White House Czar Calls for End to ‘War on Drugs’
May 14, 2009 by Orlando
Filed under News and Opinion
Here’s another crazy viewpoint from the Obama administration as noted in the Wall Street Journal.
The Obama administration’s new drug czar says he wants to banish the idea that the U.S. is fighting “a war on drugs,” a move that would underscore a shift favoring treatment over incarceration in trying to reduce illicit drug use.
In his first interview since being confirmed to head the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, Gil Kerlikowske said Wednesday the bellicose analogy was a barrier to dealing with the nation’s drug issues.
“Regardless of how you try to explain to people it’s a ‘war on drugs’ or a ‘war on a product,’ people see a war as a war on them,” he said. “We’re not at war with people in this country.”
![[del.icio.us]](http://forthardknox.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/delicious.png)
![[Facebook]](http://forthardknox.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/facebook.png)
![[Twitter]](http://forthardknox.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/twitter.png)
![[Email]](http://forthardknox.com/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/email.png)
There is much that I disagree with libertarians about but on the “war on drugs” I’ve come to the conclusion that they are right. The “war on drugs” is and has been a dismal failure and it has created the monster that is Mexican drug cartels. Without the “war on drugs” there would never have been the incentive that now exists for drug cartels. Indeed, they are exactly analogous to organized crime during prohibition. While the repeal of prohibition didn’t end organized crime, it did end the violence surrounding alcohol. This “war” has also created a large funding mechanism for Islamic terrorists. I for one am convinced that the “war on drugs” needs to end.
I used to agree with the libertarians and with you on this, Ron, but in the last several years, have changed my mind, for two reasons.
1) Personal experience: I’ve watched otherwise intelligent friends of mine grow into adulthood with drug addictions, and literally blow their minds and ruin their lives and the lives of their families on drugs. It has become painfully obvious to me that drug addicts are not capable of making responsible, informed decisions about their own drug use, and their decisions don’t just affect themselves, but a lot of innocents around them.
2) Members of the organized crime rings which used to make a lot of money off of alcohol prohibition, and who are now making a lot of money off of drugs, guns, prostitution of minors, and human trafficking, and any other black market activity they can find. They don’t specialize specifically in “drugs,” but rather in the black market. There will always be a black market.
What a lot of folks do not realize is that legalizing drugs will not wipe out the black market for them. When the drugs are legalized in the U.S. (and I believe they eventually will be), they’ll also be regulated by the FDA. The “good stuff” will not be available except on the black market, and what is available will be unaffordable for many addicts. Anyone who wants proof of this needs only to Google “Viagra,” or check the junk mail inbox.