On Oct. 19, the Justice Department announced a memorandum issue to its attorneys advising them not to prosecute medical marijuana users and the institutions that legally distribute the drug.

Previously, the Justice Department had not recognized the medicinal effects of marijuana and prosecuted its use and distribution due to Congress’s classification of marijuana as a dangerous drug. The change in precedent comes from the determination of the Justice Department that the prosecution of medical marijuana is not an “efficient and rational” use of resources.

Unfortunately, this memorandum is the only ‘softer’ approach to drugs the Obama Administration has taken. President Obama has been impassive about Federal drug control spending surpassing the $14 billion mark with a ten-and-a-half percent budget increase over 2008. Obama’s only reference to legalization was during this year’s March 26 online town hall meeting, where he said, “The answer is, no, I don’t think that [marijuana legalization] is a good strategy to grow our economy.”

However, with 13 states now allowing medical marijuana and California proposing to legalize the general use of marijuana, is and has the indoctrinated arguments as well as policies against narcotics been based on pure conjecture?

Obama’s response to the highly voted on question seems to be a non-sequitur when you consider analysis from California tax collectors concerning California Assembly Bill 390. According to articles the Washington Post and Time Magazine, if adult use of marijuana is legalized, it would generate $1.3 billion a year and save $1 billion on enforcement and incarceration in California.

“By any sensible measure, this 100-year struggle has been illiberal, murderous and pointless.
That is why The Economist continues to believe that the least bad policy is to legalize drugs,” stated The Economist in the March 7 publication “How to Stop the Drug Wars.”

When considering the cost benefit analysis of an endless prohibition and war on drugs, legalization truly is the least harmful.

“The United States alone spends some $40 billion each year on trying to eliminate the supply of drugs. It arrests 1.5 million of its citizens each year...locking up half a million of them,” states The Economist.

A testimony from Dr. John Carnevale during the Domestic Policy Subcommittee of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform’s Hearing on the Office of National Drug Control Policy’s fiscal year 2010 budget and Policy Priorities signals that the new administration is going to continue failing policies.

“So how did the past policy fare with regard to its goal of reducing drug use? I believe it is fair to say that the evidence is mixed; Illicit drug use among adults remained unchanged since 2002; The strategy totally failed to achieve any progress in this key goal area established by the previous administration,” said Carnevale, ONDCP ‘s former Director of Planning and Budget at the White House.

Carnevale’s supposition that a stagnate population of drug users is a result of government policies is an outright distortion of fact.

“The UN Office of Drugs and Crime no longer talks about a drug-free world. Its boast is that the drug market has ‘stabilized,’” stated The Economist story.

Because narcotics are and will forever be widely available (unless law enforcement becomes omnipresent), the findings by the UN mean that those 200 million people who would use narcotics already do. Also, the Zogby America Poll of Likely Voters, taken Oct. 24, 2007 thru Oct. 27, 2007, affirms the validity of the argument that some people will and some will not use drugs. The findings of the poll show that 99 percent of individuals polled would not consume hard drugs like cocaine or heroin if they were made legal.

So if 95 to 99 percent of people would refrain from drug use, what would be the point of legalization? Remember all the violence in Mexico earlier this year?

Plain and simple, legalization would put criminal organizations on life support. No longer would money go to fund gangs or soldiers, instead a tax would be collected to fund rehabilitation programs, i.e. doctors, nurses and counselors.

“In one study of cocaine, for example, it was found that those who were addicted represented about 20 percent of the population of cocaine users-a seemingly small group-but accounted for over two-thirds of all the cocaine consumed in the nation,” Carnevale said.

Rehabilitation would not be necessary for all drug users, because most are recreational users that can control their own consumption. If sales of drugs were tracked via your driver’s license, the state could identify the 20 percent of drug abusers. Once identified, the abusers of narcotics could be consulted to seek help, because like most over-eaters, smokers or drinkers, their addiction is fueled by emotional issues.

The reason why the War on Drugs is like throwing money down a hole is due to effortless displacement of the drug industry from one region to another. If drugs were legalized, however, displacement could be used to our advantage. Instead of Afghanistan providing the world’s supply of heroin, we could support crops in China and Mexico to remove the risk of large drug profits going to the Taliban/Al Qaeda.

This said, and the million other arguments supporting legalization as the most efficient and rational approach to drugs, we must draw a line.

“Methamphetamine is an especially harmful drug,” Carnevale said.
I agree completely with this statement, and believe legalization of the lesser forms of drugs such as marijuana, cocaine and opium is the most prolific way of combating this highly corrosive drug. To reduce demand for an infinite supply, the only way to do so is by allowing the choice of lesser evils.

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