Pubdate: Wed, 04 Dec 2013
Source: Texarkana Gazette (TX)
Copyright: 2013 Texarkana Gazette
Contact:  http://www.texarkanagazette.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/976
Author: Russell McDermott

MONEY REAL VILLAIN WHEN IT COMES TO DRUGS

Marijuana advocates are once again going to the voters to get the 
drug legalized for medical use in Arkansas.

Frankly, I don't think they stand a chance. And I can't say that bothers me.

That doesn't mean I'm indifferent to those who think pot provides 
relief from certain medical conditions. Nor does it mean I'm 
necessarily opposed to making pot-or just about any other drug-legal 
for recreational use.

But I am opposed to the way most want to do it.

Let's get a few things straight from the outset.

I'm not promoting drug use. I don't smoke pot-tried it once many 
years ago and coughed my lungs out-but I don't care if you do. Just 
don't try to snow me. I don't believe it's healthier than cigarettes. 
Nor do I think it's the same as alcohol. You can drink one or two 
drinks for the flavor and not get even a bit tipsy. But pot is about 
the buzz. And, while there may be some medical benefits to marijuana, 
I don't believe for a second most of those using legally in medical 
marijuana states like California are doing so for any other reason 
than personal pleasure. The system is just too easy to game.

As for harder stuff, I think smoking crack or meth or sticking a 
needle in your arm is about as moronic as it gets. Just swallow a 
pistol-it's the same thing, only faster.

I don't have a lot of sympathy for those who want to treat drug 
addiction as a "disease" or addicts as "victims." Give me a break. 
Outside a minority of the addict population hooked through 
legitimately prescribed drugs, no one ever became an junkie without 
doing illegal drugs. Want to completely avoid the "disease" of drug 
addiction? Don't try drugs. Not even once. Simple. Millions and 
millions of people-including a lot with problems far worse than any 
excuse a drug addict can come up with-have managed to get along just 
fine without ever trying the stuff.

You want to tell me drug addiction is a "disease" like cancer? Go to 
St. Jude's in Memphis. Look at the innocent kids on chemo. Then get 
back to me. It's not even on the same page.

So you can see I'm not promoting drug use. I'm no apologist. But I am 
pragmatic. Drug use has been going on in this country for years. It's 
not going away. But the decades long "war on drugs" has done little 
but waste countless billions in tax dollars and man hours and fill 
the prisons with low-level dealers and users, taking up space that 
could be used for murderers, rapists and other violent offenders.

Oh, and make a bunch of rich drug lords even richer.

Drug criminals make their money on supply and demand. While drug 
interdiction may cut supply, it doesn't lessen demand. It just jacks 
up the price.

And that leads to drug violence.

Users have to get that money somehow. So they commit fraud. They 
steal. They become smalltime pushers. They sell their bodies. They do 
whatever they have to do, including commit violent home invasions, 
muggings and armed robberies.

With so much money at stake, the criminal organizations that handle 
the drug trade have a big financial interest in protecting their 
territory. So they use violence to guard their turf and eliminate rivals.

In short, the "war on drugs" has done more to increase violent crime 
than lessen it, because drugs don't fuel violence, drug money fuels violence.

Any proposal to legalizing dope includes regulation and part of that 
regulation always includes putting a heavy tax on it. But drug gangs 
can undercut you if a the tax pushes up prices. For years the mob has 
been doing a big business in smuggling cigarettes from low-tax states 
into higher-tax states.

So you have to take the profits out of the drug business if you want 
to win any kind of "war on drugs."

Now, some proponents of medical marijuana may have good intentions. 
But for many, it's just the first step in a campaign to legalize the 
drug for recreational use.

No problem there. I wouldn't use it even if it were legal, but it 
would put a stop to a lot of "cops and robbers" type nonsense over 
something that is, at best, poor judgment instead of a real crime.

But the government-state and federal-would regulate and tax the heck 
out of it. And the taxes would keep going up as they have with booze 
and tobacco. Sin taxes are always the easiest to sell.

That would still leave a big hole for criminals to exploit.

And the marijuana trade is full of violent criminals. It's not just a 
bunch of old hippies growing the stuff out of a commune in the woods. 
Pot is the bread and butter of the Mexican cartels-the most violent 
drug thugs in the world. They get it cheap south of the border and 
sell it dear on this side. Thousands of murders every year are the 
price of the pot trade.

So the solution is not to legalize marijuana or other drugs, but to 
do so in a way that cuts out the heart of the business-the profit. 
And that might just mean a better use for all the cash we spend to 
battle drugs is to have the government forget tax revenue and provide 
the stuff for free or at rock-bottom prices.

No profit means no pushers to entice new users, no turf wars, no drug 
violence. The criminals would find something else-they always do-but 
they would effectively be out of the dope trade.

But, as a pragmatist, I know this is not likely to happen. So we will 
keep spending a fortune on drug intervention, prisons and the like. 
And the money and blood will continue to flow.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom