June 15, 2006
WRTA
 Brown
Shoes Diary
AG Admits "McGinnis is Right!"
After another day of drug raids and drug
busts in Altoona, I made my usual observation on WRTA's Two-Way Radio that the
war on drugs was lost a long time ago. To continue the persecution and
prosecution of people engaged in peaceful behavior is worse than pointless.
As we learned during Prohibition, turning the government into a nanny or a
surrogate enforcer for our own tastes results in immense profits and
opportunities for criminals, increased rates of murder and other serious
crimes (Nobel Laureate Milton Friedman has written on this extensively), and
high barriers to prosecuting real criminals. None of this is new. There are
a plethora of studies of the disastrous costs of the war on drugs published in
the top journals of economics, politics, and sociology. One has to be
willfully stupid to ignore the history, the studies, and the logic that
predicts the very disasters we see on a regular basis all about us.
But I was heartened, and not a little bit shocked, to learn that Attorney
General Tom Corbett, one of the most ardent of the drug warriors, has come
around to my way of thinking. Mr. Corbett was interviewed on WRTA's Open Mike
by Dave Barger yesterday (June 14). He said there are two parts to reducing
drug abuse in our society--supply and demand. (I like the guy already since
he's speaking my language--economicese.) He maintained that prosecuting
suppliers is his job, but then he dropped this bomb: He said that his work on
the supply side of the drug industry means nothing if demand continues to
grow! And he was quite adamant that it is indeed continuing to grow. (Since
I don't have his remarks recorded, I am paraphrasing his remarks as closely as
I can.)
Do you get the import of that comment? First, I'm very relieved that he
understands he can't do anything about the demand side, because the only way
he could affect demand is if we lived in a totalitarian state. Only when Big
Brother is telling us what's good for us and we must obey can the government
control and influence demand.
But the second implication of that comment is that the current expenditures on
the war on drugs have no positive impact. Exactly what I've been saying.
It's simple logic: Action A (prosecuting drug users and dealers) has no value
unless Action B (reduction in demand for drugs) occurs--this is what Mr.
Corbett said. But since Action B is not occurring and is beyond any influence
of the government, then Action A must be pointless.
Sadly, it's worse than pointless. The cost of waging an unwinnable war
detracts from and hinders the waging of winnable wars. The Attorney General
said as many as 70% of the people going through Pennsylvania's criminal
justice system are there as a result of the drug war. As a consequence,
appropriate attention to real predators is diluted or absent altogether.
Indeed, putting self-supporting people in jail at taxpayer's expense involves
two unnecessary costs--the loss of their productivity and the expense of their
incarceration. But a third cost is borne by real victims of real crimes who
should receive the full resources of the justice system, but will not have
them thanks to their wasted deployment in the persecution of people engaged in
peaceful behavior.
Now, people typically excuse my point of view on the idiocy of the drug war by
stating that I'm a libertarian. ("Well, you know, what can you expect,
McGinnis is a libertarian.") They use the word in such a way as to suggest
that it represents a mental disease and people like me probably ought to
qualify for protection under the Americans with Disabilities Act. But please
substitute freedom-lover for libertarian and that notion should disappear.
Besides, the most famous conservative alive today, William F. Buckley, Jr. and
most of the staff of National Review,
the conservative journal of opinion, agree with me. So, too, does the most
learned and wisest man on the planet, Thomas Sowell, another self-described
conservative. Of course, there are other libertarians like Walter E. Williams
and John Stossel and liberals too who have their eyes wide open on this
issue. It's not a partisan or political issue. It's a national disaster.
Let's face it. Despite the hundreds of billions of dollars spent on
interdiction and prosecution, not to mention the millions of lives ruined by a
government out of control over the past 35 years, drug usage is as high as
ever. Shouldn't we try something else? As the popular definition goes:
Insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results. It's way
past time to stop the insanity.
The opinions and ideas expressed in this essay are those of John D
McGinnis and should not be considered representative of WRTA.com, any
institution with which McGinnis is associated, or anyone else. He can be
contacted at john@wrta.com.
Contact John D McGinnis
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