Why Haven’t We Ended The War On Drugs?

A young person makes their way through high school, as confused and misguided as anyone is at 14 to 17.  They are a sponge, soaking up the world that surrounds them, adopting the behaviors of everyone they know.

At some point during this time frame, the circle of friends they have had since they were children begins to change before their eyes.  They’re getting older.  Conversations are now about new things, new experiences, new passions and new interests.

One of those friends, by some set of circumstances, will probably get ahold of some weed, and the group will agree it’d be exciting to try.

From that point forward, a failed legal system is set in place which ensures that the situation is dealt with in the most erroneous, counter-productive, foolish way imaginable.  If the consequences this system weren’t so tragic, the War on Drugs would be comical in that it manages to make every problem it tries to address ten times worse.

The War On Drugs tells that child who decided to try smoking pot with a few of their closest friends that they are a criminal.  They may begin thinking of themselves differently, engaging in other (more destructive) criminal behaviors because they already had a taste of that label.

And what if they have a good experience with it?

What if they experience marijuana as a relatively non-dangerous substance that doesn’t even hurt as much as their parents’ alcohol that they tried a few months before?  The War on Drugs tells that person that the law is inconsistent, labelling alcohol as legal yet criminalizing a plant that doesn’t even cause too much of a hangover.

Maybe the War on Drugs was wrong about other substances too.  Cocaine?  Pills?  Something even more addictive?

The War On Drugs also ensured that marijuana is more accessible to that child than alcohol is at their age, thanks to the entire industry being forced into the unregulated black market.

The truth is, whether a person starts using drugs through an experience in school, whether they try it for the first time at a fast food chain they got a job at, whether it simply slipped its way into their social life otherwise, drugs are a part of human culture.  People are going to do it – and it is going to be a huge huge health issue for those who end up addicted to something.

Instead of labelling this human behavior as a criminal offense and trying to stop substance use in its tracks (a goal that has failed miserably), why not drop the stigma, regulate intelligently and give people real medical help when they need it – not jail time?

Instead of continuing a system that disproportionately oppresses low-income people and people of color, sometimes by design, why not build a compassionate system that genuinely aims to improve the lives of people through a realistic drug policy?

Instead of making it even harder for people to get off of drugs by punishing them rather than supporting them, why not strip this ridiculous criminalization of substance use?  Why not genuinely care about the people who choose to try drugs due to inevitable socio-political or economic factors, and help make sure they stay healthy and don’t become a danger to anyone around them?

Look, these policies are stupid.  They just exacerbate the problem of substance use and abuse.

If you want any more proof of it, read this CNN article in which an aide to Nixon admits about the War on Drugs:

“The Nixon White House…had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people.  You understand what I’m saying?  We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities.  We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news.

Did we know we were lying about the drugs?  Of course.“

I know this speaks for itself, but the fact that this farce has gone on for so long is an outrage.

We need to legalize and regulate marijuana, a substance that is probably less dangerous than alcohol, but can cause serious issues when used at a young age.  Several states have already taken this step, with a general absence of negative consequences being reported.

We need to decriminalize all other substances and treat people with addiction in a compassionate, care-focused manner.

We need to stop letting the pharmaceutical industry make opiate addiction a bigger and bigger problem and look into possible alternate solutions for pain relief and decreased dependency on addictive painkillers.

We need to care about people, and we need to end the War on Drugs.