Legalization Of Drugs

Legalization of Drugs


The drug connection is one that continues to resist analysis, both because cause

and effect are so difficult to distinguish and because the role of the drug-

prohibition laws in causing and labeling "drug-related crime" is so often

ignored. There are four possible connections between drugs and crime, at least

three of which would be much diminished if the drug-prohibition laws were

repealed. "First, producing, selling, buying, and consuming strictly controlled

and banned substances is itself a crime that occurs billions of times each year

in the United States alone" (Lindsmith Center).  In the absence of drug-

prohibition laws, these activities would obviously stop being crimes. "Selling

drugs to children would continue to be criminal, and other evasions of

government regulation of a legal market would continue to be prosecuted; but by

and large the drug connection that now accounts for all of the criminal-justice

costs noted above would be severed" (Lindsmith Center).


Second, many illicit-drug users commit crimes such as robbery and burglary, as

well as drug dealing, prostitution, and many others, to earn enough money to

purchase the relatively high-priced illicit drugs. "Unlike the millions of

alcoholics who can support their habits for relatively modest amounts, many

cocaine and heroin addicts spend hundreds and even thousands of dollars a week"

(Lindsmith Center). If the drugs to which they are addicted were much cheaper-

which would be the case if they were legalized-the number of crimes committed by

drug addicts to pay for their habits would, in all likelihood, decline. Even if

a legal-drug policy included the a demand of relatively high taxes in order to

discourage consumption, drug prices would probably still be lower than they are

today.


The third drug connection is the commission of crimes- violent crimes in

particular-by people under the influence of illicit drugs. "This connection

seems to have the greatest impact upon the popular imagination" (Lindsmith

Center). Clearly, some drugs do "cause" some people to commit crimes by reducing

normal control, unleashing aggressive and other antisocial tendencies, and

lessening the sense of responsibility. "Cocaine, particularly in the form of

crack, has gained such a reputation in recent years, just as heroin did in the

1960s and 1970s, and marijuana did in the years before that. Crack's reputation

for inspiring violent behavior may or may not be more deserved than those of

marijuana and heroin.  No illicit drug, however, is as widely associated with

violent behavior as alcohol. According to Justice Department statistics, 54

percent of all jail inmates convicted of violent crimes in 1983 reported having

used alcohol just prior to committing their offense. The impact of drug

legalization on this drug connection is the most difficult to predict. Much

would depend on overall rates of drug abuse and changes in the nature of

consumption, both of which are impossible to predict. It is worth noting,

however, that a shift in consumption from alcohol to marijuana would almost

certainly contribute to a decline in violent behavior" (Lindsmith Center).


The fourth drug link is the violent, intimidating, and corrupting behavior of

the drug traffickers. Illegal markets tend to breed violence not only because

they attract criminally-minded individuals, but also because participants in the

market have no resort to legal institutions to resolve their disputes.

According to the Lindsmith Center "During Prohibition, violent struggles between

bootlegging gangs and hijackings of booze-laden trucks and sea vessels were

frequent and notorious occurrences. Today's equivalents are the booby traps that

surround some marijuana fields, the pirates of the Caribbean looking to rip off

drug-laden vessels en route to the shores of the United States, and the machine

gun battles and executions carried out by drug lords -- all of which

occasionally kill innocent people. Most law-enf
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