The War on Drugs is Lost

Notes of Concern…

          …Jackson Blair

Raise The White Flag

The War on Drugs is over.

We lost.

Considering the billions of dollars spent over the years and the constant promises from politicians that they will end the drug trade the facts are that drugs are readily available in our country to almost anyone who wishes to buy them.

Remember that we actually had “Drug Czars” under some presidents. I think some even had “cabinet rank.” We proclaimed that we would stop the smuggling of drugs across the Mexican border with the United States. A president’s wife campaigned for eight years with the slogan “Just Say No.”

Well “Drug Czars” didn’t work.

Drugs coming across the border are as plentiful as the illegal immigrants that also continue to cross into our country.

And with due respect to Mrs. Reagan, I think more people are saying “yes” than are saying “no.”

Recently the president said he would let illegal people stay in the United States. There are nuances to his proposal but this is the bottom line: you broke the law but you are here and we will find a way for you to stay.

Recently governments have said that imprisoning folks for marijuana use was a waste of time and money. Mandatory minimum sentences for some drug possession will soon be a thing of the past.

Recently the government said illegals could work at polling sites, would not be deported and would find a path to citizenship. Some of these illegals probably brought drugs with them.

As I write my column more and more states are pushing for the elimination of prison terms for certain illegal drug possession, especially laws that demand a period of imprisonment.

While I am not opposed to a more enlightened approach to determining penalties for the use of minor drugs, I think we are actually simply trying to rationalize the fact that what we wanted to do we were unable to do.

We wanted to stop drug traffic.

We failed.

We wanted people who wished to become Americans to follow a simple, legal procedure.

We failed.

So now we may well lessen the penalties and actually make some drug use socially acceptable but at the end of the day it is clear to me: we just failed.

In my life I never experimented with drugs. I simply had no interest. So I am certainly not an authority on the risks involved nor the pleasure that might pertain.

I was a fan of the Myrin Institute and other organizations that made efforts to educate young people on the possible damage marijuana use could have for future pregnancies and births. This information seemed statistically significant. But it is clear the youth of America were unwilling to forgo the pleasure of marijuana use because of any fear of eventual genetic problems. And since they are still smoking it their children will have no concern for themselves in that regard.

I am certainly not against the medical use of marijuana. When pain cannot be controlled by more conventional methods, it seems more than compassionate to make whatever drugs can control pain available to patients. We have been, in my opinion, pretty silly about this.

In some ways I see comparisons to the era of prohibition.

The government did not want people to use alcoholic beverages.

They put in place lots of programs to make sure alcohol was not available.

The people wanted alcohol.

They were willing to defy the government and to buy and use alcoholic beverages.

The war on booze failed.

And now the war on drugs has failed.

I am not a pacifist but maybe we should stop declaring wars of any kind.

Maybe the hippies had it right: make love not war.

Simple?

Pragmatic?

Realistic?