November 22, 2005

WRTA

Brown Shoes Diary

Drug War Success?

Well, the drug trade took another big hit in Blair county according to State Attorney General Tom Corbett after a large number of arrests in a recent government action. I would have thought that it's all over for drug users in this area given the number of investigations and prosecutions I've seen, but Tom Corbett assures us that the worst is still ahead.  He even suggests the possibility of New York City gangs fighting for territory in Altoona.  Hmmm.  Could it be that Mr. Corbett is admitting his efforts aren't particularly effective?

35 years ago--that's three and one half decades and hundreds of billions of dollars ago--Congress passed the Controlled Substances Act.  (You can see it at www.usdoj.gov/dea/agency/csa.htm)  Ostensibly, the purpose of the act was to make America healthy by restricting drugs and making drug use safe.  (Exactly where in the Constitution does it say our health is the government's responsibility?)  Even if those are noble ends, we still have to ask, "Have those ends been achieved?"  Of course not as any reasonable person can readily see.  And what has been the cost of trying to do the impossible?  A thriving criminal class, a murder rate double what it would be without a drug war, and a per capita prison population that is the largest in the world.  Add to that the fact that every dollar spent on the drug war is one less dollar that could be used to protect our borders or put to other good uses.  The supreme irony here is that one of the biggest magnets for illegal aliens of the criminal type is the exaggerated profit margin of a criminalized drug market. 

I have pointed out in a previous essay that drug use is essentially peaceful behavior.  What my neighbor wants to ingest is none of my business.  Somehow our government and people like Mr. Corbett think it is their business.  That is the crux of what's wrong with America--a belief that we should criminalize any behavior we don't agree with and disregard the fundamental rights of our fellow citizens.  And the very same public officials who take an oath to uphold our rights are the ones who most insistently trespass against us.

We all know that prohibition of alcohol proved a monumental failure just as the current prohibition of drug use is proving.  But there is one large difference between the earlier prohibition and today's.  A Constitutional Amendment (18th) was passed to outlaw the sale and distribution of alcohol because it was rightly understood that the federal government had no authority to prohibit commerce of any kind without such an amendment.  And it took the sensible 21st Amendment to repeal the 18th when the overwhelming evidence demonstrated Prohibition was a failure.  (Now, how about an amendment to repeal the 16th?)

Today, there is no Constitutional authority for the Controlled Substances Act and its attendant Drug Enforcement Agency.  How is it that the national government can pass and enforce laws on drug manufacture, sale, and use? (Drinking alcohol, and this is no small point by the way, was legal under the 18th Amendment; only sale and transportation of alcohol were outlawed.)  Where's the Constitutional authority for this war on drugs? The short answer is that there is none. 

The long answer is that "We the People" have abandoned our Constitution and its firm strictures on political power.  We relentlessly pursue at great cost a course of action that has no good outcomes.  Mr. Corbett acknowledges that there is great violence in the market for illegal drugs.  The key word in the previous sentence is "illegal."  It is only the criminalization of drug use and commerce that results in enormous profits that attract unsavory and uncivil people.  For example, would you rather have Al Capone and Frank Nitti supplying your beer or Mr. Busch and Mr. Coors?  

Criminalizing a profitable market does two things.  It makes it more profitable because of fewer suppliers and it makes it more violent since it operates outside the bounds of law.  Decriminalizing drug use would immediately reduce profit margins and the death and destruction that occur in managing the underground market.  Yes, some death and self-destruction would still occur, because some people choose that course of behavior.  That's true whether drugs are legal or not, just as it is with alcohol.  But that is their right and it's none of our damn business!  Thirty five years of wasted money, wasted lives, and an abandoned Constitution is enough.