U.S. Policy on Illegal Drugs

William F. Buckley, long-time conservative columnist, author, and magazine publisher raised more than a few eyebrows several years ago when he advocated for a revamping of U.S. policy on illegal drugs. Buckley's premise in a nutshell was that the policy itself is ill-conceived and reminiscent of Prohibition, which was an abject failure. Government should not be in the business of regulating the private behavior of private citizens. Experience has been a great teacher. When government has attempted such ill-fated schemes in the past, the result has been an increase of the very behavior it was seeking to squelch, i.e. the consumption of alcohol, and a dangerous proliferation of illegal activity on the black market. The speak-easies were the only ones making huge tax-free profits during Prohibition.

The same principle applies to illegal drugs.

The illegality of these substances has created a massive underground black market where shadowy figures overseas, and their foot-soldiers on U.S. streets, rake in millions of dollars per year that pass under the radar screen. Such a dubious enterprise is not subject to regulation or taxes. The purity of the substances sold is often questionable, resulting in untold numbers of deaths. The means by which the collection of the huge price tag of these subtances is procured creates an ever heavier strain on the already crime laden streets of our largest metropolitan areas. Thus, our decades old so-called 'war on drugs' has been deemed every bit as much a failure as Prohibition.

Alternative approaches to this still-growing problem are long overdue. Perhaps we could learn a few lessons from our Dutch counterparts who have discovered that the de-criminalization and legalization of certain illegal substances has resulted in observable benefit to society. For one, prisons are not overcrowded due to simple possession charges. In addition, these drugs are sold in certain specified shops, under government regulation, and subject to government taxes. Dutch society as a whole has been enhanced by such a public policy.

It is difficult to imagine the United States legalizing the sale of such substances, in spite of the fact that the tax revenues from such a policy could ease the tax burden on individual citizens. Our historic sense of moral responsibility is so deeply ingrained that one is hard-pressed to imagine any such change in the near future. However, a good start could be made by the de-criminalization of simple possession and use.

Estimates from the most reliable sources indicate that upwards of 60% of the prison population in America is drug-related, and most of this is attributed to charges of simple possession. In an era where prison overcrowding has led to dangerous decisions to release violent criminals and to overburdening the taxpayers with the costs of building new prisons, or even worse, forcing prisoners to live under massive tents in 100-degree heat, leading to violent confrontations between inmates, it would seem that implementing a reasonable policy of decriminalizing the use and possession of illegal drugs is the prudent course. It is much more vital to the security of our society to keep violent criminals behind bars than to incarcerate non-violent drug offenders who are presently inhabiting prison space that could be free for the imprisonment of the truly dangerous ciminals. Prison overcrowding would immediately become a non-issue. The burden on the taxpayers to build new prisons would be eased.

California's practice of sentencing non-violent drug offenders to treatment programs rather than prison is an idea worth considering. What sense does it make for a pot-smoking 20 year old college student to occupy a cell next to a violent criminal? There are numerous and effective programs that help drug addicts get clean and sober. The medical community considers the problem a disease. This being the case, treatment is the answer rather than imprisonment. Leave the jail cells to the truly violent criminals.

The costs of the present public policy toward illegal drugs to the society is staggering. Surely we can do better. By implementing prudent measures to decriminalize non-violent drug offenders we can begin to address a decades old problem that isn't going away but getting worse. We can all do ourselves as citizens a big favor by writing to our state and national representatives and expressing our desire to see a change in public policy toward illegal drugs.