LIBERTARIANplace

What if...



You will read similar statements, even some verbatim statements regarding policy on other victimless crimes. The point is, that in politics, in government, in social policy, in interpersonal relationships, realism and idealism are in constant dialectic. There are several overlapping reasons why most libertarians oppose the war on drugs, or any legislation against or prosecution of what we call "victimless crimes."

Liberty
We acknowledge that the term "victimless" is debatable in one sense. Those who are seduced or induced into drug use are victims and those who suffer the adverse social effects of addiction are victims as well. But when limiting the scope of that consideration to the micro consequences of addiction-- the effects on the addict and those in the addict's closely defined social circle, sphere of influence, there is no greater impact on such "victims" as there is on those who are addicted to alcohol, nicotine, gambling, or other legal addictions. Before we get into the pragmatic discussion of the fact that attempts to control such behavior do not work, we will make the more esoteric argument that true liberty, freedom, involve society's acknowledgement that everyone has to make his or her own choices, and unless these choices involve physical attacks on person or property, we are also left to live with the consequences of our choices.

But, just as there are negative consdquences to those directly involved in drug abuse, there are also numerous advantages for the free market in a free society to profit from one person's bad choices. Bad choices create an entire industry of prevention and treatment in the clinical and social venues. Lawyers benefit. Therapists, doctors, hospitals and clinics benefit and the communities in which these people and programs operate benefit from the money that comes to the local economy from the prevention/treatment industry.

Pragmatism
The above argument might suggest that if the aspects of addiction and drug use that are currently illegal were legalized like the vast majority of similar addictions, it is at worst, a wash in the cost to society. On the other hand, the current system that singles out certain substances as illegal, creates a tremendous net loss to society. It affects not only those dircetly involved but leaves literally no member of society untouched by the negative aspects of the policy.

When certain drugs are illegal, only criminals are able to create and manage the market for substances that while illegal are no less in demand. They are in demand becasue of the cache attached to them on the part of many who choose to experiment with them. They are in even greater demand when those who follow their curiosity, or their desire to appear "cool" or to fit in, or whatever the motivation might be, discover they are in too deep, cannot control their addiction and must serve the drug or drugs they have chosen to consume. They are in great, desperate demand to the piont that those who depend on them are willing to purchase them at any cost, take any measures to obtain the dramatically escalated cost of the substances on the black market. Because there is so much money involved, so much desperatation on the part of addicts not to be stopped, and so much desperation on the part of the government and its agents to control, if not stop drug trafficking, the street cost goes higher as does the likelihood of violence.

The likelihood of severe and pervasive violence as a direct outgrowth of illegal drugs comes from the high stakes created by drug laws. The criminal drug merchants have more to lose from interdiction and more to gain from being proactively violent to keep law enforcement at bay, as well as any competing gangs or cartels wanting to consolidate their hold on a given market.

The result of making some (remember, only some, not all addictive substances, and some that are now legal once were not) substances illegal, and not only illegal but the worst kind of felony offense, is a dramatic skewing of the market price of the substance due to supply, demand, and difficulty of delivery. Not only do drug merchants risk their freedom, they risk their lives to sell this product.  The result is warfare on our streets and neighborhoods between those who would sell the product, those who would take over their markets and those who would take their freedom or their lives, if capable of aprehending them, to stop their enterpreise, and the financial extortion of those who are dependent on drugs, creating pressure to commit property crimes to obtain the means to purchase the substances at thse inflated prices.

One can legitimately argue either side of the question of whether or not all drugs should be legal. It is our positon, however, that despite the pros and cons of current drug policy, the most compelling reason to legalize may be the same rationale that was used to end alcohol prohibitioin. You can't control human behavior. You can't legislate morality or healthy living. The more you try to control, to legislate, the more you raise the stakes, actually add to the problem by creating collateral damage. Ironically, the key to understanding and accepting this, may be found in an aspect of drug treatment. 

The serenity prayer which is the key and cornerstone to Twelve Step treatment of all sorts of additions, and for those unfamiliar with it, it reads like this. (Understand that for our purposes and those of the Twelve Step community the term "God" is left to be defined as you understand God-- from a secular humanist sense of the force for good that is in all human beings, to the ore nebulous "higher power," to a specific theological definition. We leave the God blanks to be filled in by the reader.)

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change
the courage to change the things I can change
and the wisdom to know the difference.  

If we can't change the human proclivity to use and abuse drugs whether or not they are legal, and therefore cannot change the abuse of drugs in our society by waging War against this practice, give us wisdom to realize that the best approach is to focus on voluntary treatment in the private sector for those who recognize their need for help and are motivated to invest in getting it.

We will  tell you why and how the above statement is true on this issue, at this link and also below.

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