Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Maybe There's a Problem with the Drug War

I caught this line in a CNN story about the murder of a Mexican priest by a drug cartel.
As enforcement action in Mexico and the United States has increased, domestic drug consumption in Mexico has increased.
There are all kinds of signs that the drug war isn't working.

But I still didn't think that "increased drug enforcement" would be correlated with "increased drug consumption."

Everybody would better off if drug use were legalized and taken over by governments.

1 comment:

Todd Mayo said...

I CANNOT fathom why it is seemingly so difficult to get beyond the stale debate about "the war on drugs", and move toward a change in policy instead. We should eliminate the federal "drug schedule." Disband the DEA. De-fund all the anti-drug activities at all levels of government: federal, state, and local. Release from prisons, probation, or parole, all persons whose offences were/are related to drug possession or non-violent trafficking. Drop all charges against those charged with possession or non-violent trafficking. Redirect the money allocated to expensive, anti-drug operations to VOLUNTARY rehabilitation. Rehab is fine for those who choose it but why waste time and resources on people who do not? We also need to resurrect the 4th Amendment. ["The right of the people to be secure in their persons...shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause...particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."]
That would mean no more random drug searches or tests of anyone for any reason. Random suggests the absence of probable cause that someone has committed a crime and should we stop the insanity of the "war on drugs", I see very few circumstances under which law enforcement could constitutionally compel drug tests or searches. Prohibition doesn't work. Regulation does. Enough is enough.