group and entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson.
Before you think this commission is composed entirely of foreigners who don’t understand the pure, clean and drug free American way of life, former U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker and former U.S. Secretary of State George Schultz are also members.
The report “argues that anti-drug policy has failed by fueling organized crime, costing taxpayers millions of dollars and causing thousands of deaths,” according to the BBC.
In 2009, 50.7 percent of prisoners in American federal prisons were incarcerated for drug related offenses, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics.
In 2008, the 50 states collectively spent $52 billion on the corrections system alone, according to the National Association of State Budget Officers.
The United States Drug Enforcement Agency had a budget of roughly $2.6 billion in 2009. States and local authorities have obviously spent large amounts of money fighting the war on drugs.
The bottom line is we are spending a whole bunch of taxpayer money on keeping drug offenders in jail and drugs off the streets. In this time of recession, budget cuts and the privatization of overpopulated prisons, wouldn’t it make sense to do whatever is reasonably possible to cut spending?
If drugs were legalized in this country, we would not only save a hefty sum of cash in what we already spend on combating drugs, but we would also be able to tax the newly legal drugs and drug paraphernalia. It’s a win-win situation. Not only do we save money, but we make it.
Legalized drugs would result in lower transmission of HIV/AIDS and other blood-born diseases because clean syringes would be more readily available to drug users. Baton Rouge and New Orleans have some of highest HIV rates in the nation, and while every case is obviously not due to just drugs, legalization could help to trim it down a bit.
Legalization of drugs would also cut down on violence in Latin American nations, specifically northern Mexico. The violence there is almost entirely fueled by drug cartels fighting for control of the territory.
People are going to do drugs regardless of whether they are legal or not, that’s a fact. Enforced morality has never worked to benefit society as a whole.
With legalized drugs, the FDA could control the quality of the narcotics to insure purity and further protect the drug user. The tax revenue from the legalization would be huge.
So why not? That’s the question I pose to you. Why not depopulate our prisons?
Why not cut federal, state and local spending trying to outlaw drugs and instead profit from the sale of them? Why not let people do what they want and force them to be responsible for their own safety?
Yes, drug addiction can ruin lives. It can ruin relationships and marriages. But so can too many Big Macs — and I don’t see us outlawing those anytime soon.
If you approached random people on the street and asked if they would smoke crack if it were legal tomorrow, most people would say no. That’s because most people are reasonably smart. However, there will always be those people who would try it — those people are called crackheads.
America needs to grow up. Adults can take care of themselves. Drugs aren’t going anywhere, so we might as well dip our hand into the money pot.
Parker Cramer is a 20-year-old animal studies junior from Houston. Follow him on Twitter at @TDR_pcramer.
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Contact Parker Cramer at [email protected]