Will we end the War on Drugs and consider legalization?
May 16th, 2009 at 11:50am Chuck Sweeny
I see the Obama administration is talking about ending the “war on drugs” that’s been so popular with our political class over the past 25 years.
Whether anything actually changes in the short term is open for interpretation, but the hypocrisy all of this among people of “My Generation” is absolutely ridiculous.
People of the Baby boom and Gen X generations love to gather in social settings and recall their younger days. They joke that “if you remember the 1960s (or 1970s) you weren’t there,” meaning, of course, that in their social circles, everyone was high on drugs. They generally agree that they had a wonderful time while floating on a chemical Cloud Nine.
Meanwhile, on the streets of 21st century America, cops and federal agents dragoon young, mostly poor, nonwhite people, and throw them behind bars because they use, sell or deal in drugs. Judges sentence them strictly and they fill up the prisons.
There’s a gigantic disconnect at work here. If “My Generation” did not think drugs were a big deal, why do we — the generation that now runs everything — persist with this War on Drugs? on younger generations?
Sooner or later Americans will legalize marijuana, and perhaps other drugs. We tried prohibition of alcoholic beverages once, and it made most Americans criminals, because they continued to drink. Their supply of booze came from a vast criminal enterprise that made untold billions of dollars.
We finally repealed the 18th amendment in 1934 and legalized booze, then taxed it heavily.
Sooner or later, this country will be forced to begin a serious discussion of the legalization of drugs. Not because we want to, but because it will dawn on us that we can’t afford the war. We can’t keep building bigger and bigger prisons to house the teeming millions involved in the many criminal enterprises associated with illegal drug making, drug sales and use.
Entry Filed under: War on Drugs
7 Comments Add your own
1. achilles | May 16th, 2009 at 8:56 pm
My concern is that if you legalize drugs, it will become more prevalent in kids. We see that with alcohol. The percentage of kids who experiment and/or use alcohol before the age of 18 is much higher than the percent who try narcotics. There are many in the substance abuse field who fear that legalizing drugs would level those percentages.
2. Husker Du | May 17th, 2009 at 7:33 am
Obama’s administration won’t fully push legalization until his 2nd term when he’s a lame duck president. Why risk a backlash during his first term?
3. force | May 17th, 2009 at 8:51 am
Think of the taxes that could be made off this….
4. Chuck Sweeny | May 17th, 2009 at 3:05 pm
Husker Du was, according to Wikipedia, an American punk rock band formed in Minneapolis-St. Paul in 1979. For what it’s worth.
5. Chuck Sweeny | May 17th, 2009 at 3:06 pm
Also, the first rock band I was in was called Achilles Heels.
6. Monkey | May 17th, 2009 at 8:27 pm
Great posting Chuck. I’m a Gen X’er who drank quite a bit in HS and college and then grew out of it. Never did drugs or even tried pot. But, the “war on drugs” has baffled me for years and essentially has been only effective at putting people in jail, rather than discouraging drug use. Time to legalize pot, at least, and bring some common sense to this situation.
7. Husker Du | May 18th, 2009 at 9:45 am
I\’m on the fence about legalization but one thing we need to do is to stop paying people to do illegal drugs. Nowadays almost every employer in the US requires a pre-employment drug test and many have random testing for employees. Why then are we not drug screening those folks receiving welfare and unemployment benefits? If I\’m paying taxes out of my income from a job that requires random testing then I want those who benefit from my tax money to pass a random drug test as well. Fair is fair.
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