One could say that Mr. Robertson, Evangelical Christian broadcaster and one time figurehead for the Moral Majority, has found “enlightenment” concerning the failure of the nation’s drug policy. He is right, of course, the U.S. War on Drugs is a failure. A long and costly failure in both monetary terms and in lives lost.
This is not about supporting “Hippie Culture” whatever that is these days, it’s about recognizing and admitting failure and then actually proposing an actual solution rather than letting the failure perpetuate itself into an ever darkening future for our youth, our cities and our nation. And it’s not doing
Pat Robertson has done something our elected officials nationally have not; he has applied logic to the situation. He has asked: “What’s the difference between marijuana and alcohol?” Well, from as near as I can remember, we already tried to ban alcohol in the past and it was…wait for it…a FAILURE!
We are not going to win against a market force since the reality of the illegal drug trade reveals that it’s really that old demon Capitalism once again driving all before it and casting asunder the structures of good intentions and leaving its illogical wreckage for all but the most naïve among us to see. There is a great demand for these drugs and a greater demand for the money the underground trafficking of these drugs brings in. We see the illegal drug trade being used to fund terrorist activities all over the world in the purchase of weapons and in the recruitment and training of terrorist minions. We can stop all this.
So what is the answer smartass?
Easy. Replace a market with a market.
Creating a LEGAL market for these particular drugs of choice and providing local supply, will eliminate the need of going to the cartels and the terrorist supply chains. It doesn’t take an economics degree to see that by providing legal competition for these drugs in the marketplace, that the underground activity will be severely impacted. Unless, of course, you actually LIKE going into seedy neighborhoods late at night with cash in your pocket to deal with people you don’t know and can’t trust.
When the federal government says that buying illegal drugs fuels terrorism they are correct but that’s only because it’s illegal. If these were legal purchases, that money wouldn’t fall into terrorist hands. That is, if you’re not counting the federal government.
I haven’t heard of a study on it yet but I’ll bet money that the decriminalization of marijuana and the availability of the drug for medical purposes (from a legally grown source here in the
A clear thinking person would acknowledge that there is a legitimate market for Marijuana, Cocaine, Heroin and Hashish to the point where people will pay for them no matter how they are obtained and no matter the penalty. Marijuana is but a part of a larger picture. If we are able to expand upon the legalization front, the United States, as the largest consumer, can become an economic engine that will roll over world-wide illegal distribution and the money currently used to fund the global terror network will dry up;. Add to that National Oil independence and the enemies (external) of our State will be hard pressed to fund their terror network. That’s the big picture.
The obstacles to this effort will come from the federal and local governments themselves. They have a vested interest in keeping the Drug War going. If they didn’t, they would have stopped it long ago. So what if police are getting killed out on our roadways and in our inner cities in an effort to enforce the unenforceable? It’s a living!
What a world we live in where drugs like Oxycodone and Ritalin are legal and marijuana isn’t, where pushers in lab coats have the governments blessing and support (we refer to them as Doctors) yet everybody else is a criminal. Where a straight arrow like Pat Robertson has found clarity and our bent men in Congress have not.
Until they figure it out, the blood will continue to flow.
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