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Like many on the Libertarian end of the pool, I’m in favor of ending the War on Drugs. I believe that it’s a horrible waste of resources, leads to unnecessary violence, and punishes people for things that are, in the end, personal decisions that impact no one else. You would think we would have learned this lesson from Prohibition, but apparently not.

At this point, however, we have an example that has shown was decriminalization does. Portugal, in 2001, decriminalized the use of all drugs. In that time, crime has gone down and drug use has lost some of its “breaking the rules” appeal. The Cato Institute has a more in depth look at what Portugal has done and how it has worked.

There is a quote from Jack Cole, a former New Jersey undercover Narcotics officer, in an editorial in the Lawrence Journal that points out a rather telling statistics. In 1914 when the first US Drug Law went into effect, the Federal Government estimated 1.3% of of the US Population was addicted to illegal drugs. In 1970 when the War on Drugs began? 1.3%. The most current statistics? 1.3%. So we have almost 100 years of Government fueled war on drugs, and the percentage of the populated addicted hasn’t changed.

In my viewpoint, the Federal Government should stop the War on Drugs, legalize the use of them, and then tax and regulate them. This will free up the funds and manpower used in the War on Drugs for other things, provide a boost for the economy, and remove the thrill of breaking the rules psychological thrill of drug use. If the Federal Government feels they must do something, then let them put money into treatment programs. In a study done by the National Research Council in 2001, the conclusion was reached that the most cost effective way to combat drug use in the United States was through treatment, not through stopping it at the source or the border.

The War on Drugs makes no more sense than Prohibition when you get down to the core of the issue. It amounts to the enforcement of a moral stance with the force of law. There are those who will claim that it helps stop other crimes, but it completely ignores the fact that prosecuting those crimes for the crimes themselves works in the case of alcohol, so there is no reason to think it won’t work the same with illicit drugs. Yet we continue to a useless War on Drugs continued for a variety of reasons.

We’ve reached a point where we need to realize that the War on Drugs needs to go away. Unfortunately, convincing the Federal Government of this and getting them to let go of the power they get from pursuing it is going to be more than a little difficult.

stranger King of the World

If I were King of the World, I would outlaw sinus infections. Unfortunately, I’m not, and I have yet another one. Therefore, nothing of major note today. Look for something on Friday.

stranger King of the World

I’m sure it will come as no surprise to friends of mine that I’m in favor of school vouchers. For those who don’t know for whatever reason, I taught High School for three years before moving into IT. Yes, this was over a decade ago now, but I still try and keep up with things in the education field and I’ve considered going back to teaching High School a time or two (but likely Math and History instead of English this time).

One of the things I’ve kept up with is the success of voucher programs. Milwaukee and Washington, DC, both have run very successful voucher programs that improved the quality of education for a large number of students. Unfortunately, this hasn’t spread as it should have due to the push from the Teachers’ Unions.

Vouchers inject school choice and competition into the public school market. Don’t like how your current school is performing? Move your kids to another school using your vouchers. Things are going south or the school is pushing an agenda of which you don’t approved? Move your kids to another school.

The Teachers’ Unions, however, take exception to this. As well, the “establishment” among teachers don’t like this idea either. Competition means teachers have to do more than show up and babysit students to get their paycheck. It means, in many cases, parents would take a more active part in their children’s education since they have more of a say in what happens.

Now, I do fully realize that things are outside of a teacher’s control at times. A teacher can’t force a parent to take an active part in the education of their child. I still remember being disappointed at how few parents actually showed up for open house to meet the people teaching their kids. Far too often when a parent did show up, it was to enable negative behavior in their kids because, after all, their little baby couldn’t possibly have done anything wrong.

As is no surprise at this point, I’m a big fan of the free market economy. It’s more than time the education system was injected with a healthy dose of the free market. Vouchers would go a long way to pushing this and giving parents much more of a say in the education of their children in a positive fashion.

stranger King of the World