Legalization and regulation will have many health benefits
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I can’t tell you my perspective about psychoactive drugs without being honest about my own drug use over the years. The first drug I tried was at age seven when my parents served me wine on a Friday night as part of a Jewish Seder. Drinking a little wine as part of a meal was standard practice in our home. In college I tried marijuana. I didn’t like to smoke, since my parents both suffered from smoking cigarettes, so someone made me a marijuana brownie. I got a bit “stoned” and giggled and laughed a lot. I tried LSD a few times after college, which was fun and gave me a mystical experience, but a few times was enough for me. Now, my only psychoactive drug is alcohol in the form of an occasional glass of wine with dinner.
Psychoactive drugs are substances that can change the consciousness, mood, and thoughts of those who take them. They include legal drugs, such as caffeine, tobacco and alcohol; as well as illicit drugs, such as cannabis, amphetamines, ecstasy, cocaine, and heroin. After years of repression most people in the U.S. feel that marijuana should be legalized and regulated. A recent Gallup poll shows that 58% of Americans favor legalization.
Twenty-three states and the District of Columbia currently have laws legalizing marijuana in some form. Four states—Colorado, Washington, Alaska, and Oregon—have legalized marijuana for recreational use. Other states that are expected to pass laws in the near future include California, Nevada, Arizona, Maine, Massachusetts, and Vermont.
I’ve been working in the health field for more than 40 years and have treated thousands of men, women, and children, suffering from the problems associated with the abuse of drugs. I’ve been writing about the benefits of ending drug wars since 1973. A new book by Johann Hari, Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs, is the best resource I’ve read for understanding our drug wars and how and why they must end. I believe that legalization and regulation will have many health benefits including the following:
End the insanity of our drug wars.
The attempt to eliminate drugs is crazy. Humans have been using psychoactive drugs since ancient times. There is archaeological evidence of the use of psychoactive substances dating back at least 10,000 years. The chewing of coca leaves, for example, dates back over 8,000 years in Peruvian society. “The ubiquity of drug use is so striking,” says Andrew Weil, M.D., “that it must represent a basic human appetite.” Even animals like to alter their consciousness. Dr. Ronald Siegel found that “In every country, in almost every class of animals, I found examples of intentional use of drugs.”
Keep parents out of prison.
According to the CDC, having imprisoning people for using drugs is detrimental to men, women, and children. We imprison more people than any other nation in the world. According the organization Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), “Our high levels of imprisonment are largely due to current drug policies. Nowadays, about 500,000 Americans are behind bars on any given night for a drug law violation, 10 times the amount in 1980.”
Reduce discrimination.
According to Human Rights Watch, as of 2009, African-Americans were arrested on drug charges at more than three times the rates of whites and sent to state prisons with drug convictions at ten times the rate of whites. All this despite the fact, the Washington Post informs us, that whites and blacks use drugs at about the same rates and white people are more likely to sell drugs.
Keep law-enforcement from stealing assets.
Several U.S. laws passed in the 1970s and 1980s have enabled the government to seize and forfeit private property even if no one is ever charged with a crime. In seizures, 81% of folks are never indicted. Police departments generally get to keep much of the profit from what they take, creating an incentive for police to support the drug war. In 2012, the Justice Department took in nearly $4.2 billion in forfeitures.
Decrease use of dangerous drugs.
When we make drugs illegal, we inevitably get more powerful and more dangerous drugs circulating in our communities. It’s more profitable to grow, ship, and sell stronger strains of marijuana (or other drugs) when it is illegal. Before and after prohibition drinks with low alcohol content, such as beer, were popular. During prohibition, stronger spirits were the rule.
Allows law enforcement to protect and serve rather than search and destroy.
Since the drug war has ramped up in this country over the last forty years, the relationship between police and community has soured. Police officers come into communities – many times, low income communities or communities of color – and meet its members with aggression. Practices such as stop and frisk and the increasing militarization of police officers have deteriorated trust in police forces, which compromises the opportunity for cooperation and justice when violent crimes are committed.
Reduce violence.
Much of the violence we see in our “wars on drugs” results from turf wars. As soon as we eliminate one gang lord, another one takes his place and has to be even more violent to secure and protect his territory. Police get more violent as they try and enforce outmoded drug policies, as do drug lords. The Mexican government has escalated its war with drug cartels and traffickers since late 2006. Since that time, more than 60,000 people have been killed. On top of the human suffering and loss, it is estimated that Mexican drug cartels take in between $19 -$20 billion annually from U.S. drug sales.
Stop punishing women for trying to control their pain by using drugs.
Women are the fastest-growing population within the prison industrial complex. Between 1990 and 2010, the number of women in prison increased by 646%. Roughly 85% of women in prison now are serving time for nonviolent offenses. The war on drugs is the primary reason behind these statistics. Drugs don’t cause drug problems, the laws do. Drug abuse isn’t caused by drugs, but by pain and isolation. Locking women (and men) up only increases pain and isolation. This leads to more drug use and abuse.
Let parents, teachers, and healers teach kids about drugs, not drug dealers.
While drugs are illegal, it’s the sellers who tell the kids what is good and what they should buy. Dealers don’t ask for ID or show concern for the well-being of minors. Regulating drugs make it a lot easier to protect our children than leaving it the hands of outlaws.
Use the money saved from drug wars on prevention and health.
According to Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), legalizing and regulating drugs would create an estimated $88 billion per year in tax dollar savings and new tax revenue for U.S. federal, state, and local governments. Money saved on enforcing laws that don’t work, could be used to help the 10% of drug users who have problems. We could explore many potential health benefits of marijuana and other drugs and better understand how legalization of marijuana can reduce deaths from using more dangerous drugs. States that have legalized marijuana have fewer overdose deaths.
We could also address the underlying causes of pain, isolation, early child-hood abuse, trauma, and ADHD that cause many people to use and abuse drugs.
I look forward to hearing your thoughts. I can be contacted through my website at www.MenAlive.com
Photo: Sids1/Flickr
Hi Jed,
I’m definitely with you on this one. So is Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman. But you already knew that.
All the best,
Claudia Reed (formerly of The Willits News)
Claudia, Thanks for the comment. Glad you’re still out there (where are you?). Miss you in Willits.