The biggest winner in Prohibition was organized crime, as the mob controlled all aspects of the alcohol business. The funds from alcohol allowed the Mafia to grow from their individual city enclaves to a national organization with its tentacles in every corner of American society from loan sharking to robbing union pension funds. Another side effect was the change in drinking habits. Historian Samuel Morrison noted, “Since beer and wine did not pay bootleggers like strong liquor, the country’s drinking habits were changed from one to the other.” College age adults, instead of drinking beer, enjoyed bathtub gin and other hard liquor. Drug prohibition has produced similar results in strengthening criminal elements while seeing a shift to the use of harder drugs.
The one positive aspect of Prohibition was that Americans drank less compared to the period before Prohibition. The risk of legalization is an increased use of drugs if legally available. Like tobacco and alcohol, marijuana and other drug use could increase to a certain level before leveling off. Today, there are more ex-smokers than smokers and overall, the percentage of Americans who smoke has declined over the past decade. When the side effects of alcohol and tobacco became evident, Society as a whole found answers to restrict the use of these agents. Making a product legal does not mean society sanctions it. Many communities have passed "no smoking" laws in various public buildings and increasing policing on drunk driving has encouraged many individuals to reduce their drinking and health risk have induced many to quit smoking. Education of the dangers of the abuse of agents has been significant in the reduction of drinking and smoking cigarettes.
While I believe that legalization will increase drug usage, others disagree. Jini Wallace of Christians for Cannabis told me in an interview, “In countries and states that have made moves toward decriminalization, there has been little to no increase in use.” Ms. Wallace concludes that those individuals who use “other drugs, such as crack, cocaine, etc...will switch back to Cannabis.” She added that the lower price for legal marijuana will allow consumers to use more cannabis and less of the more expensive harder substance. Former Governor Gary Johnson (R-New Mexico) also dissents from the view that legalization means increased drug use. He observed, “For starters, we shouldn't be looking at use as the benchmark. Look at Holland, where effectively drugs have been decriminalized; Holland has 60 percent of the drug use the United States has. I'm talking about marijuana and hard drugs, kids and adults. So if you look at that, it would not suggest that use would increase”
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Mark Edward Manning
Very good post, Tom. As a conservative who hates the War on Drugs myself, there's nothing here I could find to argue with.
2 - Big Time Patriot
The war on drugs is only possible through Big Government and Government Interference With Personal Sovereginty. I could never figure out why conservatives would be for an intrusive and costly war on drugs. If we can't protect the environment through methods such as Kyoto because it would "wreck the economy" then why are we wasting money trying to protect people from drugs by building more and more prisons? That is not helping the economy much either.
Of course, ending the war on drugs could prove devestating to Afghanistans economy.
3 - Michael Frager
Great article!!
Give marijuana basically the same legal status as alcohol and that will solve all the problems!
4 - CCCCP.org
Good luck getting prohibitionists to concede any of these points. Copy and paste the links below into your browser's address field to check references.
Our government admits that after marijuana users were targeted for prosecution in the mid 1980s, heroin use rates increased drastically among eighth graders. Today, youth prescription, hard drug and solvent huffing abuses have soared to frighteningly high levels.
All this occurs despite, or perhaps thanks to false advertising from Office of National Drug Control Policy suggesting that heroin, crack and tobacco cigarettes are as safe or somehow safer than a joint.
(www.ktvu.com/station/4449235/detail.html , www.mediacampaign.org/mg/print/ad_ashtray.html )
Meanwhile, the very officials sworn to protect and defend us all will look you in the eye from their perch at C-Span and swear that approved drugs are safer than pot. Of course, drug manufacturers support such false claims, even as they make billions covering up harm from dangerous and defective products that kill over a hundred thousand citizens every year.
(www.taf.org/top20.htm , library.findlaw.com/2000/Nov/1/130252.html , www.drugfree.org/Portal/About/Partners/list.aspx )
On June 16th, newspapers across the country published a George Will column in which ONDCP director John Walters admits marijuana is non-toxic and compares the fight against terrorists to finding a needle in a haystack, yet insists federal resources should still be targeted against American cannabis consumers.
(www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n969/a04.html , www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n967/a02.html )
The truth is that a war on otherwise law abiding citizens over pot is akin to burning that haystack, while ignoring the needle.
Backed by the full force and weight of the federal government (www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/publications/policy/budgetsum04/ ), Mr. Walters apparently feels confident in his deceptive mantras and straw man arguments.
Even as we pay for a war that benefits oil interests and foreign opium traffickers, we are told by our own President that "the freedom we defend is meant for all men and women, and for all time." Apparently, those charged with securing the homeland have missed the message:
(www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n929/a06.html?397 )
It is up to us to expose such waste and fraud as immoral, and unlawful:
U.S. Constitution Article III, Section. 3. Clause 1:
Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court.
- - -
Today, after nearly four years since 9/11, the American people still do not know that thousands of lives can be jeopardized under the unspoken policy of 'protecting certain foreign business relations.' The victims family members still do not realize that information and answers they have sought relentlessly for almost 4 years has been blocked due to the unspoken decisions made and disguised under 'safeguarding certain diplomatic relations .'
- Whistle Blower Sibel Edmonds, June 20, 2005
http://www.justacitizen.com/articles_documents/FBI%20&%20911.htm
5 - Kirk Muse
These people who call themselves "drug warriors" are low-life opportunists who know that prohibition doesn't work.
They know that prohibition makes our nations drug problem worse--much
worse. Our drug war cheerleaders know that marijuana prohibition doesn't protect out children but rather puts our children in much greater danger by exposing them to drug dealers who often
sell other much more dangerous drugs like heroin and methamphetamine--and offer free samples to their marijuana customers.
These so-called "drug warriors" don't want to win the war on drugs--they want the drug war to continue and to expand. And it has.
I'd like to add that I have personally never seen heroin, cocaine or meth except on TV. However, I was frequently
offered free samples of these dangerous drugs when I was a user of marijuana which is more than 15 years ago.
Fortunenatly, I turned down all offers of free samples of other drugs.
Unfortunenatly, many other do not--thus the "gateway effect."
6 - alpha
William F. Buckley is why I consider myself a conservative and the anti-drug crusaders and prolife zealots the radicals.
The drug war has done nothing good to slow the use of dangerous drugs.
It has made a lot of rich people richer.
It has made some poor people richer.
It helped a lot of people become poorer.
It has, through US influence, destabilized a number of countries which then saw horrible and disgusting effects as the forces of anti drug legality fought the indigenous peoples with their disappearing and death squads.
It has helped bring the US economy down by spending billions on a useless fight that has merely made the minions of the law part of the drug trade or merely more violent and without the moraliy they were charged with protecting.
As William F. Buckley would say, it is time for the country to come to its senses before it loses itself in an unwinnable so-called war against itself.
7 - Matthew T. Sussman
Alcohol was blamed for poverty, crime, insanity and degeneracy. [in reference to the 1920s]
It still is a large factor.
Question for all: There's a big difference between legalization and decriminalization. Which one are you preferential towards?
8 - Curtis Canfield
This is the best written article I have read on the subject to date. I believe Americans need the truth. The solution for our country lies in removing old stigma surrounding this herb. Then provide the public accurate information about cannabis and it's uses. In 5 years the whole thing will seem as ridicules as bottled water. Avian=Naive (backwards)
9 - CCCCP.org
Without question, alcohol is a poison that has been abused by many in society.
However, when alcohol was prohibited, per capita homicides and youth abuses rose drastically along with the availability of illicit and often deadly substitutes.
www.eh.net/encyclopedia/?article=miron.prohibition.alcohol
www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa-157.html
There can be no question but that today's war on drugs has had a similar, if not identical effect.
In fact, under U.S. pressure, world 'leaders' have chosen to suppress evidence of the harm from such fraudulent policies:
2005: anti-drugs report showing drug war benefits criminals suppressed:
www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n1073/a02.html
www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n1073/a05.html
read the report here:
image.guardian.co.uk/sys-files/Guardian/documents/2005/07/05/Report.pdf
1998: WHO covers up cannabis report:
www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99/n180/a05.html
www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99/n308/a04.html
2005: Prohibitionist NIDA researcher admits marijuana associated with REDUCTION in lung cancer:
www.counterpunch.org/gardner07022005.html
Those tempted to dismiss such evidence of drug war harm consistently and disingenuously omit factual evidence that contradicts their position.
Drug war IS crime. Fight it, or have another drink.
10 - Andy Moon
Personally, I prefer regulation to decriminalization. Decrim keeps all of the harm in having sales and distribution illegal while not taking advantage of the benefits that trackable sales and taxation would give. I don't like the term "legalization" per se as it evokes visions of drugs in vending machines. What I want is hard core regulation of some of the more dangerous chemicals we know of.
11 - andy marsh
I say legalize it, tax it like alcohol and there'll never be a deficit again!
12 - Victor Plenty
And nuclear power will be too cheap to meter!
13 - Eric Olsen
super Tom! tax and regulate I say
14 - WTF
Lyndon LaRouche wrote a book years ago, while in under the employ of the Nixon administration. The book Dope Inc... exposed the fortunes and who those fortunes belonged to in the early 1970's. LaRouche was blacklisted by the Nixon camp, the IRS was sent to destroy him, and the book claimed a fraud. But what an eyeopener. A simple search on Google will bring the necessary information up, for the curious.
Pro or Con? Neither, give people a chance to fuck up their health and they'll do it, or not, despite laws.
So why punish for youthful indescretions?
I predict that MADD will have a field day.
15 - Margaret Romao Toigo
We don't need to "legalize" illegal drugs, we need to regulate unregulated drugs.
16 - Mark Edward Manning
Matthew T. Sussman: "Question for all: There's a big difference between legalization and decriminalization. Which one are you preferential towards?"
Decriminalization. The model in the Netherlands, which I have experienced and studied in person, is perhaps the best approach to marijuana.
17 - Matthew T. Sussman
Another open question: If marijuana becomes a regulated drug, is it more or less dangerous than alcohol?
18 - Iana
It is a federalist issue. Notice that conservative legislators vote for the drug war because they make it an emotional, law and order issue. Democrats can be counted on to ‘talk’ about ending it.
While on the Supreme Court, conservatives can't rationally justify the drug war i.e.: Raich vs Ashcroft/Gonzales, and liberal justices find mendacious 'New Deal' rulings to perpetuate the war on drugs.
It is a federalist issue because republicans and democrats don't even have the will to be consistent on it!
19 - Margaret Romao Toigo
Marijuana is far less toxic and intoxicating than alcohol. About 1500 people die of alcohol poisoning (overdose) every year. In over 5000 years of recorded history, not one single person has ever died from a marijuana overdose.
Think about it. Have you ever overindulged in alcohol? How did that feel? Now, Have you ever overindulged in marijuana? No? Was that due to a lack of effort?
Alcohol is a hard drug, marijuana is not.
20 - andy marsh
Overindulged in Marijuana? Is there such a thing?
21 - Margaret Romao Toigo
"Overindulged in Marijuana? Is there such a thing?"
Such a thing has been attempted numerous times without success.
22 - andy marsh
That's pretty much what I've "read"...you can really only get so stoned!
23 - Margaret Romao Toigo
It's true. I've "read" that its called "peaking" and that once that point is reached, smoking more is just a waste of stash.
And while we're at this, I have to disagree with one of the numbers in the article.
Sales of paraphernalia are over $1 billion per year (the only related industry that can be somewhat tracked because it is in a legal gray area), if there are only 15 million cannabis consumers in the US, then each of them must have 1000s of bongs. A more realistic estimate is 30-40 million.
24 - andy marsh
Is it peaking or forgetting where you put your stash?
25 - The Duke
Why does the PR machine always use the term "the war on" this or that?
The war on drugs.
The war on poverty.
The war on health care.
The war on terrorism.
Do we have all these war's going on.
Pols also feel the need to fight, fight and fight some more. The verbs are starting to boreass me to death.
But the dude up there on 14 make a valid point. Illegal or Legal, any substance that is hard on your system is hard on your system.
What makes MJ get you high? Science points out that MJ has a natural protective agent, which has developed overtime (adaptation of the species) to protect it against extinction.
The same agent (THC) makes you high... but animals interpret the "high" as a bad thing, and will not eat the plant again, because the animal interprets correctly. In fact, THC poisons; not enhances perception.
The animals get sick, the plant thrives. So do thorn bushes etc...
Any drug actually poisons your system... however we find that uses for opiates, stimulants etc... have uses, but are not recommended for overage of use, because of negative side effects.
There is also a liver synthesis problem with more robust narcotics. After a while livers are overextended and start to fail. Liver failure leads to eventual death, or extention of life through transplant.
So there is a health issue attached to cannibus sativa. Did you know that hops (used in beer production) is related to MJ? In fact you can smoke the hops bud and receive a mild "high" -- You can also smoke forcisthia buds and get a mild "high."
I guess the correct terminoloy is intoxication. The key to that word is TOXIC, which is from the Latin Toxicum, which translates to the term poisoning.
Could it be safe to assume, that legalizing drugs, would also place a burden on health care, future health care, and systems of health care such as nursing homes, hospitals etc....
Ever been to Crete? The hashish smokers there, have been around for millenia, and they are mindless, bumbling street people, who have reduced their mental capacity to something akin to alzheimer's victims. All self induced through the use of Hashish, with the compound THC.
Lung problems associated with cannibus use (smoking) is also on the rise. Tobacco isn't the only smokable substance which effects one's ability to promote air exchange.
Go visit a cancer ward, or someplace where smokers wait to die from various ailments related to inhaling superheated gasses over a long period of time. It's not pretty.
Legalize MJ? Sure why not. Decriminalize whatever, but the a general decline in health, and quality of life for those who indulge will surely follow.