Winning the "War on Drugs?"

The government bans a substance. It's considered "immoral," "dangerous," and "destructive." But it's in high demand among the people. So, "alternate" suppliers fill the demand. They are wildly successful, even though charging much more than the substance cost as a legal commodity. Profits skyrocket, and they use this money to build private "armies" of thieves, thugs and murderers. To protect their "turf," assassination becomes a well-used tool. What were once petty neighborhood thieves become well-financed criminal "kingpins," casually killing their competitors to secure their profits.

To fight this flouting of the law, the government devotes more and more resources to the problem. Special units are formed at the city, state and national levels. While they have some success, they cannot come close to shutting down the supply. Some forms of the banned substance are imported, others are made in-country, and the sources are too numerous and varied for effective interdiction. Despite the government's best efforts, pretty much anyone who desires the substance can get it.

And the enormous amounts of money involved invite, practically demand, wide-spread corruption. Judges, cops, whole divisions of law enforcement are bought and paid for to look the other way while, for the criminals, business continues as usual. The people see this; they know the cops are "on the take." This leads to a general disdain for the law among many "average" people, as it seems that "everyone is getting away with it." Crime in general increases as it becomes plain that, to focus on this one "criminal act," resources are being pulled from other branches of law-enforcement.

And the killings, collateral crimes, and distribution of the substance continue unabated...

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So, can anyone tell: am I describing Prohibition, or our current "War on Drugs?"

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This is why I feel it's time to re-assess the WOD. A legal product can be regulated and controlled. Prices would come down, alleviating the need of users to commit crimes to finance their habits. Resources could be re-directed toward education and rehabilitation. Street fights over drug-selling "turf" would decline, if not completely disappear, as the profit motive vanished.

Just as Prohibition was a failure for all the reasons related above, the WOD is a failure. The same mistaken approach is having almost exactly the same results. We are creating and financing powerful, ruthless criminals, luring many into a life of crime, and having virtually no real effect on the abuse of illegal drugs.

Legalizing, and REGULATING, many currently banned drugs would making controlling the distribution (i.e. keeping them away from children) more achievable. We could minimize their impact on the justice system, and society as a whole. Resources would be freed-up to be used for counseling and education, and to concentrate on more socially damaging crimes. We could re-claim neighborhoods that have become, basically, self-serve drug markets, as good people gave up and moved out.

So, I think it's time to discuss this. I feel this approach has much promise, but my mind is not closed to other thoughts. Can we have a reasonable discussion about this topic? I'd like to find out.