About this time, every year, for the last four years, I have written a column about the total absurdity of the so-called war on drugs, and the practical, beneficial, inevitable reality of legalizing drugs.
In fact, the name of this column, 'About 60 Seconds', was coined because I was - and remain - sure, in the perhaps 60 seconds that anyone might spend reading this column, that I could convince the reader that legalization of drugs was the best and fastest route to elimination of drug trafficking, a way to accomplish that task over night, one night, the very night the legislation was signed.
The argument, then and now, goes like this. It is essential to realize that we actually have two (2) wholly distinct and separable drug problems, not one. The first and most pernicious of the problems is drug trafficking; the second, drug addiction.
Remember, I said legalization would eliminate trafficking over night - not addiction. But since trafficking is the more devastating, exacting of the problems, the one that drives the supply of drugs, the one that causes all the smuggling, corruption, violence, mayhem, it is, in reality, the machina horribilis of drug problems.
If drugs were legalized, available and regulated in exactly the same fashion as alcohol, with government restrictions set in place, sold in only licensed locations, availability regulated, profits accounted for, taxes paid, from the very night that legalization was enacted, not a courier would be sent forth, not a boat, or plane, or submarine would be loaded with drugs. What self respecting drug trafficker is going to bother to undertake the dangers of smuggling drugs if there isn't a profit, a huge profit, to be made.
You see, legal availability means no need for smuggling; no smuggling, no profit; no profit, no trafficking.
Sure, we'd still have addiction. BUT, HELL, WE HAVE PLENTY OF THAT NOW. And we also have trafficking, to boot. At least, with trafficking eliminated, we could deal with addiction as the psychological/medical problem it is. Addicts would come forward to obtain their drugs without fear of jail, perhaps to obtain help, not incarceration.
And half the costs and resources of our justice system - which are currently so high, no one will reveal the exact figures - would be freed up, half those incredible ineffective costs would be eliminated, half the police efforts turned to other quality of life activities, half the jails emptied, no need to build new ones.
Last year, about this time, Mayor Guiliani of New York City announced a major campaign against drugs, to 'get as close as we're ever going to get' to eliminating drugs.
Anyone notice we haven't eliminated drug trafficking stories in the media?
Recently, in the International Herald Tribune, an article by Daniel Lazare, carried the message that the drug war was no only dead, it was really most sincerely dead. Not only Mr. Guiliani's drug was, but the entire American drug war, the fatuous, ineffective, ridiculous 'war', which is as effective as trying to hold water from coming down hill.
For example, it has been pointed out by the University of Michigan, in its annual adolescent drug survey, that drug usage amongst high school seniors has increased 50% since 1991, amongst tenth graders it has nearly doubled, and amongst eighth graders it has, in fact doubled. Seems, that more youngsters than ever just ain't saying no.
Meanwhile, American voters have begun legalization, despite the foot dragging, insipid, testicle missing politicians. Only medicinal marijuana has been legalized to date, true, but legalization has begun. Not only in California, either. In rootin', tootin' Arizona, as well.
And, at the same time, trafficking has gone one step more sophisticated and international. A recent Miami indictment charged Russians with selling Soviet surplus submarines to Colombian drug lords to smuggle cocaine to America.
If this is as close as we're ever going to get, we'd better go back to the drawing boards real quick.
Right this very minute, over the steps of New York City's City Hall is a sign aimed at racism and prejudice, that reads: "Correct the Mistakes of the Past". Great sign. But apparently its message is lost on the present office holder.
Anyone ever hear of Prohibition? The Volstead Act which provided for enforcement of the 18th Amendment, the prohibition on the manufacture, sale, or distribution of alcohol, went into effect January 1920. Immediately, an era of smuggling, violence, speak-easys, corruption began. That exercise in futility, lasted 13 years, until a Federal Commission was set up to study and then report that stemming that tide was virtually impossible.
When we look back at newsreels of law enforcement personnel in righteous enforcement of Prohibition axing kegs of illegal alcohol, letting it run into gutters, it is literally laughable. In that era, most folks had a favorite speak easy, knew where to get illegal booze. Al Capone a major trafficker, responsible for all sorts of corruption and mayhem, was more recognized and admired than the President of the United States.
So Prohibition was repealed. And with it went illegal booze. Anyone reading this column know a bootlegger? Or know where a speak easy is located? Is a single room in any of our courthouses dedicated to trials about illegal liquor; is a single policeman involved in undercover operations routing hootch; are our jails filled with rotting rotgutters? Absurd, you say!
And as for those who were addicted to alcohol, it was amazing how man of those drinkers gave up booze when it was no longer sinfully attractive, glamorous, erotic. Sure, there are still alcoholics, but they go to doctors, hospitals, clinics, for help. Their addiction is trying and
sorrowful for their families. But we aren't spending half our national budget trying to fight alcohol trafficking. We are expending money appropriately, in peaceful research and treatment for those who need help for their addiction to alcohol, drugs, gambling, eating, etc.
Maybe we ought to buy more of those signs. "Learn From the Mistakes of the Past". Because those who do not learn, are bound to repeat them. Politicians, if you can read, please note.
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