The ostensible purpose of the U.S. war on drugs is to prevent Americans from getting their hands on illicit drugs and ingesting them. Think about that for a moment: The entire drug-war apparatus and the massive militarized drug-war police state exist for the purpose of preventing Americans from possessing and ingesting unapproved substances that they wish to possess and ingest.
I consider that amazing.
Let’s divide American drug consumers into two broad categories: those who are addicted to drugs and those who simply use them because it makes them feel good.
In either case, why is the federal government so hell-bent on preventing all these people from consuming what they want to consume?
I think the government’s response would be that drugs are harmful. Okay, let’s concede that point. Such being the case, being addicted to harmful drugs is clearly something bad. The addict is essentially committing slow-motion suicide. Even if he doesn’t die, his health is severely and adversely affected. Oftentimes, the addict is unable to hold a job and goes broke.
But in the final analysis, isn’t it up the drug addict to seek treatment, such as with an organization that is comparable to Alcoholics Anonymous? Does it really do the addict much good to try to deprive him of his drugs with the war on drugs? Anyway, as we have seen for decades, the drug war doesn’t really deprive anyone, including addicts, of drugs. It just makes illicit drugs more expensive in the black market. Not surprisingly, the addict then resorts to such crimes as theft, robbery, and burglary in a desperate attempt to get the money to purchase drugs on the black market.
The recreational drug user is simply using drugs for his own personal reasons. He’s really in no different position than someone who drinks liquor or wine on a periodic basis. It makes him feel good. Sure, it might be harmful to his health in the long run but he’s willing to take that chance. Why is that any business of government?
Are there people who die of “drug overdoses”? Sure, but the dark irony is that many of them who die of a “drug overdose” do not die of an actual “drug overdose.” Instead, they die from consuming corrupted drugs that are sold on the black market, which officials incorrectly label as a “drug overdose.” So, the war on drugs is responsible for those deaths. With drug legalization, drug users would be buying non-corrupted drugs from pharmacies or other reputable businesses.
Again, though, given that all these drug users are voluntarily wishing to consume drugs for whatever reason, why is it necessary for government to prevent them from doing so through the criminalization of possession and through the criminalization of production and distribution?
Could the reason simply be that the government has an interest in keeping Americans healthy? If so, why is that the role of government? Governments are supposed to be the servants, not the masters. Servants have no business determining what their masters do to seek happiness, even if what their masters are doing is harmful or destructive to themselves?
There is a much bigger, more fundamental reason for the war on drugs. That reason is control, which, of course, means the destruction of individual freedom. The war on drugs not only sends a message that the federal government is the master and the citizens are the servant, it also enables the federal government to maintain massive control over everyone in society. Control is what the drug-war police state is all about.
Every drug-war police-state measure has ever been adopted has failed to achieve their ostensible goal of preventing American consumers from getting their hands on drugs and ingesting them. Yet, every such police-state measure has increasingly expanded the control of the government over the citizenry. After all, when a new police-state measure, such as asset forfeiture or mandatory minimum sentences, fails to achieve the ostensible goal, it’s never repealed. Instead, it remains intact and more police-state measures are simply added on top of it.
The reason that federal officials are now redefining the war on drugs as a “war on terrorism” is so that they can get the military involved in what is really a criminal offense. In other words, more control — in fact, the totalitarian type of control that comes with the militarization of society. This “war on terrorism” policy is, of course, music to the ears of the national-security establishment — i.e., the Pentagon, the CIA, and the NSA — because it enables that part of the federal government to better solidify its control over the American people.
Notice something important: They never “win” their war on drugs but they are forever using it to expand their control over the American people.
I would be remiss if I failed to point out another big reason for the drug war — there is a huge federal bureaucracy that has become dependent on the drug war. I’m referring, of course, to federal judges, federal prosecutors, DEA agents, and all the clerks and administrators who receive generous taxpayer-funded salaries to play their part in waging the war on drugs. There are also those federal officials on the take. And then there is the CIA, whose drug-war income would cease with drug legalization.
Control and money. That’s what drives the war on drugs.