------- Forwarded message follows -------
If All Drugs Were Legal (Gasp!) . . .
by Harry Browne
The Drug Warriors' biggest argument against
medical marijuana is that it's only the opening
wedge in a movement toward total legalization of
drugs. So, supposedly, we have to "nip it in the
bud" -- in the words of Deputy Barney Fife, the
nation's first Drug Czar.
What if the Drug Warriors are right?
What if legalizing medical marijuana turned out to
be the first step on a journey that ended in the
outright repeal of every drug law? What would
America be like?
Understandably, many Americans fear that with no
drug laws, we would have hundreds of thousands of
addicts, crack babies, children trying drugs, and
other evils. _But that's what we have now_.
Let's Assume the Worst . . .
If all drugs were legal, addicts would no longer
pay black-market prices to criminals for drugs of
questionable and dangerous origin. They would get
drugs produced by legitimate pharmaceutical
companies and pay market prices. They would no
longer die from buying toxic drugs, and they would
no longer have to mug innocent people to support
their habits.
If all drugs were legal, addicts could seek help
by going to doctors -- no longer afraid of being
prosecuted for their medical problems.
If all drugs were legal, criminal drug dealers
would no longer be on our streets. They couldn't
compete with the low, free-market prices for drugs
sold at pharmacies.
If all drugs were legal, criminal drug dealers
would no longer prey upon our children -- any more
than distilleries and breweries try to infiltrate
schools to hook kids on alcohol. When I grew up in
Los Angeles in the 1940s, the worst schools were
safer than L.A.'s best schools are today.
If all drugs were legal, our government would no
longer be dispensing propaganda that makes
children want to try the forbidden fruit.
Reducing Street Violence
If all drugs were legal, our prisons would be
emptied of hundreds of thousands of non-violent
people who have never done harm to anyone else. No
longer would over-crowded prisons cause truly
violent criminals to be free on early release and
plea bargains to terrorize the rest of us.
If all drugs were legal, law-enforcement resources
would be available to fight violent crime, instead
of being used to chase people who may harm
themselves but are no threat to us.
If all drugs were legal, much of the street
violence would end -- as it did when Alcohol
Prohibition ended -- because gangs of thugs would
no longer be fighting over drug territories.
If all drugs were legal, police corruption would
diminish, because criminals could no longer use
black-market drug money to gain immunity by
subverting weak policemen.
If all drugs were legal, the government could no
longer use the Drug War as an excuse to tear up
the Bill of Rights and pry into your bank account,
strip-search you at an airport, tear your car
apart, monitor your email, or seize your property
without even charging you with a crime.
Why Do We Know This?
Why do I think America would be like this if all
drugs were legal?
Because that's the way it was before the drug laws
were passed. Yes, there were people whose lives
were destroyed by drugs then -- just as some
people today destroy their lives with drugs,
alcohol, financial mistakes, or various character
weaknesses -- but far fewer people lost their
lives to drugs when they were legal.
And America's streets were peaceful.
Has America changed since then? Of course it has.
But cause-and-effect relationships don't change.
Force still begets force. Government programs
still lead to unintended and destructive
consequences.
Relegalizing drugs would put a stop to those
destructive consequences -- end the criminal black
market, end the violence, end the incentive to
hook children, and end the production of toxic
drugs that kill people.
We have to quit being afraid of the unknown, and
instead recognize what we do know -- that the Drug
War is doing enormous harm to society.
If we care about our children, if we care about
our cities, if we care about our country, we have
to end the insane War on Drugs.
------- End of forwarded message -------
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