Lastly, there is the claim that without strong drug laws our society would become a collection of dope fiends and drug addicts. Well, alcohol is legal and the U.S. has not become a society of drunkards and loafers. There is evidence that the forbidden fruit theory has had a negative effect on drug use in the U.S. That is the theory that because drugs are illegal that adds to their attraction so more people use them here. The World Health Organization conducted a survey of 17 countries and found that the US, with the most draconian drug laws, had the highest rates of marijuana and cocaine use. 42.4 percent of respondents in the US admitted having used marijuana; the results were similar for cocaine, with the US leading the world by large margins for both drugs. By comparison, in the Netherlands, where possessing and using small amounts of pot is legal, only 19.8 percent of respondents have used marijuana. So, the US which has some of the most punitive drug laws leads in drug users compared to the Netherlands which has a much more lenient approach to drugs. This seems to refute the drug warriors’ claim that we need tough drug laws to prevent society from becoming overrun by drug users.
The next time politicians and advocates for the Drug War grandstand about the need for more money to fight the evil of drugs, Americans need to be skeptical and check the facts. Chances are, like killer electric garage doors and lifesaving airbags, the reasons are just more examples of fear tactics to legitimate their cause.
Article comments
1 - Dave Nalle
I think I wrote a virtually identical article 3 years ago. You can see how much progress we've made since then. I think the only difference was that I mentioned the ridiculous cost of the War on Drugs, which is now approaching $100 billion a year.
Dave
2 - Dan Miller
Good points all, and I agree that people who want to use drugs should be free to do so provided that I don't have to pay for it.
As the author correctly notes, these figures do not include the (possibly greater) numbers of people killed in drug related crime as a result of "collateral damage."One perhaps irreverent comment, however.
So why are we so upset?
Parenthetically, I would note that the 4,200 deaths resulting from heroin and cocaine use alone per year are about the same as the total number of deaths of U.S. troops in Iraq during the entire war.
So why are we so upset?
Dan
3 - bliffle
America was founded by Puritans and we have never overcome our lust to visit horrible punishment upon those we disdain as sinners. The most warped and vicious among those who have subsequently migrated here are happy to find so many kindred souls with torture, deprivation and execution foremost in their minds.
And then there are the cynical opportunists who manipulate these lust-dominated fools for their own base purposes: money, power and the supreme pleasure of torturing and murdering other humans.
4 - Clavos
"the supreme pleasure of torturing and murdering other humans."
Which is a waaayy better high than drugs...
5 - Maurice
I used to have the same enlightened and tolerant opinion as the author. That is no longer the case.
My last 2 kids have completely changed my mind. My youngest son (now 16) over dosed on various drugs and ended up in the emergency room 3 times in 2 months. He spent most of 2007 locked up. He ended up going to Northwest Childrens Home in Lewiston Idaho for six months.
My 18 year old son has been battling drugs since age 14. He has also ended up in the hospital for over doses. Once he over dosed on Datura so badly he had to be in ICU for 3 days.
It is offensive to me that cold medicines containing DXM are right there in the store for kids to steal off the shelf.
I finally lost it 2 weeks ago and started just punching both boys. The eighteen year old called the cops on me. I showed the cops their rooms and explained that I had been going through a personal hell for 2 years and their comment was, "Maybe you should have hit them sooner".
We have had counseling, and I have read books on parenting and we have tried to do it the 'nice way'. I whacked the young one today because the cops picked him up again last night.
Drugs need to be opposed on all fronts.
6 - Dave Nalle
I don't want to minimize the pain that Maurice is going through, but I have to point out that Datura and DXM aren't even illegal. Nothing in the drug was in any way blocks kids access to them or scores of other cheap and legal and extremely dangerous highs. Many of which, like Datura, are FAR more dangerous than most illegal drugs. Your chances of dying from Datura poisoning are infinitely higher than from Marijuana and substantially higher than from Heroin, Meth or Cocaine.
One of the reasons that kids turn to these highly toxic sources of a potential high is that they don't have access to legal alternatives. The illegality of relatively harmless drugs like Marijuana makes it MORE likely that they will sniff glue or huff paint or take Datura.
I'd be perfectly happy with my kids smoking some pot if it kept them from doing the things Maurice has had to deal with.
Dave
7 - Pete
Most supporters of drug decriminalization or legalization do not support legalizing use by or sales to minors. The legal model for preventing use by minors exists in our current alcohol laws and could be easily applied to marijuana, cocaine, etc.
Many youngsters are either killed outright by alcohol or have their lives ruined by it each year yet there is sensibly no serious call for a return to Prohibition. There may be good reason to keep these drugs out of the hands of children but that doesn't justify society harshly punishing responsible adults for using them in the privacy of their own homes.
8 - Doug Hunter
Legalize drugs, keep natural selection working as intended.
9 - Doug Hunter
Have you ever seen in person what Meth use does to people? For many, their bodies, their minds, and their futures wither away to nothing over a few short months.
That's not a fear tactic, it's a fact.
If legalization can reduce the destruction from the few really dangerous substances then of course I'm all for it. Marijuana is a no brainer and should be legalized and unrestricted immediately. Other drugs are a bit more tricky.
10 - Marcia Neil
Cannabis Sativa was banned in the U. S. because it was not found in North American at the time that someone's plant memory was used to locate specimens. The plant perhaps grows best in N. America where N. Americans value their status as relatives of Central/South Americans.
11 - Dr Dreadful
Ah, Marcia. Crystal clear as always. :-/
12 - bliffle
The drugs, unfortunately, are a response to powerful social pressures which young people have difficulty resolving. It's especially noticeable among young men, IMO. They have fewer supports to use, and are thrown on their own resources.
13 - Clavos
"The drugs, unfortunately, are a response to powerful social pressures which young people have difficulty resolving. It's especially noticeable among young men, IMO They have fewer supports to use, and are thrown on their own resources."
How does that account for multi-millionaire Wall Street stockbrokers in their 30s, 40s and 50s snorting coke on their lunch breaks? Or film workers in Hollywood? Suburbanites? Truck drivers?
All of those groups have drug users in them to varying degrees.
More pop sociology from the old man...
14 - Maurice
I stand by my earlier comment that "Drugs need to be opposed on all fronts."
It is interesting to note that addiction is everywhere and takes many forms. My sons started with pot and video games. The video games became more interesting to them when they were messed up. Soon they were trying stronger drugs and started staying up all night. Mushrooms and Datura gave them the release from reality they craved. Even when the law entered their lives they were unable to extricate themselves from the grip of addiction. Both boys tried going to churches and attending NA meetings and had periods of clean time. My youngest was locked up for most of 2007 and still goes back to drugs.
Unfortunately once you have opened the Padoras box of drug abuse it can never be closed. Both boys have many triggers including too much caffeine, video games, being left home alone, and even minor set backs in life that we all have to deal with.
To the addict one is too many and a thousand is never enough.
15 - Clavos
Maurice,
My heart goes out to you. I have a history of alcohol addiction through several generations of my family, and have some knowledge of the horror that can be wreaked on a family with an addicted member.
I cannot even imagine the burden and heartbreak of a parent who is in your situation.
I'm so sorry.
16 - Kenn Jacobine
Maurice,
I appreciate your position on this issue given your experience. Your boys did acquire their addictions even though the drugs they ingest are illegal. I guess if people have a predisposition to drug addiction it will happen even when the Drug War is on at full force. I object to treating your boys like criminals based solely on their drug use. Now when they are violent and hurt others than they should be proscecuted. If we treated drug addiction like the medical problem it is and not a criminal one than I think more people would not be afraid to ask for help before it became an issue of them stealing and acting violently towards others. It is a tough issue especially when the ones you love are involved in it. I am sorry for your situation.
Kenn
17 - Maurice
Clavos, thanks so much for your kind words. I can feel the empathy across the 3000 miles. Probably the hardest thing I have ever done in my life was stand up in a courtroom and testfy against my son. He was in junvenile greens and leg shackles and handcuffs. The judges can be lenient if the parents speak in their behalf. I knew my son needed more lockup time (clean time!) to help him overcome his addictions. My wife was sobbing and it was everything I could do to tell the judge that I knew my son would use if he got out. Life can be a bitch. He was able to take classes in junvenile detention and get school credit for them. He also completed a six week relapse program while in lockup. He celebrated his 15th birthday in the detention center. Thanks again for your kind words.
Kenn, I admit my views on this issue are skewed. My biggest concern is when young kids start using so early in their lives. I really don't know what the answer is. Couseling is very expensive. I have spent thousands of dollars in couseling for both boys, my wife and myself. We have also attended many N.A. meetings and I recommend them highly. Lately I have gone back to corporal punishment. Certainly in the past I have been guilty of coddling all my kids. Maybe the tough love will help. Thanks for your kind words.
18 - Maurice
I was just talking to my 16 year old and he said the hardest drug for him to obtain was alcohol - because it is legal for adults.
Not sure where that puts us now....
Legalize and control (tax) some of the minor drugs? I still worry about kids getting their hands on these drugs in their early years.
19 - Clavos
I see your point, Maurice.
But, perhaps, with the lesser drugs available on a legal basis, the temptation to progress to harder, more addictive substances might not be so strong as it is under the present circumstances.
I really don't know; but what I do know is that with all drugs illegal, as they are now, we still millions have families like yours struggling with the horrors you and your boys are battling.
I wish I had a definitive answer, but it's clear that prohibition doesn't stop the problem, and at least regulation affords some measure of control.
The possibility (and safeguarding) of tax revenues always motivates the government to get the job done more than any other incentive. Revenue collection is almost the only thing it really does well.
20 - bliffle
At the risk of being an ogre, and putting myself at risk of having my own parental failures exposed (and they are numerous and serious), perhaps there are some clues in this:
"Lately I have gone back to corporal punishment."
I daresay it is too late, and in any case mistaken. 'Consequences' are appropriate, but violence teaches violence and usually is counter-productive. Violence isn't the only consequence possible.
Constraint is superior to violence. I've never hit a child (or anyone else, for that matter) but I've constrained them. I've held them so they can't do forbidden things, like hit another child, make a mess, break things. When they are small. Hitting a child after their transgression is merely retribution or vengeance.
Constraint even works with adults. When my 2nd wife, in a rage, attacked me with a long kitchen knife I disarmed her easily (thanks to my Military Police training in the National Guard!) and then just held her tight from behind with her wrists immobilized. For several minutes until the waves of her rage subsided against her helplessness.
My friend Larry, who had been a starter in the NFL for several years, a big strong guy, was utterly dominated by the petulance of his beloved daughter, an only child. Larrys wife scolded him to hit the child. Larry couldn't hit anyone, except as allowed by the rules at a football scrimmage. His own father had routinely hit everyone in the family and the young Larry swore to himself that he never would. When the 6 year old acted up in my presence and he pleaded with me for help I told him to just hold her, constrain her, let her beat against his chest with her fists and wail and curse. Within 5 minutes she stopped and relaxed against him warmly and lovingly.
"Certainly in the past I have been guilty of coddling all my kids."
We've all done that, out of a combination of concern for them and to buy their love. The worst is parents who oscillate between coddling and violence.
" Maybe the tough love will help."
Sounds like you've started by refusing to make excuses for them.
21 - Andy Marsh
When my 2nd wife, in a rage, attacked me with a long kitchen knife
I find this so hard to believe, that anyone would ever want to take a knife to you! I bet she wanted to cut your tongue out!
22 - Marcia Neil
At issue here is the word 'drug' as a past tense of 'drag'. with reference to sociopolitical behavior. People who take medicinal compounds, as example, are often closely watched and studied, sometimes at very close range such that they "are dragged" among other people (thereby worsening their health after ingesting such compounds). 'Drug' as the short-form of the verb "was dragged" can also refer to suspected pedophiles, who 'wade into' groups/crowds of young people such that those are 'drug' from their families, peers or friends. WWW.amw.com tells incident details about the website founder's loss of a son in FL environs, possibly as a result from the social mechanics of population 'dragging' near the Atlantic Ocean watersheds and wildlfe. 'Drug' refers to any number of nonvoluntary actions they result as a consequence of 'dragging'.
23 - Jordan Richardson
O.......k?
24 - Dr Dreadful
Don't mind Marcia, Jordan. She never makes any sense. In fact, I have a pet theory that 'she' is actually a sophisticated, albeit not quite clued-in, AI bot.