Against Drug Prohibition . Not only is prohibition a proven failure as a drug control strategy, but it subjects otherwise law- abiding citizens to arrest, prosecution and imprisonment for what they do in private. In trying to enforce the drug laws, the government violates the fundamental rights of privacy and personal autonomy that are guaranteed by our Constitution. The ACLU believes that unless they do harm to others, people should not be punished - - even if they do harm to themselves. There are better ways to control drug use, ways that will ultimately lead to a healthier, freer and less crime- ridden society. In the late 1. 9th century, marijuana and cocaine were put to various medicinal uses - - marijuana to treat migraines, rheumatism and insomnia, and cocaine to treat sinusitis, hay fever and chronic fatigue. All of these drugs were also used recreationally, and cocaine, in particular, was a common incredient in wines and soda pop - - including the popular Coca Cola. In 1. 91. 4, Congress passed the Harrison Act, banning opiates and cocaine. Alcohol prohibition quickly followed, and by 1. U. S. That did not mean, however, an end to drug use. It meant that, suddenly, people were arrested and jailed for doing what they had previously done without government interference. Prohibition also meant the emergence of a black market, operated by criminals and marked by violence. Most states immediately replaced criminal bans with laws regulating the quality, potency and commercial sale of alcohol; as a result, the harms associated with alcohol prohibition disappeared. Meanwhile, federal prohibition of heroin and cocaine remained, and with passage of the Marijuana Stamp Act in 1. Federal drug policy has remained strictly prohibitionist to this day. Since 1. 98. 1, tax dollars to the tune of $1. Columbian cocaine, Burmese heroin and Jamaican marijuana from penetrating our borders. Yet the evidence is that for every ton seized, hundreds more get through. Hundreds of thousands of otherwise law abiding people have been arrested and jailed for drug possession. Between 1. 96. 8 and 1. One- third of those were marijuana arrests, most for mere possession. This war, instead of employing a strategy of prevention, research, education and social programs designed to address problems such as permanent poverty, long term unemployment and deteriorating living conditions in our inner cities, has employed a strategy of law enforcement. While this military approach continues to devour billions of tax dollars and sends tens of thousands of people to prison, illegal drug trafficking thrives, violence escalates and drug abuse continues to debilitate lives. The story of the Camorra and the Sicilians in early New York. A long running battle between New York’s gangs to control the city’s lucrative rackets. Compounding these problems is the largely unchecked spread of the AIDS virus among drug- users, their sexual partners and their offspring. Indeed, the criminal drug laws protect drug traffickers from taxation, regulation and quality control. Those laws also support artificially high prices and assure that commercial disputes among drug dealers and their customers will be settled not in courts of law, but with automatic weapons in the streets. The reality of prohibition belies that promise. Consequently, street drugs are often contaminated or extremely potent, causing disease and sometimes death to those who use them.
Yet drug users share needles because laws prohibiting possession of drug paraphernalia have made needles a scarce commodity. These laws, then, actually promote epidemic disease and death. In New York City, more than 6. HIV positive. By contrast, the figure is less than one percent in Liverpool, England, where clean needles are easily available. And so began my stewardship.” Edith Bolling Wilson, First Lady to President Woodrow Wilson. These words were written by Edith Bolling Wilson in her autobiography.As crack use rose during the late 1. An especially needy group - - low- income pregnant women who abused crack - - often had no place to go at all because Medicaid would not reimburse providers. Instead, the government prosecuted and jailed such women without regard to the negative consequences for their children. And just as most of the 1. The killings, then and now, are based on rivalries: Al Capone ordered the executions of rival bootleggers, and drug dealers kill their rivals today. A 1. 98. 9 government study of all 1. In only one case was the perpetrator actually under the influence of cocaine. Today, drug- law enforcement consumes more than half of all police resources nationwide, resources that could be better spent fighting violent crimes like rape, assault and robbery. Nonviolent drug offenders make up 5. In 1. 99. 0, the states alone paid $1. While drug imprisonments are a leading cause of rising local tax burdens, they have neither stopped the sale and use of drugs nor enhanced public safety. For example, according to government estimates only 1. Nationwide, one- quarter of all young African American men are under some form of criminal justice supervision, mostly for drug offenses. This phenomenon has had a devastating social impact in minority communities. Moreover, the abuse of drugs, including alcohol, has more dire consequences in impoverished communities where good treatment programs are least available. People in almost all cultures, in every era, have used psychoactive drugs. Native South Americans take coca- breaks the way we, in this country, take coffee- breaks. Native North Americans use peyote and tobacco in their religious ceremonies the way Europeans use wine. Alcohol is the drug of choice in Europe, the U. S. Instead of trying to stamp out all drug use, our government should focus on reducing drug abuse and prohibition- generated crime. This requires a fundamental change in public policy: repeal of criminal prohibition and the creation of a reasonable regulatory system. The result: Consumption of beer and wine went down while consumption of hard hard liquor went up. Similarly, contemporary drug smugglers' preference for powdered cocaine over bulky, pungent coca leaves encourages use of the most potent and dangerous cocaine products. In contrast, under legal conditions, consumers - - most of whom do not wish to harm themselves - - play a role in determining the potency of marketed products, as indicated by the popularity of today's light beers, wine coolers and decaffeinated coffees. Once alcohol prohibition was repealed, consumption increased somewhat, but the rate of liver cirrhosis went down because people tended to choose beer and wine over the more potent, distilled spirits previously promoted by bootleggers. So, even though the number of drinkers went up, the health risks of drinking went down. The same dynamic would most likely occur with drug legalization: some increase in drug use, but a decrease in drug abuse. For young people, who are often attracted to taboos, legal drugs might be less tempting than they are now. That has been the experience of The Netherlands: After the Dutch government decriminalized marijuana in 1. Prior to decriminalization, 1. Dutch 1. 7- and 1. By 1. 98. 5, that figure had dropped to 6. It is hard to imagine drugs being more available than they are today. Despite efforts to stem their flow, drugs are accessible to anyone who wants them. In a recent government- sponsored survey of high school seniors, 5. In our inner- cities, access to drugs is especially easy, and the risk of arrest has proven to have a negligible deterrent effect. What would change under decriminalization is not so much drug availability as the conditions under which drugs would be available. Without prohibition, providing help to drug abusers who wanted to kick their habits would be easier because the money now being squandered on law enforcement could be used for preventive social programs and treatment. But that is what exists today under prohibition. Consider the legal drugs, alcohol and tobacco: Their potency, time and place of sale and purchasing age limits are set by law. Similarly, warning labels are required on medicinal drugs, and some of these are available by prescription only. The same could occur with currently illegal drugs. For example, states could create different regulations for marijuana, heroin and cocaine. It will not by itself end drug abuse or eliminate violence. Nor will it bring about the social and economic revitalization of our inner cities. However, ending prohibition would bring one very significant benefit: It would sever the connection between drugs and crime that today blights so many lives and communities. In the long run, ending prohibition could foster the redirection of public resources toward social development, legitimate economic opportunities and effective treatment, thus enhancing the safety, health and well- being of the entire society. Support incremental harm- reduction measures like needle exchange programs and medical marijuana legislation. Use this briefing paper to raise the consciousness of your friends and co- workers. Lost Medals - Lost Medals Main. Medals Owned/Wanted: Wanted- any medals to the surname, cash waiting discretion assured.
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