Drug Laws and Underworld Funding
Our laws ban the legal sale of many drugs
that are desired by parts of our society. These laws make business in
these drugs necessarily an operation of the underworld. The shortage of
supply makes the prices high and the profits enormous. The buyers must
come up with large amounts of money, which in many cases is raised by
stealing.
The goal of the drug laws is worthwhile - decrease the use
of drugs that harm people. However, we must consider - are the drug laws
achieving their goal? Before that, let's discuss, for a moment, the role
of government in our society.
What is the role of government? The answer the founding fathers
gave still rings true - to give us life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
We must add to decide how to resolve clashes when my rights conflict with
your rights. That government that governs least, governs best. A government
should not have scope over all human activities.
If a government says something is legal, that doesn't mean
it desirable, just that it is not illegal. Non-governmental agencies are
the ones that should be trying to sway public opinion to change their
behavior. Government should not be
legislating morality or ethics, except as one individual affects another.
Our drug laws are a disaster. Didn't we learn anything from
the fiasco of Prohibition? Enormous profits from bootleg liquor funded
the growth of the criminal underworld and eroded the respect for the law
by ordinary citizens.
Now we are making criminals of people with a weakness for
chemicals, whether it's caused by genetics or lack of character strength.
If those people take drugs just for themselves, it should not be illegal.
Nonprofit organizations can explain why it's a bad choice. The punishment
for a bad choice, like drug use, that only hurts oneself should be the
deleterious effects of the drug use, not an extra penalty imposed by the
government's legislation.
As a powerful ad from the post-Sept. 11 crisis says buying
drugs funds terrorist operations. It's a consequence of the current drug
laws the the amounts are so high. Supply is kept artificial low and demand
is high. This leads to huge profits. Because it's illegal, competitive
suppliers can't work to bring down the monopolistic profits. Reputable
companies can't provide the drug, therefore the underworld must be involved
and they are handsomely rewarded.
