The Economist: “Prohibition has failed; legalization is the least bad solution”
Friday, March 6th, 2009 at 12:05 pm | By: Radical Russ
Next week ministers from around the world gather in Vienna to set international drug policy for the next decade. Like first-world-war generals, many will claim that all that is needed is more of the same. In fact the war on drugs has been a disaster, creating failed states in the developing world even as addiction has flourished in the rich world. By any sensible measure, this 100-year struggle has been illiberal, murderous and pointless. That is why The Economist continues to believe that the least bad policy is to legalise drugs.
“Least bad” does not mean good. Legalisation, though clearly better for producer countries, would bring (different) risks to consumer countries. As we outline below, many vulnerable drug-takers would suffer. But in our view, more would gain.
After pointing out the evidence of the Drug War’s failure to achieve “A drug free world by 2008″ as the UN’s general assembly crowed in 1998, The Economist points out:
This is not for want of effort. The United States alone spends some $40 billion each year on trying to eliminate the supply of drugs. It arrests 1.5m of its citizens each year for drug offences, locking up half a million of them; tougher drug laws are the main reason why one in five black American men spend some time behind bars. In the developing world blood is being shed at an astonishing rate. In Mexico more than 800 policemen and soldiers have been killed since December 2006 (and the annual overall death toll is running at over 6,000). This week yet another leader of a troubled drug-ridden country—Guinea Bissau—was assassinated.
The Economist then explains how legalization won’t be a tough sell at all in the producer countries, but it is faced with major political hurdles in the consumer countries:
That fear is based in large part on the presumption that more people would take drugs under a legal regime. That presumption may be wrong. There is no correlation between the harshness of drug laws and the incidence of drug-taking: citizens living under tough regimes (notably America but also Britain) take more drugs, not fewer. Embarrassed drug warriors blame this on alleged cultural differences, but even in fairly similar countries tough rules make little difference to the number of addicts: harsh Sweden and more liberal Norway have precisely the same addiction rates. Legalisation might reduce both supply (pushers by definition push) and demand (part of that dangerous thrill would go). Nobody knows for certain. But it is hard to argue that sales of any product that is made cheaper, safer and more widely available would fall. Any honest proponent of legalisation would be wise to assume that drug-taking as a whole would rise.
Here at NORML we promote the legalization of cannabis. Other drugs should require other measures that take into account the addictiveness and socially destructive capabilities of those drugs. I personally don’t believe those measures should include locking up addicts — prison is a lousy rehab — but I also don’t think a regulatory scheme that treats marijuana similar to alcohol would be appropriate for, say, cocaine, meth, or heroin.
But when you say the word “Legalization”, immediately people conjure visions of “Maui Wowie”, “Colombia Flake”, “Crystal Energy”, and “Super Smack” sold on convenience store shelves next to the 24-oz beers and junk food snack cakes. “Legalization”, though, can mean marijuana in adults-only stores with IDs checked for age 21 and limits placed on amount purchased while it can also mean much more stringent restrictions on other drugs like prescriptions and pharmacies and tight controls.
Topics: cocaine, Drug War, heroin, meth, methamphetamine, The Economist, United Nations
i don’t like the limit idea when buying, unless it’s like a 1/2pound and less, cuz it’s not like u couldn’t buy volume hard liqour and be monitored as to where that goes. although i hope when it’s legalized, that there’s a sensible limit, not an obsurd or slightly odd one.
I bought the economist just for that article and firm belief has always been to legalize cannabis and all cannabis derivatives. however I would say this that if the other drugs such as cocaine methamphetamines methylline dioxy amphetamine and its cnew cultural counter part extascy as well as all the opiates the largest degree of crime would most likely be reduced and the feds and other officials could concentrate on crimes like terrorist regimes and the taxes collected from said drugs could be put to better use like creating a less addictive drug or clearing out our huge dedt not to mention the jobs this would produce cannabis has such a diversity of uses outside of recreational enjoyment as well oh I was a card carring member of both normal and camp back in the 70’s i’d love to see real lsd in trip houses again instead of this garbage that kills and lsd is not a physically dependant drug either!
Good for The Economist. Everything sounds better when written from that looking-down-from-30,000-feet perspective that they use. I also appreciate their attitude comes from a libertarian rather than progressive point-of-view. We need many different types of voices to reach the broadest possible audience.
Russ, I loved your last paragraph. Legalization means more control, not less. In particular, it means reducing harm in a couple of ways. One is keeping stuff out of the hands of kids. (And by kids, I don’t mean 19 year olds.)
Another is shifting use to drugs that are less harmful. Cannabis is safer than currently legal drugs. If we can get people away from shit like Meth, anything that’s injected, PCP, crack, etc., that’s good. Does that mean tolerating the occasional yuppie who smokes opium on the weekend or has a little cocaine before the disco?
Fine. I’ll deal with it.
The military approach is cruel, counterproductive, stupid, and expensive. We tried it. It failed. Let’s move on.
But first things first. Can we all agree, to paraphrase Reagan, that marijuana is not the problem, it’s the solution?
Right on Russ
Keep hammering it home. There are better solutions and we need not fear change.
Simply tackle the new problems as they appear so things never get this bad again.
Personally the war is lost.
I call truce and let’s talk out a solution that’s as good as can be for ALL parties involved.
It’s time to move on