What To Do About Drugs?

By Rich Kozlovich

Recently I saw an article by someone I have a great deal of respect for involving the legalization of drugs.  And like him, I’ve always been an anti-drug guy, and like him I’ve thought legalization could end much of the problems associated with drugs.  But it only took me nanosecond to pass on that as it really wouldn’t, it would increase them.  And of course the usual stuff about how Prohibition actually created organized crime in America.  It didn't, it was already here, it just made it rich.

Alcohol has always been a component of every culture that ever existed, and in fact is considered part of the food matrix in European nations.  It also can be consumed without addiction if used moderately, and won’t destroy the mind used in that form, and within 24 hours nothing of it will remain in the body.   It’s part of human culture, and culture is king.

These illegal drugs become addictive very quickly, alter the mind early, and there’s talk of genetic damage associated with some of them.  Legalizing them will increase use, poverty, misery, suffering and early death. 

As I thought about the legalization I determined the only way it would work would be adopting the policy that once someone went down that path, they cut themselves off from any financial/medical support from society, and let the cards fall where they may.  If they died as a result, that was the solution.  But we all know the bleeding hearts would demand all sorts of support for these people and the costs would skyrocket right along with the number of addicts.

When the communists took over China in 1949 they had, per ratio, the largest drug addicted population on earth, largely due to the efforts of the first drug cartel, the British Empire.  England had a massive trade imbalance with China, as the Brits didn’t have a thing the Chinese wanted, so Britain shipped in opium from other nations causing massive societal problems, which along with other things, triggered the Boxer Rebellion.

In five years the communists ended their addiction problem.  First, they ended importation of opium, put the dealers out of business, and I think they shot them, but my memory is cloudy on that.  They then arrested those addicted and put them through rehabilitation, at least twice, and I think a third time.  After that they were arrested as criminals, and while my memory cloudy on this, I believe they were either worked to death or shot.  And for a leadership responsible for the murder of tens of million of their citizens, killing drug addicts would be no big deal to them.

The same kind of thing happened to end the black marketeering in China the late 70’s.  They kept warning society there would be terrible consequences if it didn’t end.  It didn’t, so they arrested those involved and shot them.   I doubt if either of those scenarios ended those problems entirely, but there was a vast reduction in both.

There’s no easy solution to end drug addiction in a society.  If they really want to seriously reduce it they have to ignore international boundaries and kill all the suppliers and dealers, and then put the addicted into work camps/prison permanently.  

Since that won’t fly in America, it won’t go away as long as there’s an economy to support it!  That leaves increasing the penalties for those involved just to keep them off the streets, and if they commit crimes while under the influence of drugs, the penalties should automatically be doubled, and depending on the crime, that should include execution.  None of that will happen either as the bleeding hearts are probably users.

The illicit drug trade is so lucrative they'll risk anything, even the Mafia in America succumbed as the money was too huge to ignore.  

The Dominican Republic chased a cocaine carrying boat for 12 hours and found 1.5 tons of cocaine, which would have translated into between $37.5 million to over $300 million depending on purity, and that was small potatoes as the Dominican Republic seized more than 46 tons of drugs last year, which would have translated into billions.  

And that kind of money buys protection, not only from the thugs they hire, but also from police, military, judges, and politicians, and in countries like Mexico, they're can easily be considered a shadow government filling society with fear and intimidation.  If the penalties aren't severe enough, there will be no control.