A cop friend told me not long ago that he had changed his mind on the idea of legalizing drugs. His current take: “Legalize everything but meth, and hang the meth-pushers”—or something close to that.
We were talking about a kid we both had known back in the day, a kid who had some problems but skated along at the edge of the law, made it through school and even had some jobs. Then he got hooked on methamphetamine. He is now in prison.
Whether legal or illegal, drugs alter the way people think and the way they behave, my friend said. Meth, however, does something worse: It completely transforms its users, loosening whatever anchors of conscience and humanity they have.
“Regulate drugs as legal products; tax them; make them unattractive for criminals; and let us go after the bad guys running the meth business,” my friend said. All these other illegal drugs—from pot to heroin—create huge profit centers, and the law-enforcement community spends a great deal of time and energy chasing the criminals who exploit them, leaving no time for pursuing meth dealers.
The illegal status of pot makes criminals out of ordinary people who think drug laws are stupid and should be ignored, if not exploited. Remember Prohibition, where backyard stills, wineries and breweries made criminals of many rural people, and big-time criminals made fortunes running alcohol across the borders of Canada and Mexico?
When I suggested that the big mountain to climb in legalizing drugs (except for meth) would be the alcohol and tobacco lobbies, my friend the policeman agreed.
And don’t forget the “prison lobby,” another friend, Ben Butzein, added later. Ben was a drug-user in the 1960s, and spent time in prison for it. Upon his release, he hooked up with an outfit in Portland, Ore., called Better People, which helps ex-cons get their lives back together. Ben was a fine example: He became a fine cabinetmaker, a sometimes-poet, and a part-time resident of Wallowa County.
He also fought for prison reform and for the rehabilitation of prisoners, a stance that had him battling the prison lobby. Ben passed away a few years ago. But I remember him talking and writing passionately about the prison-builders, the corporate owners and their lobbies—private prisons were then a fast-growing industry—and how they influenced drug and prison reform.
Maybe the prison lobby has quieted down, but I doubt it. Alcohol and tobacco industries and their lobbies must still have their thumbs in any debate about legalizing currently illegal drugs. And I doubt that the associations of prison guards and the attorneys and wardens—who make a living making sure that our country incarcerates more of its citizens than any other “developed” country in the world—are staying quiet. I imagine that the drug cartels in Mexico would also not favor legalizing any of the drugs they sell so well in our country. Ditto for the builders of border fences and surveillance systems; isn’t it amazing that fences on the Canadian border have been proposed?
Meanwhile, we continue to make normal folks into criminals over drugs that could be regulated and taxed, as we do with alcohol. We continue to spend law-enforcement time and energy chasing after the bad guys attracted to the business—the heirs to the Prohibition era’s Capones. And we spend more and more money on a war on drugs that we cannot win.
We also continue to watch as weapons and drugs are shipped across our southern border, and as gangster wars erupt among the cartels that keep drug violence raging across Mexico. No vacationing now in Acapulco!
And the meth guys? They are still out there, cooking their poisons in small towns and large, running their stuff across state and national boundaries, fueling crimes from theft to murder, filling prisons and treatment programs, and giving the overburdened law-enforcement community more than full-time employment.
This article appears in Jan 12-18, 2012.
Yawn…. a cop friend of yours. Well, a cops friend of mine sees illegal drugs as a contributing factor in most crimes.
Why should the alcohol and tobacco producers care if other drugs are legalized? I’m aware of many people who like to abuse multiple substances simultaneously.
The idea that tax dollars are spent to build prisons so as to appease a prison-building lobby is absurd, but this is probably the kind of illogical, childish thinking we can expect from drug users.
Drug use can serve as an alternative to getting a real life of any kind and developing effective coping skills. Our youth need to learn to do these things without drugs as a substitute. Adults should discourage drug use instead of advocating for legalization, which will only result inmore widespread and heavier use.
Re: “Well, a cops friend of mine sees illegal drugs as a contributing factor in most crimes.” by Mr Wilson, this is quite true. Illegal drugs are a contributing factor in lots of crimes because they are illegal, not because they are drugs.
While I generally agree with the thrust of this article, I feel compelled to point out that methamphetamine is already legal.
It is sold by pharmacies under the brand name Desoxyn, and is apparently considered safe enough to prescribe to children with ADHD. Given the absence of stories about Desoxyn-related crime, perhaps better results would be achieved by allowing meth addicts to receive their drug by prescription. They certainly won’t be any worse off, while the rest of us will be spared from toxic meth labs and property crimes committed in order to buy black market meth at inflated prices.
http://www.rxlist.com/desoxyn-drug.htm
Alcohol and tobacco are on a par with marijuana for potential adverse health affects for the user or abuser. (For the record I do not drink or use marijuana.) The apparent lack of a comprehensively informed public regarding the US Government attempts to regulate and control ‘dangerous drugs’ supports what some may consider archaic and hypocritical opinions.
Alcohol prohibition did make fortunes for ‘pillars of society’ as well as ruthless criminals. The entire program was a failure at achieving the stated objectives. The current demonization of marijuana use is a reprise of the history of the failed attempts of the government to eradicate alcohol use by the public. To adequately address this subject, more reputable citations and sources should be used. This is not the venue for that. However, I do agree with many of the opinions mentioned in the posting by Rich.
I am steadfast in questioning the double standards used in condoning alcohol use in the debates regarding legalization or use of marijuana.
BTW: Open your eyes about the goal of corporations to privatize anythiing and everything they possibly can. Since you appear to be uninformed and oblivious to the privatization issues facing our society, it is not worth attempting to rationally discuss that topic with you. However, “but this is probably the kind of illogical, childish thinking we can expect from drug users”. I missed the part where he said he was a drug user. BTW, many highly gifted and brilliant people through history have used drugs. Why don’t you try a more inspired diatribe next time. Are you using any drugs? I cannot understand why the negative comments posted here are so biased and uncompromising. I do believe that the sooner people start thinking rationally for themselves and become aware of the realities of our society, especially drug control and privatization (including life itself), perhaps positive changes can be made through positive personal involvement.