|
|
|
| Home Archive Submit About Contact Us |
POINT On the Need for an Alternative Drug Control Policy By STEPHEN PALMER 9.01.03 9:56PM CST The current national policy toward illegal drugs is fatally flawed and all options including drug legalization should be considered seriously. Although progress is being made in some areas, new markets continue to be established and new producers emerge to fill gaps closed by interdiction and enforcement. Until alternatives are considered, the current policy of dealing with illegal drugs primarily from the supply side is doomed to fail. The confluence of a variety of factors makes dealing with trade in illicit drugs at the supply end an impossible task. First, Americans enjoy a great deal of personal freedom. Second, American trade depends on goods moving across American borders expeditiously and at relatively low cost. Third, there exist many nations that are ill equipped to prevent illegal drugs from being produced within their borders. Fourth, quashing the production of illegal drugs in one country will only lead to its increase in another country. As long as these factors all remain in place, eliminating the illegal drug trade by attacking the supply and distribution networks is bound to fail. That leaves the demand side. Miscellaneous programs designed to prevent the use of illegal drugs have been in place in American schools for many years but nonetheless, the actual use of illegal drugs has not diminished. In fact, according to a study by Donald Lynam and Richard Milich, published in the August 1999 Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, "there appear to be no reliable short-term, long-term, early adolescent, or young adult positive outcomes associated with receiving the DARE intervention." Additionally, the federal government has engaged in an anti-drug media campaign. However, among the main findings of its 1998 National Survey on Drug Abuse, the National Institute on Drug Abuse noted that "exposure to prevention messages outside school, such as through the media, was fairly widespread but appeared to be unrelated to illicit drug use." Although it is possible that novel attempts to dissuade youth from partaking in illegal drugs may be effective in the future, the current failure of these programs is not from lack of trying. Attempts to combat illegal drug use by addressing either the supply or the demand sides of the market face significant, potentially insurmountable, obstacles. Within this context, it becomes necessary to re-evaluate the necessity of the war on drugs and reassess its utility to the public interest. If the battle is being fought on multiple fronts and at great cost, it is incumbent upon the government to show that the costs of the drug war are greater than the costs of drug legalization. This is far from clear. Although it is unclear exactly what the effects of drug legalization would be, it is unlikely that many people would start using certain drugs if they were legalized. According to a 1997 report by the Center for Drug Research, past-year cannabis use in Holland, where cannabis use is legal, is estimated at 4.5% for the entire population. In the United States, according to a 2000 survey by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, past-year cannabis use is 8.3% of the US population 12 and older. This suggests that legalization would not lead to a significant increase in drug use and furthermore that the individual and familial social costs of drug legalization, if any, are already being borne by users and their families. What is clear is that much of the violence and crime surrounding the drug trade both internationally and domestically is associated not with the use of drugs but rather with attempts to control the illicit markets associated with them. Crimes and violence of this sort would not persist through the legalization of drugs. If the social costs of legalized drug use are already being borne by society and there is a significant social burden to be lifted by drug legalization then the drug war may not be a net benefit to society. This is not to suggest that a cost-benefit analysis of the drug war would indubitably find in favor of drug legalization. However, this is to suggest that drug legalization is a serious policy option and should be examined as such, rather than merely dismissed with moral platitudes that fail to establish a categorical difference between the use of drugs and other dangerous but legal activities that have minimal public health and safety implications. Without a doubt, drug legalization should be one policy option considered seriously by all sides in a national dialogue on the future of the war on drugs. |
for compensation of any kind without prior written permission from the author.
Direct questions about permissions to lbjjpa@uts.cc.utexas.edu.