Tuesday, February 7, 2006

Why are Drugs Still Illegal? Jim's post of the same name at Vice Squad is a fascinating read... Let me suggest four reasons. The first is simply the tyranny of the status quo. ...and it's a status quo with a hell of a lot of momentum. Second, there is a dose of logic which is persuasive (on the surface, at least) and irrefutable, but not dispositive -- though the fact that it is not dispositive apparently is subtle. That logic goes along the lines of "if there were no drugs, there would be no drug problems." Because this logic is absolutely correct, any tragedy that occurs under the current prohibitory regime -- instead of discrediting prohibition, which would seem to be the obvious response -- can be met, without conspicuous senselessness, by a call for a more committed prohibition. The notion that the drug-free world that the logic calls for is itself either a chimera or not worth the cost seems to be less than immediately accessible. So prohibition becomes a self-justifying policy. Deliciously worded, Jim! And so true. "Chimera" is the perfect word to describe the goals of the drug war. Third, parents in the middle and upper classes in developed nations might believe -- and they might be right to believe -- that prohibition (relative to some undelineated alternative) makes it a bit less likely that their kids will become enmeshed in drugs. Jim goes on to qualify this, but I do want to point out that, while I fully agree with the fact that "parents might believe," I'm not so sure I agree that "they might be right to believe" -- particularly when used with the word "enmeshed." Fourth, and perhaps most importantly, people don't have a good idea about what a legal alternative entails. [...] Perhaps the time has come for the legalization advocates to coalesce around some very specific policies that spell out, on a drug-by-drug basis, the precise regulatory regime that we have in mind. I'll start working on it right away (and I welcome submissions from my readers). 8:09:16 PM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []

Quoteable "There is no drug known to man which becomes safer when its production and distribution are handed over to criminals" says Professor Norman Zinberg who led a study into drug addiction at Harvard Medical School. "Water would become dangerous if it were banned and handed over to a criminal black market." From Heroin is Harmless. 6:21:23 PM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []

We're the Millers Link Variety reports that Steve Buscemi will topline New Line Cinema's We're the Millers, a comedy about a marijuana dealer trying to get out of the business after making one last score by smuggling 1,400 pounds of pot from Mexico. We're the Millers, written by the Wedding Crashers scripting team of Steve Faber and Bob Fisher, will be directed by Peter Cattaneo (The Full Monty). 6:19:10 PM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []

Tossing money to the winds I haven't seen much yet about the 2007 budget proposals from the administration (submitted to Congress yesterday), but this article in Asia Times talks about the foreign expenditures portion. Of course, there's a lot for continuing military operations, and especially the war on terror -- now renamed "the long war" by the Pentagon. By contrast, Bush's proposed 2007 foreign-aid request will remain roughly the same as last year's at some $24 billion, the equivalent of what Washington spends in less than five months in Iraq. Moreover, the president is calling for a nearly 20% cut in development aid - from roughly $1.5 billion $1.26 billion in development aid - and similar cuts in disaster assistance and child-survival and health programs. [...] Apart from Bush's pet anti-AIDS and MCA programs, the new foreign-aid bill calls for a 70% increase in anti-drug spending, to some $1.5 billion worldwide. Much of that will be spent in Afghanistan which, since the ouster of the Taliban in late 2001, has become by far the world's biggest source of opium and heroin. "The drug war comes out a real winner in the budget allocation," [research fellow Stewart] Patrick said. Decreasing development aid and increasing drug war funding. Sure. That makes sense. If you're playing Calvinball. 11:05:08 AM |  drug policy | Links | permalink | comment []