Who benefits from the "war on drugs?"
For the record, I don't believe that victimless DUI will ever be decriminalized. The best that we can hope for is that future legislation and penalty schemes will at some point be the result of truthful research and not hysteria-driven politics. However, I do believe that as the public becomes aware of the facts of the failed "war on drugs," minor drug offenses will eventually be decriminalized.
Some time ago, I believed that the only people who advocated for legalization of drugs were people who used drugs. That was an easy way to write off arguments against prohibition. But, as more time goes by it has become harder and harder to justify our country's failed drug policies. And it is undeniable that the loudest voices for the end of prohibition are not drug-users, but respected researchers, attorneys, policy makers, and even law enforcement.
In an op-ed to the LA Times Saturday, attorney David Fleming and Judge James P. Gray (author of Why Our Drug Laws Have Failed and What We Can Do About It), make the observation that only cops and crooks have benefited from the $2.5 trillion spent fighting drug trafficking. They identify six groups of people that benefit from the war on drugs:
1) drug cartels who are raking in billions of tax free dollars;
2) street gangs who sell illegal drugs;
3) cops and the huge agencies that have been developed to fight (and profit from) the war on drugs;
4) politicians who get elected by talking tough about drugs and crime;
5) the prison industry; and
6) terrorist groups that are funded by drug trafficking.
Do I think we should abruptly end prohibition of drugs in all quantities? Of course not. I do think we should begin by decriminalizing simple possession of drugs, regulating their use, and funneling more funds into education, prevention, and treatment. Persons who commit real crimes while under the influence of drugs will be prosecuted and punished.
Locking up a person for using drugs in the absence of any other crime does not serve any of the traditional functions of the criminal justice system. It is not an effective deterrent to the use of drugs, and especially not for those who are addicted; there is no effective rehabilitation in most prisons; retribution is a theory of punishment that only makes sense when there is a true victim; and incapacitation is a theory that is only applicable when potential future victims need to be protected from the defendant.
Prohibition is a failed policy that has not achieved results. Although the United States has some of the most punitive drug laws in the world, and we lock up our citizens at a rate higher than any other nation, a recent study by the World Health Organization (WHO) found in a survey of 17 countries that the U.S. had the highest rates of marijuana and cocaine use.
Fleming and Judge Gray suggest that we should look to other industrialized nations to see what does work, and follow their examples. "Ending drug prohibition, taxing and regulating drugs and spending tax dollars to treat addiction and dependency are the approaches that many of the world's industrialized countries are taking. Those approaches are ones that work."
