Conservative Libertarian Outpost

QUESTION: Wouldn’t ending the War on Drugs increase drug abuse, create more
addicts who would raise the crime rates, and basically turn every city in
America into modern-day Sodoms and Gomorrahs?

MY SHORT ANSWER: Although that could happen in theory, it has not been seen in
real life. When small amounts of marijuana were decriminalized in 11 states,
consumption did not increase significantly.(1)

In Amsterdam, marijuana coffeehouses openly sell different varieties of the
plant. With marijuana, a so-called gateway drug, freely available we might
expect the Netherlands to be a nation of addicts. However, heroin addiction is
half that of the U.S. rate, and crack is not widely available.(2)

Addiction rates for native Hollanders are probably quite low, because almost
40% of Dutch addicts are refugees of the War on Drugs.(3) The Dutch treat
addicts as patients needing treatment rather than criminals deserving prison.

Pushers have virtually abandoned the Dutch schools. Teenage consumption of
alcohol and tobacco is similar in the Netherlands and the United States, but
use of marijuana and cocaine in the Netherlands is only 10-40% of U.S. rates,
depending upon the age group compared.(4) The age of the average Dutch addict
is rising, as fewer youngsters become involved with drugs.(5) Clearly, the
Dutch are protecting their children from drugs by using less aggression and
more compassion. The best way to get the pushers out of schools is to take the
profit out of drugs by ending prohibition!

Many people find it difficult to believe that re-legalizing drugs will actually
decrease consumption. However, in the early 1900s, when even children could buy
alcohol or medicinal heroin in any drugstore,(6) addiction was less of a
problem than it is today. Even in our prisons, drugs are readily available,
which should alert us to the impossibility of forcing people to stop taking
them.

Like alcoholism, dependence on drugs is a medical problem. People who are
willing to sacrifice their health, wealth, families, and friends for chemical
highs require our help, not our condemnation.

(Sources:
1. C.F. Thies and C.A. Register, “Decriminalization of Marijuana and the Demand
for Alcohol, Marijuana, and Cocaine,” Social Science Journal 30: 385-399,
1993.

2-5. J. Ostrowski, Thinking About Drug Legalization (Washington, DC: Cato
Institute, 1989) p. 49.

6. H. Browne, The Great Libertarian Offer (Great Falls, MT: LiamWorks, 2000),
p. 89.)

* * *

QUESTION: Wouldn’t ending the Drug War mean many more deaths, because it would
make so many dangerous drugs freely available?

MY SHORT ANSWER: Actually, the reverse is true. The biggest reason to end drug
prohibition is this: Since 1989, the War on Drugs has killed 10-14 times as
many people each year as the drugs themselves. These deaths include AIDS spread
by contaminated needles, overdose deaths caused by black-market side effects,
and homicides resulting from turf fighting and other drug-related murders.(1)

Like alcohol Prohibition in the early 20th century, drug prohibition is a cure
much worse than the disease. Even if everyone in the country took drugs
regularly, instead of the one in ten who do so now,(2) the death toll from
overdose would still be lower than the deaths caused by today’s drug
prohibition.

In chapter 15 of my 2003 book, Healing Our World in an Age of Aggression —
available from the Advocates for Self-Government — you’ll find additional
reasons why the War on Drugs is even a greater failure than our disastrous
experiment with alcohol Prohibition.

(Sources:
(1) J. Ostrowski, Thinking About Drug Legalization (Washington, DC: Cato
Institute, 1989) Ostrowski (pp. 14-15) finds that the War on Drugs kills about
8,250 people per year (from drug-related AIDS, overdose due to black-market
side effects, homicide), whereas cocaine- and heroin-related deaths would be
about 600 people per year in the absence of drug prohibition. The ratio of
deaths caused by the War on Drugs vs. deaths due to drugs is 13.75:1.

(2) In 1999, U.S. drug users were estimated to be 14.8 million (“Drug Use in
the United States,” U.S. Department of Justice, Drug Enforcement
Administration, 2000, http://www.ericcass.uncg.
edu/virtuallib/subabuse/1010.html, accessed October 27, 2002). Adjusting this
number for an average underreporting rate of 36% (A.R. Morral, D. McCaffrey,
and M.Y. Iguchi, “Hardcore Drug Users Claim to Be Occasional Users: Drug Use
Frequency Underreporting,” Drug and Alcohol Dependence 57: 2000), brings users
to 20.1 million. In 1999, the U.S. population over 13 years of age was 218.3
million (Statistical Abstract of the United States (Washington, DC: U.S. Census
Bureau, 2000). Drug users constitute about 9.3% of teenagers and adults.)

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Source:  http://www.TheAdvocates.org/ruwart/categories_list.php

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