“They place demands on social services, fill up our hospitals, courts and jails, spread disease, rob, steal and prostitute for drug money, and contribute nothing.”
Yes, you are right they do. The solution is fairly straightforward. Don’t give them social services. Make them pay the hospital bill or don’t care for them. Don’t waste our money on courts or jails. Let them suffer the effects of their disease(or help them if you want but just don’t use our tax dollars). I believe in FREEDOM. I also believe in complete personal responsibility.
Mr. Paulsen you obviously care for people and want them to make the right decisions in life. I once believed that the war on drugs was a good thing but over the years I have changed my mind for a number of reasons. Below is a short essay I wrote (months ago) that I posted on FR on a similar thread.
Drugs
I am a conservative Christian and I want to see less drug use and would never use drugs myself (frankly scared of them) but I would like to see drugs legalized.
Here is why: (source Drugwarfacts.com)
1) The cost of enforcement is too high and is ineffective.
"The most recent figures available from the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) indicate that, in 1999, federal expenditures on control of illegal drugs surpassed $17 billion; combined expenditures by federal, state, and local governments exceeded $30 billion. What is more, the nation's so-called 'drug war' is a protracted one. The country has spent roughly this amount annually throughout the 1990s."
Source: National Research Council, National Academy of Sciences, "Informing America's Policy on Illegal Drugs: What We Don't Know Keeps Hurting Us" (Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 2001), p. 1.
It costs approximately $8.6 billion a year to keep drug law violators behind bars.
Sources: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Profile of Jail Inmates 1996 (Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, April 1996), pp. 1 & 4; Bureau of Justice Statistics, Prisoners in 1996 (Washington DC: US Government Printing Office, 1997), pp. 10-11; Criminal Justice Institute, Inc., The Corrections Yearbook 1997 (South Salem, NY: Criminal Justice Institute, Inc., 1997) [estimating cost of a day in jail on average to be $55.41 a day, or $20,237 a year, and the cost of prison to be on average to be about $64.49 a day, or $23,554 a year].
2) We would see a drop in drug use if instead of spending money on enforcement we would put it into rehab and prevention
A study by the RAND Corporation found that every additional dollar invested in substance abuse treatment saves taxpayers $7.46 in societal costs.
Source: Rydell, C.P. & Everingham, S.S., Controlling Cocaine, Prepared for the Office of National Drug Control Policy and the United States Army (Santa Monica, CA: Drug Policy Research Center, RAND Corporation, 1994), p. xvi.
The RAND Corporation study found that additional domestic law enforcement efforts cost 15 times as much as treatment to achieve the same reduction in societal costs.
Source: Rydell, C.P. & Everingham, S.S., Controlling Cocaine, Prepared for the Office of National Drug Control Policy and the United States Army (Santa Monica, CA: Drug Policy Research Center, RAND Corporation, 1994), p. xvi.
3) Legalizing drugs would not lead to a jump in drug use. - I do not have any studies to back this up but I have a very good reason to believe this. I am an Occupational Medicine doctor who does drug testing for companies. Many, many employers routinely test their prospective and current employees for drugs (we are even doing hair testing that will let us know what you’ve been taking over the last 3 months) You use drugs – you don’t work for those companies– its that simple. Will there be a possible increase in the use of drugs in certain segments of society, probably, but I think the benefits outweigh the risk.
4) Hypocrisy – Something just seems wrong and inconsistent to have one intoxicant perfectly legal yet outlaw others. You can get completely gorked out on alcohol but marijuana is illegal – just doesn’t make since.
5) Freedom – Why should you or anyone else including the government tell me how to live my life. Let people behave the way they want to and let them also suffer the consequences of their actions. Legalize drugs but impose draconian penalties for spousal abuse, child abuse or neglect, and DUI (not just wrist slaps). I think it is possible to protect our individual freedoms and yet protect and provide justice for anyone that is victimized.
Thanks
I agree completely. But we need to implement this before we talk about legalization. It wouldn't be fair to legalize drugs then pull out the support services rug.
"1) The cost of enforcement is too high and is ineffective."
First, you're double counting. That $17B number included incarceration. The ONDCP has now pulled that out of their budget.
The 2005 budget was $12B -- you'll note from the link provided that half of that money goes towards treatment and prevention.
$12B is .4% of the federal budget. $12B is a rounding error in a $3 TRILLION budget.
"It costs approximately $8.6 billion a year to keep drug law violators behind bars."
Yes. That's state AND federal spending. Almost all of them are drug dealers and drug traffickers. It's worth every penny.
"2) We would see a drop in drug use if instead of spending money on enforcement we would put it into rehab and prevention."
As I illustrated, half of the federal drug budget is already being used for this purpose.
"3) Legalizing drugs would not lead to a jump in drug use."
Illegal marijuana use in the late 70's was over 13% -- today it's 5-6%. It can very easily go back to that percentage, probably more if we legalize it.
Marijuana was legal in Alaska for adults (in the home). A 1988 University of Alaska study showed that Alaskan teen use was double the national teen average.
In 1990, the voters made marijuana illegal. Over the course of the next ten years, Alaskan teen use dropped to almost the national teen average. Legalization implies acceptance.
"4) Hypocrisy – Something just seems wrong and inconsistent to have one intoxicant perfectly legal yet outlaw others."
Alcohol is part of our culture. We tried once to prohibit it and it didn't work. It is what it is.
Every other recreational drug is part of the sub-culture. Many feel that alcohol is bad enough without adding other drugs.
"Let people behave the way they want to and let them also suffer the consequences of their actions."
We don't do that now. Even you are proposing that "instead of spending money on enforcement we would put it into rehab and prevention." It wouldn't stop there and you know it.
Besides, we're better than that. No one wants to approve of behavior that degrades a human being. That's why we have laws against prostitution, gambling, pornography, suicide, and drugs. It's a measure of the kind of society we are.