Back to drugs...

I've been on this subject for a while, but as I keep getting new information, I can't help but feel it strengthens my arguments that drugs should be legalized. I do not use nor condone the illegal use of drugs, but believe common sense has to be used when it comes to making sound fiscal and governmental decisions and policies. The money we spend against drugs, specifically for law enforcement and penitentiaries, is staggering and wasteful. The main arguments for the outlawing of drugs is hypocritical, naive, and not based on sound scientific evidence.

From Illegal Drugs: America's Anguish, 2003 Edition, as part of the Information Series on Current Topics published by Miklos Laci.

"Tobacco and alcohol, both legal substances, cause many more deaths per year than drugs (See Figure 5.2.) An estimated 430,000 people die yearly as a result of smoking cigarettes, and 81,000 die as a result of drinking alcohol, not including motor vehicle deaths included by drunken driving. Drug use produces 14,000 deaths a year. The vast majority of these fatalities occur according to SAMHSA mortality data, as a result of heroin, cocaine and synthetic drug use, with or without the involvement of alcohol. Marijuana, which is preponderately the drug used by the majority of those classified as drug users, causes few fatalities. (Mortality Data from the Drug Abuse Warning Network, 2001, SAMHSA, January 2003)."

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As estimated by the FBI in its annual Crime in the United States report, nearly 13.7 million total arrests took place in 2001;

- 1.6 million people... were arrested for drug abuse violations. ...
- 1.4 million for driving under the influence (drugs or alcohol);

- Drunkenness for 618,668; and
- liquor law violations 610,591.

In all, a total of 4.3 million arrests, or 31 percent of all arrests for the year, are tied directly to drug and alcohol use.

"In 2001 more people were arrested for drug and alcohol violations than were arrested for murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, theft, car theft, arson, forgery, fraud, embezzlement, prostitution and vice, gambling offenses against family and children (usually domestic violence), and curfew/loitering-law violations combined." (p 55-57)

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Brief history of U.S. drug laws:

1914 - Harrison Narcotic Act (PL 63-223), which called for the strict control of opium and coca.

Throughout the 1920's the Treasury Department was the lead agency against drugs.

In 1930 President Hoover created the Federal Bureau of Narcotics

1937 - Marijuana Tax Act (PL 75-238)

1938 - Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (52 Stat. 1040) gave FDA authority to regulate many drugs from the 1940s-1960s.

In 1968 the FDA's drug responsibilities were transfered to the Justice Department

Also in 1968, Richard Nixon ran for Presidnet on a strong anti-drug platform, using for the first time the term "war on drugs."

As president, Nixon established the National Commission on Marihuana [variant spelling] and Drug Abuse - but ignored the commissions findings when it recommended the legalization of marijuana.

1973 - Congress authorizes the formation of the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA)

1974 - Congress establishes National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)

Th budget to fight drugs rose from $1.5 billion a year in 1981 to $4.2 billion a year in 1989.

1984 - The Crime Control Act increased the penalties for drug use and trafficking

1988 - The Anti-Drug Abuse Act (PL 100-690) created the Office of National Drug Policy (ONDCP) where the director is often referred to as the "Drug Czar."

Under George H. W. Bush (the first Bush president), spending on the war on drugs rose to $12.2 billion a year

By 1998, the budget for these anti-drug and law enforcement efforts reached $16.1 billion a year.

(p. 1-5)