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POINT Editor's Response to "On the Need for an Alternative Drug Control Policy" By VANESSA BOUCHE 8.24.03 10:46PM CST Although the current drug policy is not perfect, the legalization of illicit drugs should not be a policy consideration. There are good reasons why drugs have remained illegal administration after administration. Drugs are harmful to individual users and their communities. There are strong economic justifications against drug legalization. Statistics are abundant on the negative consequences of drug use, but the bottom line is that drug legalization would send the wrong signals to our youth and would lead to a deterioration of morals and values in our society, something we ought to seek to uphold. Illicit drugs are illegal because of the extreme risks involved with their usage. Crack, cocaine, LSD, and other drugs are powerful intoxicants and have dangerous side effects. (See www.drug-sideeffects.com for more information.) They are different from alcohol in that they are violently mind-altering in only small dosages. Alcohol can be used in moderation and consumed without intoxication. It becomes dangerous and mind-altering only in large quantities, at which point our society criminalizes its use (DWI, public intoxication, etc.). Illicit drugs are also dangerously addictive. Tobacco is an addictive substance, but not to the same degree. Tobacco addiction is much easier to overcome both physically and psychologically, and the health risk to the individual is long term-i.e. emphazema or lung cancer. Illicit drugs have immediate addictive risks associated with usage, and the health risks begin with the first usage, such as violence during highs or withdrawals, or overdosing after the first use on an amount that would not kill another. University of Maryland basketball star, Len Bias, died from cardiac arrest in 1986 after his first experiment with cocaine, a drug known to cause immediate physical effects such as raised breathing rate, raised blood pressure and body temperature, and dilated pupils. In addition to the harmful effects on the individual, illicit drugs have grave effects on communities and, in particular, families. BBC online states, "The degree of distress experienced by families trying to cope with addiction is invariably and severely underestimated." The article discusses the social, mental, emotional and physical stress that families undergo when a family member is addicted to any substance, especially drugs. Economically, legalizing drugs makes little sense. On a micro level, drug use causes physical and mental incapacities and decreases productivity in the workplace. This is the reason many companies, including Walmart, compel all employees to test negative on drug tests prior to commencing employment. On a macro level, drug related crimes would increase as a result of legalization. According to the Office of Drug Control Policy, "Evidence indicates that drug users are more likely than nonusers to commit crimes, that arrestees frequently were under the influence of a drug at the time they committed their offense, and that drugs generate violence." This suggests that more money would be necessary for prisons and the judicial system. The government would have to focus on strategies of deterrence, increasing the number of drug educational programs in schools. Police officers' workload will increase causing more money to be put into enforcement. Additionally, because of the numerous negative externalities resulting from drug use, the overall cost of social welfare would increase. Finally, generally speaking, addictive and harmful commodities should not be considered in normal economic terms because increased consumption does not give rise to higher utility. (An excellent article that analyzes the economics of drug legalization may be found at http://www.delta.ens.fr/clark/ecleg.pdf.) While the enforcement of the current policy may not be the most efficient or effective, the policy itself is the best one for our country. A foundational concept in democratic theory by Locke is the social contract whereby citizens relinquish certain individual rights for the good of the whole when those individual rights have the potential to inflict harm on others. Another democratic concept espoused by Rousseau and Kant is the idea of the general will of the people which should prevail in a democracy. The majority of American adults feel that marijuana should remain illegal, and it can be assumed that an even larger number would like other illicit drugs such as cocaine to remain illegal. For all of the aforementioned reasons, the current policy on illicit drugs is the best and desired policy by the majority of Americans. The enforcement of this policy, however, needs to be critically examined to increase its overall effectiveness. Policy reform should focus on different allocation of enforcement resources. Too much money is put towards fighting production and distribution of drugs internationally. United States resources can never be entirely effective when foreign nations do not enforce anti-production and trafficking laws due to lack of political will, failure of the rule of law, or actual collusion with the cartels. International aid and resources for the war on drugs should be reallocated to the protection of borders and customs inspections. Efforts to limit the production and trafficking of drugs outside US borders have proven unsuccessful. Movement must be made to fortify the borders and ports of entry to minimize the likelihood that drugs will pass through. This would have the added benefit of keeping U.S. resources and personnel on U.S. territory, where management, strategies, and efficiency can be maximized. Finally, focused domestic education and advertising campaigns, such as DARE, which have shown minimal results, should be discontinued. Instead, the government should put limited funds towards a much broader and less expensive awareness campaign. The legalization of drugs is a bad idea and that is why it has not seriously been considered in policy debates. It is an uncreative and dangerous solution to our country's drug problem and will only serve to multiply the problem in the short and long terms. |
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