Tuesday, May 31, 2011

My freshman thesis paper: On Prohibition


On prohibition.
            America touts itself as the land of the free. The Declaration of Independence guarantees all citizens the right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” The freedom to decide what goes into one’s body is an essential right of any free person, and is clearly guaranteed by the US Constitution. In accordance with this view, I argue that all drugs should be legalized or decriminalized, as the government does not have the authority to determine which states of mind citizens may enter, or to restrict the pursuit of happiness of any person who neither harms nor transgresses against anyone but themselves.

            In the 1920s, an amendment was added to the US Constitution prohibiting alcohol. Not only did that bill fail to decrease alcohol consumption, but it created a black market where violent criminals thrived. Additionally, because drinks were made by bootleggers and “bathtub brewers,” some of the product was toxic, and many people died from drinking “bathtub gin.” Alcohol prohibition was overturned, and the black market and street violence it spawned disappeared with it.

            Similarly, the current war on drugs is a failure. Prohibition has been unsuccessful at limiting drug use and availability in the United States. Every city in the US has a flourishing black market for both “hard drugs” (represented in this essay by heroin,) and “soft drugs” (represented by marijuana).

            According to “Jim,” my anonymous source who has been a heroin addict for nearly fifty years, in the early seventies, before the war on drugs began, heroin cost thirty dollars for a bag of about five percent pure heroin. Today, heroin sells for five dollars or less per bag, with purity levels up to eighty or ninety percent and can be found in every major US city(“Jim”).[1]  Supporters of the war on drugs argue that the increase in availability and purity of street heroin is due to modern methods of narcotic manufacturing and smuggling, even if this were true, it is clear that the war on drugs has had no meaningful success in its stated goal of reducing the availability of hard drugs.           
            A walk through inner city America proves that the war on drugs has failed. Drug addicts and dealers stand about on the corners, and their paraphernalia lie dirty and used on the street(“Jim” and “James’). Many claim that laissez faire tactics simply don’t work, and that it is society’s responsibility to help transform these people from dangerous criminals to healthy, productive individuals. Prohibition cannot stop the drug trade. Addicts will do whatever it takes to get their fix, and there will always be risk takers ready to endanger themselves for a lucrative reward(“James”). Criminalizing drug use creates a black market for violent and dangerous criminals, and does not stop the drug trade.

            Under current US law, heroin is a schedule I substance, meaning it has a high potential for abuse, and no accepted medical uses. The most effective treatment for opiate dependence is Heroin Assisted Treatment(Pubmed 2007). Heroin Assisted Treatments currently operate in Switzerland, Germany, The UK, Denmark, and The Netherlands. Under these programs, addicts can receive daily doses of heroin if they comply with the set standards. They have been shown to be highly effective, not only in rehabilitating addicts, but in preventing nonusers from becoming addicts. A majority of heroin addicts on the program have cleaned themselves up, desisted from criminal activities, and gotten themselves homes(Uchtenhagen. 2002). Some even started families after years of drug abuse and homelessness. Prohibitionists are outraged by the idea of paying for junkies to shoot up, but HAT supporters argue that it offers great benefits to those affected by drug addiction, at a fraction of the cost we currently pay to imprison non-violent criminals who harm only themselves(Pubmed 2002). In addition, Heroin Assisted Treatment can be offered to long-term users with a fee. Since they are already buying the drug, this would give them a way to more safely use without supporting the black market and dealing with criminals who can cut the drug with any substance.

            Another objection to Heroin Assisted Treatment is that it is seen as legitimizing heroin use. Critics argue that decriminalizing it gives children the impression that it is acceptable(Statement on “Harm Reduction” Strategies). This is not the case. Hard drug use has decreased in countries with Heroin Assisted Treatment, children in those countries have highly negative views of hard drugs such as heroin(Nordt and Stohler 2006), and these countries have lower percentages of their population using illicit drugs, not only than before these Harm Reduction policies, but even lower than the US today[2](Lap) .Furthermore, the US already has programs such as halfway houses and needle exchange programs which were protested for the exact same reason, but have been continued because of their great success in preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS.
            The costs of the war on drugs are great:  every year the American government spends over forty four billion dollars of taxpayer money, and imprisons a million people for violating drug laws(Grinspoon and James). The phenomenon of incarceration is so great that the private sector has taken notice. There are currently over two hundred and fifty privately run and owned prisons in America, jailing nearly a hundred thousand prisoners(Schmalleger). Proponents of private prisons argue that they are cheaper than public prisons(Blumstein), but a study released  by the US Bureau of justice statistics as well as several other studies found that private prisons are just as costly as public prisons, if not even more expensive(The Sentencing Project). Furthermore, private prisons cut costs by refusing expensive prisoners and sacrificing security. Lower staff levels in private prisons result in more escapes, and roughly fifty percent more incidences of violence within the prisons(The Sentencing Project). These prisons also do little in terms of rehabilitating prisoners, since a rehabilitated prisoner is of no use to a for-profit prison. The cost to tax payers is enormous: not only must they pay for prisoners’ food and necessities, they must pay for the upkeep of prison facilities which are less safe, and the prisons’ owners profit on top of that! Even worse, these private prisons fund lobbyists to fight for harsher drug laws, and longer sentences(The Sentencing Project). There was even a scandal in Pennsylvania where a private prison company paid millions of dollars to judges to send minor to the prisons they operated(Monbiot).
            The war on drugs has vast consequences on our foreign policy. The illegal drug trade in the US, especially along the (southern) border states funds the Mexican Cartels whose violent clashes with each other and Mexican Authorities claim thousands of lives(Robinson). The United States sponsors the spraying of herbicides over South and Central America in attempts to kill cocoa and poppy crops. These chemicals are highly toxic, and destroy legitimate crops which are the only form of income for many farmers(Bingwood). Additionally, the toxic chemicals are detrimental to fragile tropical ecosystems, as well as the health of the people living in these areas(Bingwood).
            Heroin is a semi-synthetic drug derived from opium. The largest producer of opium in the world is Afghanistan. Over ninety percent of illicit opium in the world originates in Afghanistan, where poppies are the main cash crop a poor farmer can grow(UN Office of Drugs and Crime “The Opium Economy in Afghanistan). Under Taliban rule, the opium trade flourished, reaching its peak in nineteen ninety nine until the Taliban banned poppy cultivation(UN Poppy Survey 2001). However, when the US invaded Afghanistan and removed the Taliban, poppy cultivation returned to pre-ban levels(Glaze). Today, the estimated export value of Afghani opium is over sixty billion dollars. Although US policy is decidedly counter-narcotic, the military can do little do fight opium production, as the warlords we align ourselves with to fight the Taliban control the opium trade(Schweich). If the US decriminalized heroin, we could grow poppy for medical heroin domestically. What remained of the black market for heroin would stay within the borders, instead of supporting drug lords over seas.

            The war on drugs includes a strong focus on education. Marijuana, as the most widely used illegal drug, is the main focusing of advertising campaigns. Prohibitionists claim that marijuana is just as dangerous as “hard drugs,” and that it is the leading cause of teenage deaths. Furthermore, they argue that it is a gateway drug, and using it causes one to then move on to harder drugs.

            It is physically impossible to die from marijuana overdose. It is simply not that toxic(Holubek 2010). A study intended to demonstrate the lethality of marijuana succeeded in killing their test group of rats after exposing them to so much smoke that they suffered brain damage due to oxygen deprivation. The researchers were unable to produce similar results with dogs(Grotenhermen 2003). According to those findings, the average human being would have to smoke fifteen hundred pounds of weed in fifteen minutes, a feat that is completely impossible by any stretch of the imagination(Holubek 2010).

            But what of the gateway effect? While it certainly is a legitimate point that exposure to inebriating substances could result in further exploration of drugs, the first exposure to drugs for most Americans comes not from marijuana, but from alcohol. Furthermore, if the goal of the war on drugs is to eliminate the gateway effect of marijuana, it has greatly backfired.

            The demonizing of marijuana in government adverts sets pot up as a great evil; it is classified as a schedule I substance, as is heroin. (Cocaine and Methamphetamine are schedule II.) Studies show that almost fifty percent of American teenagers try marijuana by the time they graduate high school. The average teen knows many regular and occasional marijuana users, none of which have died or suffered from serious medical conditions because of cannabis. When such a teenager tries marijuana, and enjoys it, they realize that they have been misled about the true nature of the drug, and are taught to distrust information in government advertisements(Zeller). Furthermore, by criminalizing pot, users must buy from black market dealers, thus increasing their contact with other illicit substances and criminal behavior.
            The war against marijuana has another great casualty: Hemp. Hemp is a non-psychoactive species of cannabis, specifically cannabis ruderalis. A nineteen thirty-eight article published in Popular mechanics before they realized hemp was outlawed cited it as a billion dollar miracle crop(Popular Mechanics). Hemp can be used for textiles as well as ropes; it grows quickly without the use of harmful chemicals, and produces more fiber than cotton or flax. Its seeds contain all essential amino and fatty acids, as well as being a viable source of alternative fuel(Syke). The first law regarding hemp in America was a Jamestown colony law in 1619 requiring all settlers to grow cannabis, and the founding fathers cultivated hemp and sang it’s praises(The Pot Book 5). Not only is hemp an extraordinarily useful industrial crop, it's easy to grow and helps prevent soil erosion(Popular Mechanics). Hemp is, as its namesake suggests, a weed. It grows wild across North America, especially in the West and Midwest(Syke). If one were to simply buy a plot of farmland in Iowa and do nothing to it, they could be in violation of US law for the weed growing on their property.
            Marijuana is an increasingly large agricultural business. Legislature cannot stop supply and demand capitalism, and youths are unmoved by false advertisements of the dangers of cannabis. Alcohol and tobacco are respectively more deadly and addicting than marijuana, but they enjoy a legal status in the US. Marijuana and all other “soft drugs” should be legalized and taxed. Not only would this create billions of dollars in tax revenue, but it would save billions of dollars on the federal budget prosecuting and punishing non violent, otherwise law abiding citizens(Jefferey 2010). Heroin and all other “hard drugs” should be decriminalized. This would defang the black market, and lead to a decrease in street violence. Additionally, the state would be able to regulate who could buy heroin, (drug dealers don’t check ID) and how it is produced.
Drug addiction is a real problem facing many Americans. Ending prohibition will not put an end to drug addiction, nor drug trade. However, it is shown to be the case that prohibition is harmful to drug addicts, and the country at large. Additionally, the war on drugs benefits those who the war is supposedly fighting against (drug dealers and cartels). It is not possible to eradicate drugs, or the black market, but it is however the responsibility of the state to reduce the damage they inflict on society, and to respect the rights of citizens to make personal choices.
            Who benefits from prohibition? Organized crime profits from an inflated black market. Private prison companies profit from the creation of millions of criminals. Afghani warlords profit from a crop that costs nearly nothing to produce, and has an export value of billions of dollars. Addicts do not benefit from laws that make them criminals. Taxpayers do not benefit from costly campaigns to find and imprison non-violent criminals. America does not benefit from spending billions of dollars to fight legitimate industries which could create billions of dollars in revenue. It’s time to end prohibition.

“Jim.” Personal Interview. 3 March 2011.
“James.” Personal Interview. 3 March 2011.


United States. National Institutes of Health. United States National Library of Medicine. Heroin-assisted treatment for opioid dependence: randomised controlled trial. By Haasen C, Verthein U, Degkwitz P, Berger J, Krausz M, Naber D. 2007. Pubmed. 8 March 2011 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17602126

Canada. 37th Parliament-First Session. Committee on Illegal Drugs. Heroin Assisted Treatment for Opiate Addicts – The Swiss Experience. By Ambros Uchtenhagen. 2002. Parl.Gc.Ca. 8 March 2011 http://www.parl.gc.ca/37/1/parlbus/commbus/senate/com-e/ille-e/presentation-e/ucht-e.htm#TOP

ijkgraaf, Marcel G W, Zanden, Bart P van der. “Cost utility analysis of co-prescribed heroin compared with
methadone maintenance treatment in heroin addicts in two

United Nations. International Task Force on Strategic Drug Policy. STATEMENT ON SO-CALLED `HARM REDUCTION´ POLICIES.  2005 http://www.itfsdp.org/pdfs/hrstatementbrussels.pdf

Nordt, Carlos, and Rudolf, Stohler, "Incidence of Heroin Use in Zurich, Switzerland: A Treatment Case Register Analysis."
The Lancet 367 (2006): 830.

Grotenhermen, F. “Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics of Cannabinoids.” Clinical Pharmacokinetics 42 (2003): 327-60

Holland, Julie, eds. The Pot Book: A complete guide to cannabis. Rochester, Vermont: Park Street Press, 2010

            Holubek, William. “Medical Risk and Toxicology.” 141-152

            Lap, Mario. “Dutch Drug Policy.” 441-446

            Miron, Jefferey. “A Cost Benefit Analysis of Legalizing Marijuana.” 447-453

Grinspoon, Lester, and Balkalar, James, "The Way on Drugs- A Peace Proposal." New England Journal of Medicine. 330 (February 3, 1994)357–360.

 Debusmann, Bernd. "Einstein, Insanity and the War on Drugs." Reuters 3 Dec. 2008. 29 Apr. 2011

Cheung, Amy. "Prison Privatization and the Use of Incarceration." The Sentencing Project. Sep. 2004. 19 Apr. 2011.

Schmalleger, F., & Smykla, J. (2007, 2005, 2002). Corrections in the 21st Century. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Blumstein, James F., Cohen, Mark A. and Seth, Suman, Do Government Agencies Respond to Market Pressures? Evidence from Private Prisons (December 2007). Vanderbilt Law and Economics Research Paper No. 03-16; Vanderbilt Public Law Research Paper No. 03-05.

Monbiot, George. "This revolting trade in human lives is an incentive to lock people up." The Guardian. 3 Mar. 2009. 29 Apr. 2011.

Robinson, Eugene. "Drugs, Guns, and a Reality Check." The Washington Post. 27 Mar. 2009. 24 May 2011

Bingwood, Jeremy. "Toxic Drift: Monsanto and the Drug War in Columbia." CorpWatch. 21 June 2001. 29 Apr. 2011.

UNITED NATIONS Office on Drugs and Crime. Afghanistan Opium Survey 2007. 29 Apr. 2011

UNITED NATIONS Office on Drugs and Crime. The Opium Economy in Afghanistan. 29 Apr. 2011<Thttp://www.unodc.org//pdf/publications/afg_opium_economy_www.pdf>

UNITED NATIONS International Drug Control Programme. Annual Opium Poppy Survey 2001. 29 Apr. 2011

United States. Department of Defense. Strategic Studies Institute, U.S. Army War College. Opium and Afghanistan: Reassessing U.S. Counternarcotics Strategy. By John Glaze 2007. 29 Apr. 2011

Schweich, Thomas."Is Afghanistan a Narco State?" New York Times. 27 July 2008. 29 Apr. 2011

Zeller, Shawn. "Ads, Drugs & Money." Government Executive Magazine. 19 Sep. 2003. 29 Apr. 2011

"New Billion Dollar Crop" Popular Mechanics. Feb. 1938. 29 Apr. 2011.

Syke, Dan. "Where the Wild Hemp Grows."  High Times. 30 Oct. 2008. 29 Apr. 2011.




           



[1] Rural areas that are further from the shipping centers and therefore beyond the reach of heroin, are often ravaged by methamphetamine. A volatile substance, derived from cough syrup, drain cleaner, and other over the counter household chemicals.
[2] The Netherlands, where marijuana use is legal, even has less users than the United States(Lap).

Monday, May 2, 2011

You have no idea what you're talking about.

I want to make this clear:
I am not saying Osama Bin Laden is not dead.

I am simply saying, that you have no idea whether or not he is truly alive or not.
You don't even have a very good reason to believe, he's dead.
Nor a very good reason to believe he's not.
You have, nothing.
No proof, no clue.
You have the word of your gov't, notorious twisters of the truth,
and your president, notorious liar.

For all you know, Osama Bin Laden is dead,
and has been
for the last five years.

Who knows? I don't. You don't. Hell, Barak Obama might not even know.

Either way, i don't imagine it's very important. Osama has been a powerless figurehead mostly since nine eleven. Al Qeida exists as a call to action for Islamist militants, not an organization that poses any real threat to US soil.

So what am i getting at? Someone ask me, (please)
"Is Osama Bin Laden dead?"
Don't know, don't care.