Pubdate: Tue, 19 May 2009
Source: Holland Sentinel (MI)
Copyright: 2009 GateHouse Media, Inc.
Contact: http://extra.hollandsentinel.com/submitletter.shtml
Website: http://www.hollandsentinel.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1145
Author: Mike Lozon, Holland Sentinel Columnist
Note: Mike Lozon is a freelance writer/editor who resides in Laketown Township.
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)

POT AND THE PITFALLS OF PROHIBITION

Laketown Township, MI - A Grand Valley State University student
recovers from a gunshot wound while awaiting a court date on a charge
of marijuana delivery. The career of an Ottawa County sheriff's deputy
hangs in the balance while he awaits a court date on a charge of
carelessly discharging a firearm and causing injury during a drug raid
at the student's apartment.

This local scenario adds up to just one more depressing tale in
America's ineffective and costly War on Drugs -- a campaign that bears
responsibility for the excessive violence and extreme profitability
linked to an illicit drug trade.

As a society, it's time to recognize the futility of legalizing
certain mind-altering substances -- such as alcohol, nicotine and
caffeine -- while demonizing others.

The nation should have learned that demonizing doesn't work following
the disastrous prohibition of alcohol from 1920 to 1933, when crime
and violence served to flood the land with illegal booze. Known as the
"Noble Experiment," Prohibition proved that it's not easy to legislate
human nature when it involves the age-old desire to modify one's
perception of reality through drug use.

With the end of Prohibition, alcohol was enshrined as America's drug
of choice. The legal drug is controlled through regulation and taxation.

But taking the substance out of the hands of criminals didn't
eradicate the irresponsible behavior inherent with the misuse of
alcohol. When abused, the substance remains a major source of
society's many ills -- aggressiveness, divorce and tragedies associated
with drunken driving.

Because of those problems, I have spent much of my life preaching
against the legalization of other drugs, such as marijuana, cocaine
and heroin. My reasoning went like this: Legalizing other drugs would
condone their use and compound the problems that society already
confronts with alcohol.

That seemed to be a common-sense stand. But like the puritanical
prohibitionists of the 1920s, my viewpoint turned a blind eye to the
grim reality of the illegal drug trade.

By prohibiting certain drugs, we have no control over their
manufacture or distribution. We stand helpless in the face of
senseless violence, the corruption of politicians and law enforcement,
and a prison system bulging with low-level, non-violent drug felons.

My opposition to drug legalization began to erode with the
extraordinary publicity surrounding the revelation that Olympic
swimming champion Michael Phelps had smoked marijuana at a party. The
melodrama surrounding this incident, including a decision by the
cereal maker Kellogg to drop its sponsorship of Phelps, was a real
eye-opener for me.

How could I possibly continue to speak out against the legal use of
marijuana, a drug that is far more benign than alcohol, with any sense
of credibility?

In the wake of the Phelps' media fiasco, we have daily reports of the
drug violence in Mexico that is now spilling into neighboring states
in America.  Of course, that violence is symptomatic of the worldwide
turmoil caused by the underground drug market.

The incident that finally convinced me that all mind-altering
substances should be legalized, regulated and taxed was the GVSU
shooting, involving the student and the sheriff's deputy.

Police had made three undercover buys of marijuana from the wounded
student's roommate at their off-campus apartment. Less than two hours
before the police raid, a fourth buy was initiated, but this time from
the student who was injured.

When police charged through the back slider door of the apartment, the
unarmed student apparently raised his arms to deflect the glare in his
eyes from a police flashlight and was subsequently shot.

What struck me about the incident was the absolute insanity regarding
the outcome. Because of the illegal status of a commonly used drug, a
couple of college students were profiled as dangerous criminals whose
capture necessitated an aggressive intrusion by police.

It finally dawned on me that the time had come to "just say no" to the
inane War on Drugs. 
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D