Original text from "http://www.denyconsent.org/etp/drug-prohibition/"
Please consider this . . .
How would you behave if drug prohibition was a product or service that you could freely buy or not buy?
What would you really do if The State no longer threatened you with violent harm for refusing to fund drug prohibition?
Would you really write a monthly check to pay the costs of enforcing drug prohibition, or would you use that money for something you value more?
OK, so you would (or might) write the check. That may be because . . .
You fear that drug use and addiction would increase if drugs were freely available.
This was once an understandable concern, but . . .
Doesn’t Portugal’s experience refute this fear?
Portugal decriminalized all drugs in 2001, including cocaine and heroin.
Drug use did NOT rise. It fell!
Portuguese drug use is lower than European rates.
The number of problematic Portuguese addicts has fallen by half since the 1990s.
Infections and crimes related to black market drug use have also plummeted.
In addition, we also have our own experience with legalized drugs here in America.
(SOURCE: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism)
The same has happened with another highly dangerous and addictive drug—tobacco.
(SOURCE: Center for Disease Control)
We usually judge products by how well they work. Should you judge drug prohibition by a different standard? Does drug prohibition really do anything for you that’s worth the cost? Consider this evidence . . .
In 2006 1.3% of the population was addicted to drugs. This rate remained unchanged in 1970 when the War on Drugs began, and is the same as it was in 1914 when the first federal drug laws were passed.
In other words, drug abuse has remained constant, with or without drug prohibition.
Why are you willing to pay for a product that achieves nothing?
Do you still want to write that monthly check to pay for drug prohibition?
When you imagine writing that check to pay for violent drug prohibition pause for a moment to empathize with the unseen victims. A huge price is being paid in . . .
Destroyed and ruined lives
Drug-gang turf wars are a large part of the U.S. murder rate.
Drug prohibition has also killed more 40,000 people in Mexico.
Black-market, drug profits fund Afghanistan’s Taliban.
The U.S. has the highest incarceration rate in the world.
Many drug users are poisoned or suffer accidental overdoses due to black-market impurities.
Are you really willing to write a monthly check to pay your share of all these costs -- including compensation to families who were innocent bystanders in gangland warfare?
OK, so you’re still willing to write that check. That means we need to keep counting the costs, which include . . .
Police Corruption
Dozens of border agents have been arrested for drug smuggling.
Local police are constantly implicated in drug rings.
Cops rob innocent citizens and keep the profits using Asset Forfeiture laws.
As a result, police spend more time looking for “asset seizure” chances and less time protecting you. Is this what you want? Think about the negative impact all of this has on . . .
Your safety
When did you last see a cop patrolling your neighborhood to prevent crime? The beat cop has almost completely disappeared thanks to drug prohibition. So . . .
When a junkie burglarizes your home to fund his high-priced habit, the police will likely be nowhere near. Please be clear about this . . .
Drug prohibition creates more criminals,
And then removes the police from your neighborhood.
Would you rather the police try to prevent crime in your neighborhood or chase drug smugglers? You can’t have both.
Do you still want to write that monthly check to pay for drug prohibition?
Reducing crime and improving police protection isn’t the only reason you shouldn’t want to write that monthly check to pay for drug prohibition. You also need to think about . . .
Untreatable pain
What if an accident causes you to suffer from chronic pain?
What if your “government protectors” then arrest your doctor for prescribing you too many pain meds?
Will you have to seek relief on the black market?
Will you risk poisoning, or overdose, or arrest, or will you just endure the pain?
What if any of this happens to someone you love?
We aren’t done yet. There are more costs to include. Your monthly check must also pay for this . . .
Lost health benefits
What if you develop a unique problem that could be treated by a prohibited substance. There are several examples already known . . .
LSD has been shown to relieve a debilitating problem called cluster headaches.
Ecstasy is a potent treatment for Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome.
And marijuana is useful for a wide range of problems.
Do you want you or your loved ones to be denied these treatments if they need them?
But the full health costs of drug prohibition are even larger than these examples.
Prohibited research
Most outlawed substances can’t even be used for research, so we’ll never know what illnesses they might be able to treat.
It gets worse . . .
Prohibition also makes drugs more dangerous
Drug cartels respond to enforcement efforts by creating increasingly potent and dangerous alternatives, including . . .
Crack
Crystal meth
“Designer” bath salts whose chemical composition skirts the drug laws.
Do you really believe The State will ever get ahead of the chemists and the smugglers without totally destroying America’s traditional culture of individual liberty and personal responsibility?
Here’s our closing argument. Our traditional culture of individual liberty and personal responsibility is already in tatters because of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
Hypocrisy
Many recent presidents and candidates have admitted criminal drug use. Should they have gone to jail?
Think about the message these politicians are sending -- “I was lucky to avoid an arrest that would have ruined my life, but I really don’t care if your life gets ruined. Do as I say, not as I did.”
Do you really want to continue being a part of this culture of hypocrisy?
In the end, the final cost you pay may be . . .
Losing The Rule of Law
The Constitution’s 10th Amendment forbids the Federal State from passing and enforcing criminal laws. This is why alcohol prohibition required an amendment. But . . .
No such amendment was ever passed to permit drug prohibition. Instead, the politicians have simply ignored the Constitution.
Please consider that your support for federal drug prohibition makes you a co-conspirator in this.
Drug prohibition has also been used as an excuse to violate the 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 8th Amendments. So . . .
Do you really support the Constitution and the rule of law?
Here’s Your Opportunity: If drugs were legal . . .
Gangsters and terrorists would no longer earn soaring black-market drug profits.
Drug abuse could be treated as a medical problem, NOT a criminal matter.
The evidence of Portugal suggests that drug use might actually decline.
Gang wars would end.
There would be less crime to fund high-priced drug habits.
Police could re-focus on protecting your neighborhood.
Prison crowding would end.
Drugs supplies would be safer.
Pushers would be a thing of the past.
Drugs would lose the status of “forbidden fruit.”
Research could begin to find new uses for these substances.