H.R. 1
Portugal's drug policy pays off; US eyes lessons
Urge Congress to eliminate the Drug Czar's office
Making behaviors illegal has rarely if ever served as an effective deterrent, and it nearly always exacerbates existent problems. There are choices that by their nature break down the fabric of society - e.g. murder, rape, kidnapping, dishonesty - and cannot be tolerated. Civilization requires a certain amount of stability in the legal structure, and there comes a point in most societies at which they're large enough for people who would do these things to slip by unnoticed and laws about these things become necessary for maintaining order. Individual choices become harmful when they harm others. The line at which one person feels harmed by another is different in every relationship, so they cannot be drawn by laws intended for whole social groups, and when anyone is forced to hide the choices they're making (like, for instance to escape legal prosecution) it introduces more problems for everyone.
In the case of drug use (but the scenario is applicable in a many types of situation), the user has to create lies in order to mask their choices, and those lies repeated often enough can shift the user's own perception of reality to the point where they really believe they don't have a problem until, say, their body gives out entirely or so nearly that they can no longer deny they're killing themselves. Of course, if the user is a good enough liar and good enough at covering their tracks, the people around them who might be in a position and have the mindset to help them keep track of their use and it's effects on them go about their lives unaware of what's happening until, again, it's too late or nearly so. Social disapproval is at it's best when it arises naturally from the real effects of any choice. There are drugs that are useful (ask any pharmacist), and there are drugs that will kill you. Sometimes the only difference is that one version is obtained legally, manufactured or produced to spec while undergoing a quality control process, prescribed and monitored, and the other was made in a bathtub with random ingredients by someone who doesn't 'qualify' for the legal version and will give any amount to anyone with no instructions for use (i.e., Desoxyn for obesity:street meth, pharmaceutical cocaine for anesthetia:street coke/crack, diacetylmorphine for treatment-resistent addicts:street heroin, medical-grade marijuana:stuff that's been grown in dubious soil with dirty water and run a few thousand miles in a truck tire).
I stick at that 'doesn't qualify' part. Really? We fight for the rights of the unborn, but a born, living, adult human doesn't have the right to take the lead in their own wellness? If a person is attracted enough to, say, meth or coke or heroin or pot or Xanax or Prozac or wellbutrin or steroids or health food or whatever to throw their lives down the tubes for it, chances are good they'll use it whether it's legal (clean) or not. They stand a better chance of finding other alternatives that would give them the effects they seek without the damage, or as much of the damage if they're willing to accept some, if they can go to their doctor and pharmacist and say, "This is what works for me with regard to these needs. Help me make it work in ways that don't hurt me and I remain mentally and spiritually functional." That ought to apply to *any* mood-altering substance, and if you know me you know that as far as I'm concerned that extends to even food, water, and air. Most of us can use air without too much help. The water issue's a little confused what with the government's silly idea that it can decide what's nutritionally best for everyone with a few charts and graphs, but it's still fairly easy to work out. Food is getting harder and harder for people to use well, and exercise is on the verge of being out of control (too much, too little, disrupting lives, essentially abuse and addiction). With anything else, people get the best results with at least access to educated guidance, especially if that guidance is given without smacking of moral superiority in one direction or another. The results of abusing anything are consequence enough for most people if they're in a position to take an honest look at those results and explore them without having to feel stupid, or bad, or evil.
All that aside, our country could really use that money and those resources elsewhere, not to mention that stopping the war on drugs wipes out a huge portion of the black market fueling those supposed 'Mexican cartels' that are killin' everybody under the sun.
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