More Fallout From Our Lost War On Drugs

On a regular basis we review what is going on in the news relative to our failed war on drugs. Four decades ago the political class decided to demonize the use and users of illegal drugs and launched their so-called "war on drugs."

Four decades later, and probably trillions of "war" dollars later, illegal drug usage is still extremely high and has resulted in the creation of violent, focused, wealthy, and well armed Mexican drug cartels. These cartels threaten to turn our southern neighbor into a lawless narco state which would obviously have serious and deadly consequences for Americans.

According to recent news reports:

- The Washington Post recently reported that the Mexican government is so busy fighting a bloody, violent conflict with the drug cartels that it has diverted its government resources away from destroying and seizing Mexican marijuana and poppy farms. This diversion has resulted in the doubling of the size of Mexican marijuana production and the six fold growth in Mexican heroin production, from 8 tons in 2005 to 50 tons in 2009.

What does this prove? After four decades of the war on drugs, production of illegal drugs in Mexico is probably as high as ever and that American users of illegal drugs are probably as high as ever. Does not appear that the war on drugs is going well.

- An LA Times article from November 6, 2011 reported that a major issue in the recent Guatemalan national elections was the "rampant violence by encroaching Mexican drug traffickers provides an ominous backdrop to the sharp-elbowed runoff between retired general Otto Perez Molina and congressman Manuel Baldizon."

Molina wants to call out the army to combat the drug cartel traffickers while Baldizon has called for greater use of the death penalty relative to drug runners. According to the article, security from the drug cartel violence trumps all other voter concerns.

Thus, our nation's inability to come up with an effective, compassionate, and coherent national drug policy and strategy has not only corrupted the Mexican political processes but is beginning to consume political and government processes in other countries.

- And Mexico continues to suffer the ravages of  our lost war on  drugs, as reported in the Associated Press on Nov ember 3, 2011:

• The mayor of La Piedad was recently and fatally gunned down in front of his home, likely the result of a hit by organized crime, i.e. drug cartels.
• The mayor was handing out election campaign flyers in the same area where polling workers had recently been kidnapped (They were eventually released).
• The three major political parties who are running candidates in the next election in the same area have all reported having candidates who have received death threats.
• The previous police chief of La Piedad was assassinated by likely drug cartel gunmen back in March.
• The current police chief came under attack recently when a convoy of ten SUVs pulled up in front of police headquarters and 40 gunmen got out and sprayed the police headquarters with automatic weapons and hand grenades.
• At least six other police chiefs in the area have been killed.
• More than two dozen Mexican mayors have been assassinated by drug cartel gunmen since 2006.

Given that the United States is the largest market for drug cartel drugs, we cannot expect this type of violence to be contained on the southern side of our borders. As the cartels get larger and stronger, they and their violence cannot help but eventually spill over into our country.

- The December, 2011 issue of Reason magazine had an interesting article by Nick Gillespie and Matt Welch, "Two Decades of Peace, Love, and Marijuana." It described a twenty year old event, that is held annually in Seattle, called Hempfest, which is a celebration of marijuana.

The festival was held on August 19th this year and was attended by about tens of thousands of people. It involves vendors selling marijuana-related merchandise, speakers, and concerts and while it allows marijuana to be smoked it prohibits booze from being used. As a result, there is virtually no fights or violence with this illegal substance compared to the violence and such one might find with a drunk crowd at professional sporting event or in any college town on Saturday night.

Besides the observation that pot smoking does not make a human being go raving mad as depicted in some circles, the article contained two important facts. First, the article asserts that the government estimates that 23 million Americans use marijuana every month. If you assume that some marijuana users do not light up every month, we are looking at more than 23 million users in the country, which represents more than 10% of the adult population.

The second fact asserted is that 800,000 people are arrested every year in this country for marijuana possession. Not for selling vast quantities of marijuana, simple possession. These arrests trigger subsequent costs beyond police expenses including court costs, legal costs, and possibly prison costs, all for doing something that tens of millions of other Americans do every month.

So what do we have as a result of this lost war on drugs? We have created a large, dangerous entity called drug cartels that threaten governments, individuals, and freedom. We have tens of millions of Americans ignoring and disrespecting a law that they do not believe in. We have an example of what legalized marijuana might look like in Seattle where tens of thousands of users gather peacefully. And we have a political class that has spent and wasted  trillions of dollars over the years to arrest, try, and incarcerate Americans for the simple act of smoking some pot.

Just seems like there has to be a better way. A coherent strategic policy that guts the wealth creation machine enjoyed by the cartels, allows Americans the freedom to do whatever they want to their bodies as long as the do not affect or endanger others, and changes the government and political class tactics from one of oppression to one of compassion and treatment.

Other countries are in various stages of both legalizing and decriminalizing drug usage with very encouraging and positive results. Step 26 from "Love My Country, Loathe My Government" suggests a process that could be used this country to do the same. Einstein once said the definition of stupidity is dong the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Sounds like what this country has been doing for four decades. It is about time to stop the stupidity of this lost war. 

Disclaimer - I am not an illegal drug user and never have been one. I do not plan on starting if somehow the politicians in this country came up with a different but more effective approach to this problem. I will not personally benefit in any changes to the lost war on drugs except indirectly if we somehow can reduce the amount of taxpayer money government spends on these efforts.

However, if we really want to live in a free country, we should not care what our neighbors are smoking or ingesting in the privacy of their own homes and property, as long as it does not negatively impact our lives and our families. It is called freedom.



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