The War on Drugs is a complete failure. In fact it could never have come out any differently, it is set up from the start to fail. Just like prohibition, if there is a demand then someone will supply it. It is impossible to stop STD's by declaring war on sex and then imprisoning or killing anyone that has condoms. The War on Drugs has only led to the death and ruin of countless millions of lives.
First, I would like to explain why intoxication is part of human nature.
Without getting into too much details, we can see this because of how many tribes had a 'shaman' or 'witchdoctor'. These valuable members of the tribe knew how to create mind altering states using what nature provided in their area, from plant or animal. Whether it was drunk, or eaten, or smoked it provided no direct benefit to survival, so why did energy get spent towards it procurement and not more time spent getting food or making tools?
"The universal need for liberation from the restrictions of mundane existence is satisfied by experiencing altered states of consciousness. That we dream every night – whether we remember it or not – shows that we have a natural predisposition to these altered states, but people also pursue them in more active ways. Some follow the paths of prayer or meditation in their quest for spiritual insight, whilst others are transported to the higher planes by way of ecstasies induced by art, music, sexual passion or intoxicating substances." - Rudgley (1994)
Life back then was a lot of the same thing, day after day. Humans like to be entertained, and so created stories, dances, and music to enjoy – as well as drugs. But the shaman alone knew the secrets, and so regulated its use. It goes beyond humans too, animals are known to seek out such substances.
After sampling the numbing nectar of certain orchids, bees drop to the ground in a temporary stupor, then weave back for more. Birds gorge themselves on inebriating berries, then fly with reckless abandon. Cats eagerly sniff aromatic “pleasure” plants, then play with imaginary objects. Cows that browse special range weeds will twitch, shake, and stumble back to the plants for more. Elephants purposely get drunk off fermented fruits. Snacks of “magic mushrooms” cause monkeys to sit with their heads in their hands in a posture reminiscent of Rodin’s Thinker. - Ronald Siegel
As we can see, the need for a 'high' of some sort, at least sometimes, is universal. Some people might be ok with a good dopamine high from a workout, for some other people alcohol is enough, others it might be marijuana, a few might want cocaine – but it doesn't make them bad people.
What would our world be like now if the War on Drugs never happened. If narcotics were just like any other drug, or tobacco or alcohol?
Prison Population
Since 1971 when the War on Drugs was declared the prison population in America has increased substantially. Now the country holds 25% of the worlds prison population, with only 5% of the worlds population. Just over 50% are in prison for victimless drug crimes! At around $30k per prisoner per year to keep them behind bars, it all adds up to around 1.5% of Americas GDP. All that money would never have to be stolen from the people in the form of taxes.If someone is arrested and does time for possession they basically lose all chances for a decent job, let alone a career. If they can even find a job that will hire them, it is most likely a minimum wage job that they will have little to no chance of advancement in. So they see this life where they can make minimum wage forever, or they can turn to a life of crime where they may see some big money. By placing someone into prison for a victimless crime such as possession, they are just pushing that person into a life of crime.
Not just victimless crimes either, spend enough time in a life like that and violence becomes just another part of it all.
Family and Parenting
Since young males are a huge majority in the prison population, they are obviously not around to raise their children. I am not saying that is the only reason, but it is not helping. I think it is reasonable to say that if some of these men were not in prison and had a chance for a decent job they would be around to be a father. Having both parents raise a child is shown to substantially decrease behavioral problems in that child. With less behavioral problems, more education is achieved and less crimes are committed.They say for underage kids drugs are easier to get than alcohol. Pushers by definition want to sell drugs, some may not sell to kids, but others may not have such morals.
Less Crime
When you are selling a product that is unlawful you can't go to the police to resolve an issue, you have to be violent yourself. The War on Drugs creates a war FOR drugs and territory. If you criminalize a substance for which there is a demand, it doesn't vanish from the country – it is just supplied by criminal groups. We can see this in the rise of cartels and gangs and the subsequent rise in crime rates. If the substance is legal there is little to no violence associated with it, see pharmacy drugs, tobacco or alcohol. When America enacted prohibition what happened? Organized crime supplied it, and protected their property with violence. Disputes were settled by murder, sometimes spilling out into the streets and innocent bystanders. Sound familiar?If they weren't spending resources on drugs they could go after real crimes, like murder, rape, and theft. Currently only about 40% of murders, 60% of rapes, and 90% of thefts go unsolved. Since there would be less crimes overall, detectives would have more time to focus on each crime and the chance of solving it would increase.
Where there is less crime, there is usually more prosperity – which also leads to less crime.
Gun Control
The War on Drugs is related to gun control. The War on Drugs causes violence which is used as an excuse to enact gun control so as to be rid of them in a few generations. The 'Fast and Furious' scandal in which guns were passed on to smugglers to traffic arms to the cartels was conducted to further gun control legislation.Both are the exact opposite of personal liberty. All people are free to do as they wish so long as they do not harm or steal from another. By saying that a person cannot partake of a substance the government is saying that you do not own your own body. In that same regard, you have the right to defend yourself. By blocking access to drugs or weapons the government is saying that you do not have the right to control your own body and property.
If there was no War on Drugs all individuals would have more freedoms than we currently are allowed by power hungry governments.
Militarized Police
Police back before the 1980's, at least a large majority, served with honor. People were not afraid of them, and saw police as people that could help in times of trouble. In my travels to Western countries such as Germany, France, Norway, and England I see a glimpse of how cops acted before militarization in the U.S. Now they have been trained to find everyone a criminal, and we see this in the number of shooting against unarmed and cooperating victims.Without a source of funds as profitable as illegal drugs there would be fewer and smaller organized crime syndicates such as our current drug cartels. Which means that the reasons the SWAT teams came into common use would not have existed. So unconstitutional home raids by police in the middle of the night, often because of drug searches, would also not happen. Radley Balko said that in the 1970s there were 300 uses of SWAT teams on average per year, in 2005 that number climbed to 40,000.
If there was no War on Drugs, police may still be 'protecting and serving' instead of some pseudo military army that they are today.
Natural Cures
Without the persecution of drugs, their medical properties could be studied more openly. The medical uses of marijuana are present, even some state governments have realized that and made exceptions for it. Other drugs have their uses too, and have shown great benefits.Without the War on Drugs, more people would be able to choose how they wish to have their medical issues treated and wouldn't be a criminal because of it.
Less Corruption
With the huge amounts of money that the illegal drug trade is generating, it is obvious that some are corrupted by it. Politicians, police, judges, and others have all been found to have taken drug money to perform some service or look the other way.Also banks and Wall Street are big places were this money gets laundered.
CIA Black Ops
Shadow governments, that is hidden organizations within real organizations are known to get much of their money from managing the drug trade. There are many allegations throughout the decades about how the CIA or MI6 control the global drug trade. This money get funneled into programs and black ops in which thousands die. See MKULTRA, the secret CIA war in Laos, or Nicaragua Contras.
Because of the drug war these organizations now have tremendous power that is both unconstitutional and uncontrollable.
Less Terrorism
No one likes being controlled, especially from an outside source. With the CIA messing around in other countries killing people it has created animosity towards the West. The only real means they have to obtain revenge is terrorism.In addition, many terrorist organizations have been found to be funded by the illegal drug trade. The Taliban were shown to have gained up to half a billion dollars a year from their part in opium production. In Columbia, the FARC get around $300 million a year from the cocaine trade.
Without the War on Drugs these groups would have less money to fund themselves and possibly have less reasons to be in arms in the first place.
The Drug War Must End
It is no surprise that what happens with the drug war is what we saw during alcohol prohibition. This list is not all inclusive and I am not saying that life would be perfect if there was never a War on Drugs, but it would be better. Not just for people that wish to use drugs, but everyone worldwide – we have all become affected by this horrible program.
90% of people that use an intoxicating substance can do so without it affecting their lives in a negative way. They just want to have a little fun once in awhile. What happens to the other 10% to cause such a problem? It is because they don't enjoy their lives.
Ronald Siegel has spent years researching drug use in animals. One time he saw that a mongooses mate had died. Months before he had planted silver morning glory in their pen. The mongooses had tried it and stayed away after that first try – they didn't seem to like it. When this mongoose saw his dead mate he went over to the plant and chewed until he couldn't move anymore.
In Vietnam, water buffalo hardly ever ate the local opium plants. During the war when bombs were falling all around the buffalo went into the fields and ate and ate until they were dizzy. They wanted to escape.
In one famous experiment in the 60's they connected tubes to rats and allowed them to press a lever to inject drugs. The drug went down the tube in straight into their blood veins, hitting their brains mere moments later. 90% of the rats would press the lever until they died from overdose.
Bruce Alexander saw that these rats were kept isolated in tiny cages and felt that this study was flawed. He created a place he called 'Rat Park' that was a large area with sawdust, tunnels, boxes, colored balls and cans for hiding and playing. He also had rats of both sexes so they could socialize.
What happened was the rats in the park hardly drank the drug water at all. While the ones alone and in cages drank it almost exclusively. The difference was how happy the rats were with their lives. We can see similar results in humans, miserable lives lead to increased drug addiction – while people with happy lives don't use drugs or use them sparingly. He said addiction is an adaptation to our situation, not a disease or our morals.
The War on Drugs only increases the problem.
It is not the fault of the person, it is the cages we are kept in .
Sources:
- Why animals eat psychoactive plants
- Why We Need Prison Reform: Victimless Crimes Are 86% of the Federal Prison Population
- Shamanistic Traditions
- Why We Need To End "The War on Drugs"
- 'War on Drugs' makes problem worse
- Addiction: The View from Rat Park
- War on drugs is a war on us picture
