There is No War on Drugs

10-16-2010 • Bloody Mary Breakfast

There is no war on drugs, but there are drug warriors. They wear the drug warrior badge proudly; they brag about it at parties. They create an environment in which vast sums of money are traded for controlled substances. They allow the very worst citizens of the world to amass untold economic gains, fund their arsenals of weapons, and permit them to trample on the lives and liberties of the rest of the population.

Many drug warriors have family members who are drug users or dealers; many are drug users themselves. The most ardent drug warriors are scared of their own weakness; they don’t trust themselves to “Just Say No”. They also know that the drug battles won’t be fought in their neighborhood or by their children.

Instead of fighting the battles they create, drug warriors appropriate tax dollars to hire enforcers: border patrol, customs agents, drug enforcement agents, treasury agents, prosecutors, police, and para-military SWAT teams. Because it’s these enforcers and their families that will actually face the danger, drug warriors feel free to ratchet up the rhetoric and policies.

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Drug warriors are re-elected and their enforcers are paid by the assets seized from innocent, law-abiding citizens. Sometimes the assets are seized for the “crime” of transporting cash; mostly it’s seized through excessive taxation. These assets are diverted from drug treatment and education. The collection plates of churches are lighter and community centers have fewer basketballs because these assets are appropriated to enforce the policies of drug warriors.

The destruction of innocent, law-abiding families is the most egregious example of the collateral damage. If drug-related crime is not visited on them directly, they are subjected to higher insurance premiums because of it. Because so much of their money is taken by the government, parents must work longer and harder to afford health care, clothes, food, housing, and education for their children. The extra time spent at work comes directly out of family time; not surprisingly, that decrease in parental supervision results in more children coming in contact with and joining the drug trade. This cruel cycle is complete when the drug warriors decry the erosion of family values and pledge to spend more family dollars prosecuting a “war on drugs.”

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