I wish that one, any, elect-able politician would have the scrot to tell people to stay away, to not come back. I’d advocate, strongly, that no able bodied male should be allowed to live here for the next two years, unless he can show proof of work, or financial independence. That’ll never happen, but it’s a dream.
There are vast hordes of teenagers wandering the streets, and their parents aren't here. As these kids fight to establish territories and drug vending areas, they are killing each other and ruining the one chance this city had to make itself better. Which leads me to my next point.
IF YOU BUY DRUGS YOU ARE FINANCING THESE KILLINGS! These kids don't drive Cadillac Escalades by scamming the system. Escalades take cold hard cash. Shame on Cadillac for profiting off the sale of drugs. I remember back in the early 1990s when drug dealers were reportedly spending thousands of dollars on new shoes (sometimes a new pair every day), that one shoe store in Atlanta, or maybe L.A., put a sign up in the window that said something like, "If you sell drugs, don't buy your shoes here." Their business plummeted originally, but they made the right choice, the only ethical and moral choice to not profit off what essentially is blood money. Cadillac dealerships could easily do the same. Shame on them. The killings of five kids back in June that made national headlines and prompted the governor to (thankfully) redeploy the National Guard were remarkable in that 5 young men ages 13-17, living in public housing, were out at 3:30 in the morning driving a brand new GMC Yukon. Their mothers swore their innocence, but how does someone living in public housing buy a $45,000 vehicle?
Again, I reiterate, if you buy drugs you finance gangland activities. You finance self-described bangers. You foster hatred, death, unwed mothers, and new generations of children that see the easy money and power that come from dealing drugs. To quote Mr. Mackey, "drugs are bad, mmmmkay? drugs are bad." And that’s just in the United States. Your money ultimately finds its way to Colombia, where a 30+ year civil war is still going on. Drug monies fund the left and the right in Colombia. In some places under drug lord control, cocaine base takes the place of government issued money. The poppies of Afghanistan get injected into the arms of junkies, and some of that money gets injected into innocents in the form of car bombs; into soldiers via Taliban bullets. It’s not just a clever anti-drug campaign. The Taliban grow poppies because it makes them money to finance their war, and they think nothing of using drugs to “destroy” their enemies. Their enemies pay them for what amounts to a chemical weapon.
But the drug question isn't all that simple. I've thought long and hard about the politics of drug dealing, and I hate the situation. I think that alcohol is a pernicious evil that, while some can enjoy it in moderation, really does so much harm that I would consider myself a prohibitionist, save the fact that Prohibition was a dark time that gave rise to an organized crime wave and vast illicit wealth. Capone and others made millions (when millions were crazy money). Alcohol is the second most used psychoactive drug in the world, second only to caffeine. The government regulates and controls the production, distribution, and sales of alcohol. Organized crime cannot make any money off alcohol unless they steal it. The time has come to face facts.
As long as people keep buying drugs, keep wanting them, crime will revolve around, and get money and power from, drug profits. Untold wealth has been expended in an effort to incarcerate users and dealers, destroy production, interdict shipments, and deal with the secondary effects of a drug policy that produces powerful gangs, broken families, crime galore, and destroys communities. The time has come to make a change.
The public will never support a drastic increase in the penalty for breaking drug laws. Far too many citizens have used drugs to ever win support for heavier penalties. In spite of the best of intentions, for drugs are a dangerous evil, the right has created a system that cannot endure. I believe the definition of madness is to keep trying the same thing and to expect different results. Our current drug policy is madness.
We should legalize drugs. I know that may come as a shock coming from a devout Mormon, and it’s not a decision I’ve reached easily. Allow me to explain.
#1 When Prohibition ended, the decline of the mafia began. If you take the money out of the hands of the criminals, they lose their power. They will no longer be able to enjoy quick and easy wealth that will thumb its nose at the welfare system they so often inhabit. Faced with no easy money, surely some will turn to robbery, but robbers are eventually caught. My hope is that if the gangs don’t have the power stemming from the money that gang members will be forced to earn an honest living. I’d like to think that within 25 years the cycle of 11-17 year olds becoming gang members will end. The current ones will have to be endured, but with the gangs’ attractions ended, new recruits will be difficult. Also, the end to young men standing outside all day would be hastened. This would lead to a decrease in secondary crimes.
#2 The FEDERAL government should set up a system of drug stores where people wanting to use recreational drugs could purchase them. Medical oversight would be a must. Purchases would need to be limited. Private enterprise should be limited or banned. Government oversight is a must, an absolute must.
#3 With legalized drugs, crimes committed while under the influence of drugs should have draconian punishments. Driving under the influence of drugs (including alcohol) should mean mandatory jail or seizure of the vehicle. Something harsh enough that people won’t do it.
#4 People that bemoan the bending of “what’s right” need to see that it’s a fight that they cannot win. For years I held onto the idea that we cannot fall back from evil and yield to it. I look at this as corralling it. I’d rather have people using drugs legally than support the social destruction that making them illegal causes.
#5 Billions and Billions of dollars are taken out of our economy in the trafficking of drugs. No taxes are paid on the sale of drugs. The math alone would show how taxes and money saved from not fighting “The War on Drugs” would benefit the economy, and help the trade deficit. This is said only half tongue-in-cheek. I know it seems evil to focus on this aspect, but if you think it wouldn’t factor into politicians’ decisions, you’re fooling yourself.
#6 I hate drugs and will never use them. Nor have I ever used them in the past. I still think that even with legal drugs, companies, institutions, etc. should be allowed to test employees for drug use, and still be allowed to exclude them based on drug tests.
#7 Some drugs should always be illegal. Those drugs should have punishments so severe, that no one would dare make or sell them.
#8 The government should not have to pay for people to detox, rehab, or anything like it. If you go into rehab on the government’s dime, under my new system, the government should be able to seize assets to pay for your problems. With that said, taxes made off drug sales could be used to subsidize (a small portion) of rehab costs.
#9 The drinking age should be lowered to 18. All the current law does is foster binge consumption. The age to use drugs should be 18. If people can vote, be drafted, and die for this country, they should be allowed to drink or toke. The age to rent a car should always be 25.
I hate that little punks like the kid pictured below can terrorize a city over their control of the drug trade. I want to feel safe in my own home and the current drug policy has made me feel most unsafe.
http://www.nola.com/newslogs/tpupdates/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_tpupdates/archives/2006_08_03.html#168597
I find it especially annoying that he's wearing a Houston hat. Look at his face. He's a stupid stupid kid. There will be no rehabilitation for him. The penal system will institutionalize him and he'll have no chance of every amounting to anything in society. I blame his parent(s), his extended family, and most importantly, I blame him.
Since March, I’ve seen several cars with bumper stickers that read, “Thanks Houston” as a way of expressing thanks to our Texan neighbors that took in hundreds of thousands of New Orleanians. A friend of mine told me that the other day he saw a bumper sticker that read, “Go Back to Houston!” That callous attitude is a reflection of the frustration of the hard-working law-abiding citizens of this city.
2 comments:
Hey Mac,
Thanks for this most thought-provoking post. You clearly have thought about this a great deal. Here are a few points I would make to supplement what has already been said. I skimmed some of the entry, so forgive me if I'm repetitive:
First, I think I agree with you that drugs should be legalized, and you are very right to insist that some other drugs should probably never be legalized. The ill effects of crystal meth, I understand, are about a thousand times worse from just a few uses than a lifetime of recreational marijuana smoking.
Second, and sadly, you could pretty much substitute the word 'gasoline' for drugs in your post and most of it would be true. For instance a sentence like, "many people die because other people are obsessed with buying drugs" is just as true of those who buy gasoline. I realize that the situation with drugs is different in many ways from the current war in Iraq, but the bottom line is that there are many commodities that people consume, some of them perfectly moral in and of themselves, that can lead to crime and suffering.
Third, I'm not sure that the prevalence of inner-city gangs will disappear in a generation or so, simply because gangs can no longer make money off drugs. I struggle daily (or at least weekly) with the chicken-and-egg-question of why some groups of people, particularly lower class blacks, have trouble advancing in society. Is it because they are mired in self-pity and resentment for what they (wrongly) believe has, and still remains, an oppressive social and legal system? I don't know that most people can always find solace in the Good Book while flipping burgers at Wendy's into their sixties. Or is it rather the case that sometimes in a capitalist system some portion of the population, no matter how virtuous, intelligent, hard-working, and talented, is going to have to work really lousy jobs (or be out of a job). As I see it, at least in the near future until the robots take over the planet, society will always need people to do low-skilled jobs that are demoralizing, repetitive, demand no creativity or mental activity, do not get easier with practice, and do not reward the worker for years of service. As long as this is the case, there may be a latent, non-malicious, tendency to assign these jobs to classes of people that are perceived to be lazy and less intelligent. And such groups may come to think of themselves as such over time. I am by no means an authority on this question, nor have I read a single book about it. I'm just speculating that if you take away the drug trade from inner-city blacks, they may not all rush out and put in an application at (fill in your favorite demoralizing place of work here). Not too sound so much like the socialist/communist, but it may take more of a government investment in these minority groups, or some kind of relocation project, to change their outlook on life. I've also toyed with the idea of a society in which only the young people, regardless of race and social status, did the really shitty jobs in America, kind of like military service in the past (and present, in many countries). Then you would have the reassurance that as you got older, say 30, you could go to college and become a lawyer or whatever else you wanted to be. This may not ultimately be "fair" to those parents who can afford to keep their kids free from such labor, but it is kind of fair.
Finally, what is your deal about the evils of alcohol and (some) drugs? Everyone I know (but you) drinks at least wine and beer, and probably two-thirds of the people I know (don't tell McCarthy) have used, or are currently recreational users, of marijuana (I doubt much else). I have never taken any drugs myself (except alcohol and caffine) and seldom been around people under the influence, but I also don't know anyone who has suffered any long-term negative affects. Most of the people I know who have used drugs are college professors and their mental capacities, ideas, virtues, and faults are on a par with the rest of us. Yes, excessive marijuana can sap someone's ambition, but so can television, overeating, and surrounding oneself with uninspiring people, but none of these is any more 'evil' than drugs or alcohol. Perhaps the dangers of alcohol and drug abuse are more acute, but there are plenty of ways to "use" these substances without ill effects. Millions of people do it every day.
Also, I have never been clear why drug and alcohol abuse are such religious issues for people (unless people just always tend to construe their greatest fears and prohibitions as based in religion). I can't think of a single Bible passage that tells you not to use drugs or alcohol (maybe I'm wrong). If there is, the Catholics don't seem to have read it. There's a lot of stuff about not killing people, but the bulk of your blogs are about the evils of sex and drugs. Why is that? I know that you will say, sex and drugs can lead to murder, but so does a bunch of stuff, like gasoline consumption, and you don't write about that in your blog.
Finally, I hope that your health is improving!!!
your pal,
Norman
Oh, Mac, I'm glad you've seen the light and joined us here in the Land of Libertarians. I too believe that drugs (most of them) should be legal. Economically, the cost of the fictional "War on Drugs" would be drastically reduced.
Nor have I ever used drugs in a recreational manner. Of course, I don't consider alcohol or caffeine "drugs". Regardless, Mac's analysis is spot-on and would hypothetically create more jobs, less taxes, and less crime. People would probably start trying to break into these new "recreational drug stores", but I think that could be curbed with modern technology.
Drugs should be legal. Gambling should be legal. Abortion should be legal (ugh, it hurts to say that, but damnit, it's true). ADULT pornography should be legal. Price gouging should be legal. The right to bear arms should be legal. The government is not our mommas and daddies. The more you control your society the more it will rebel against you.
People are in the positions they are in today because of the decisions they make. Self-pity is a decision. Apathy is a decision. Drug abuse is a decision. The name of the game in our society today is "Blamestorming". It's never "my fault" in society, only someone else's.
Caroline and I visited someone in prison this past Saturday. It was an eye-opening experience for us. But what he kept telling us is that he only holds himself accountable, unlike many of his fellow inmates tell him. It's the governement's fault. It's some [woman's] fault. It's a lawyer's fault. You get the idea.
Don't you think Uncle Sam has been more like "Papa Sam" for too long now?
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