Pubdate: Mon, 08 Aug 2005
Source: Calgary Herald (CN AB)
Copyright: 2005 Calgary Herald
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/calgary/calgaryherald/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/66
Author: Kevin Brooker
Note: Kevin Brooker is a Calgary freelance writer.
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)

HERE'S A WAY TO HIT DRUG LORDS IN THE WALLET

I became a victim in the War on Drugs recently. After browsing the
quaint stretch of antique shops in Bridgeland on a sunny Saturday, we
came out to the rear parking lot and discovered our vehicle had been
broken into with a rusty pipe, and our stuff stolen.

So, how did the WOD make me the victim? Because the culprit was almost
certainly a crackhead, deranged and desperate for even five bucks
worth of pawnable merchandise. And that's just part of his daily
struggle to pay for a habit at the hyperinflated prices all but
ensured by, you guessed it, the War on Drugs.

Like most of these crimes, it went unreported. What's the use? I
experienced the same thing several times in Vancouver, and learned
there that it's pointless to expect any sort of meaningful police
response. It has led me to the following conclusion:

Let the guy have his damn crack. Let them all have their heroin and
meth and any other crazy junk they care to ingest. Most of all, let
their crimes be against themselves and not me.

Like its alcohol predecessor, drug prohibition simply empowers
criminal syndicates to reap obscene profits. That cash also wields
inordinate power to corrupt law-enforcement officials. You may recall
that the very DEA officer who arrested General Manuel Noriega, the
Panamanian cocaine kingpin, was himself later imprisoned for stealing
laundered drug money.

Meanwhile, there seems to be a drug-related element to most everything
in the court system, from stolen cars to house break-ins to street
assassinations. The public costs are astronomical. When we throw the
coke user in jail, he loses his regular job, his wife goes on welfare,
or maybe starts selling a little blow to get by, gets arrested, and
then the kids are apprehended and sent to junior crime school. We pay
for all that. And pay and pay.

So, what are our innate fears in decriminalizing all drugs? Number one
is that our children would turn into hollow-eyed addicts.

Believe me, there is nothing currently preventing them from doing so.
Dealers of hard drugs stand ready to introduce anyone who wants them.
And interdiction provides a built-in marketing campaign, since
heroin's reputation as a deeply evil substance contains most of its
charm for the minuscule percentage of people who give it a good go.

I submit, however, that very few people currently relish the notion of
a lifetime on the needle, nor would they under a more libertarian
regime -- especially if public educators came clean on the fact that
long-term heroin addicts enjoy no pleasant sense of intoxication as
long as they have their drug.

It only makes them feel "normal." There are reportedly many fully
functioning heroin addicts who also happen to be go-getters. What
these users have in common is that they're rich enough to ensure their
supply. In fact, the major problem with heroin as a substance lies not
in its medical effect on people or society (apart from chronic
constipation), but in its criminality and, therefore, artificially
high prices that lead to unmanageable expense.

Another objection: Do you want everyone staggering around in a
haze?

No, I don't. But that wouldn't happen because, again, humans don't go
that way. We could all get drunk by noon, but few of us do. Besides,
if we were truly concerned about other people's buzzes, we wouldn't
restrict our disapproval to such a limited slate of substances. This
very moment, for example, thousands of people are driving around
Calgary under the influence of a variety of legal psychotropics, but
you never hear anyone demanding some form of roadside test for that
particular brand of intoxication.

One way or another, Canadians must confront these issues. I sincerely
hope that the recent Senate appointment of Vancouver mayor Larry
Campbell, a knowledgeable and outspoken critic of current prohibition
policies, will lead to meaningful change.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin