Pubdate: Sat, 13 Jun 2015
Source: Buffalo News (NY)
Copyright: 2015 The Buffalo News
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/GXIzebQL
Website: http://www.buffalonews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/61
Author: Dan Hoffman

DRUG PROHIBITIONS ONLY INCREASE CRIME

The surreal circus we're experiencing over the medical marijuana 
issue is what it is because we know the arguments are a stretch, but 
we are looking for a way out of an awful situation. So the political 
class, which creates prohibitions and has the power to jail people 
over them, offers us partial relief.

Prohibitions create undergrounds and financial incentives for 
criminal subcultures, empires and official corruption. The alcohol 
prohibition, a disaster that brought about wars in the street, was 
replaced with taxes, regulations and medical handling. Even now, 
alcohol does more harm to society and the individual than all illegal 
substances combined, yet who would go back to prohibition?

Drug prohibitions have brought about crime, corruption and the 
financing of wars. The effects of criminalization of substances have 
increased their use by orders of magnitude.

The legal principles this country was founded on never would have 
allowed such a situation, as these prohibitions violated all of them. 
Just because elected and appointed officials have motivation to bring 
about and maintain this situation doesn't mean they are right. Maybe 
it's occurred to some of them that changing it could give another 
justification for moving government into health care, even if it 
means giving up some of the new powers they've accumulated.

Dan Hoffman

Buffalo
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom