War on drugs ignites a cycle that erodes personal liberty
by James Simpson

Potomac News
Friday, May 23, 2003

We have a HUGE drug problem in this country. Supervisor Mary Hill should be intimately aware of it by now, but many Republicans who have not had such personal experience still approach the issue from a limited perspective. The problem I am referring to isn't drug abuse; it's how our society addresses "illegal" drug use. We have been fighting the so-called "war on drugs" for over thirty years, yet the war isn't against drugs, it's against people. People take drugs primarily for one of two reasons. Either they need them for physical relief of some sort or they have emotional troubles. As a nation we address the former through the medical establishment and the latter through the justice system. However, those who take drugs due to emotional or psychological problems do not benefit from incarceration.

Although what drugs one uses, for any reason, should be an individuals free choice and no one else's, our county has arbitrarily decided what drugs may be unreservedly consumed (ex: acetaminophen), what drugs are to be controlled (ex: codeine), and what drugs should be outlawed (ex: marijuana). Most of the drug problems we face in society today stem from those in the "outlawed" category.

Like the drug problems of today, the nation faced a similar situation in the early 1900s. In 1919 the Eighteenth Amendment was ratified, prohibiting "manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors." Are there shoot-outs over black market sales of expensive booze? Why not? Because our nation realized that the Eighteenth Amendment was a horrendous failure and repealed it fourteen years later, in 1933.

Even though the repeal of prohibition significantly reduced the murder rate, the damage was done. Congress passed the National Firearms Act in 1934. According to the BATF, "National dismay over the weaponry wielded so conspicuously by organized crime during Prohibition led to passage in 1934 of the National Firearms Act, followed in four years by the Federal Firearms Act."

Unfortunately those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

The "drug war" has done more then all other causes combined to infringe upon our Second Amendment rights. Those who are in favor of the right to keep and bear arms should take heed - the enormous number of restrictions placed on gun ownership these days is due entirely to our war on drugs because most of the gun crimes committed these days are related to drug use and trafficking.

It is through a vicious sequence of events that gun control laws, such as the "Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994" are enacted. It goes like this; the tighter the restrictions on drugs, the more expensive they become. The more expensive they are the more violence is committed to supply and acquire them. The more violence that occurs the greater the call for gun control.

While the rest of the world recognizes that increasingly harsh penalties have not solved their drug problems, we forge ahead in the same failed direction. When the problem persists, and current gun control laws don't stop it, those who fear guns, and don't mind trampling the Constitution, are all too happy to propose additional restrictions on gun ownership and our Constitutional rights.

The collateral damage in this war has been the withholding of benefits derived from plants such as marijuana from those who could truly benefit from them, such as: glaucoma, aids, and cancer patients. The fact that hemp so closely resembles marijuana, and therefore is also outlawed, means that we have lost an excellent source of paper pulp, omega-3 fatty acids, and a renewable alternative to oil. Mandatory sentencing laws have even allowed violent criminals (those incarcerated for rape, assault, etc.) to be released early due to the lack of adequate space in prisons.

But these facts don't matter to our "compassionate conservatives." As long as they can keep deceiving citizens with public service ads that mislead, they feel justified. While the rest of the civilized world has recognized that people have had addictions for thousands of years - and that events in our turbulent, fast paced world are not making it easier for people with emotional problems - they have taken steps to decriminalize drugs. As long as we continue to address drug abuse as a war, and not face it as a health care issue, we will not make things better for our country or those suffering from drug abuse. We will, however, continue to suffer from its negative consequences.

As a Christian Libertarian I am greatly concerned for individuals who have an addiction to drugs, and I can't help but wonder why Republicans and Democrats feel that the best answer to the drug problem is a war against those who are suffering.

James Simpson lives in Lake Ridge.