Legalize all drugs
John Litle
Frankly Obnoxious
I am sick and tired of paying for everyone else's illegal drug habit. It enrages me that I have to involuntarily contribute thousands of dollars for drug abusers in this country. That's why I advocate legalizing all forms of drugs, for everyone.
Without even taking money into consideration, I don't see any good reason to ban drugs. If some junkie wants to go get high every weekend of his life, fine by me. He's not hurting me in any way. It's just one less guy vying for my job. If some druggie overdoses on crack, it certainly isn't my problem. It becomes my problem when the government expects me to pay to resuscitate him.
I really couldn't care less what anyone else wants to do with their time, so long as they aren't interfering with other people's rights. I know many students on this campus would disagree. We have to care for everyone, they might say. We have to show compassion, they might claim. Indeed, those are nice sentiments. Thank God we live in a free country where citizens are allowed to choose their own charities. Go ahead, donate to your local drug rehabilitation center, I just don't care to do the same at our current juncture.
Imagine how much money could be saved if we closed the narcotics unit of every police station, disbanded the DEA and stopped pumping money into drug producing countries in failing efforts to stop the flow of drugs. It could be amazing. Tax-free day could move to the beginning of May instead of the middle. That would help our economy for sure.
And imagine how the prices of formerly illegal drugs would bottom out. The business would become far less profitable, and thus, the business would become less violent, volatile, and demand over time could drop as the rebellious nature of drug use is removed. We could even tax the incoming shipments of drugs like we tax tobacco. After all, tobacco is our own drug, only legal because it is so profitable to our government and is produced right here in the good ole U.S.A. We could make the same money off the crack and heroin.
In my discussions with others on this topic some have brought up the idea that, with drugs legalized, the incidence of other crimes, such as theft, would increase as users sought money to continue their habit; or even that random intoxicated mayhem would increase as a result of more access to drugs. Though I disagree with the premise as a whole (citing the fact that the cost of drugs would decline) I should address the point of intoxicated crime. There has to be harsh, merciless punishment of those who commit crimes under the influence of now-legal drugs. The message is that though you may do whatever you want when it is only affecting you, should you infringe on the rights of others, your punishment will be swift and harsh.
It wouldn't be as difficult to make this a practice as one might think. With all the narcotics and DEA officers seeking reassignment, it would not be difficult to redirect their efforts to punishing those who would take their freedoms for granted.
Still others argue that the cost to society would undoubtedly increase, as the increase of persons admitted to the hospital for drug related problems would increase. This could be a valid argument, as certainly more people would overdose and need medical attention. Fortunately the solution to this problem is easy. If one wants the cost to society to decrease, society shouldn't pay. After all, it was the individual, not society as a whole, who decided to take drugs and OD, so why should everyone else have to pay for it? I know I certainly have no interest in funding the hospitalization of junkies.
"Oh, but that's so harsh," one might reply. Indeed. But perhaps not as harsh as a clean-cut American family barely being able to survive because all the money they should be free to spend on food and common necessities goes to a government more concerned with the welfare of selfish drug addicts who know they can get bailed out, unlike the family, whenever they screw up.
In sum, drugs should be legal because I don't want to pay to keep people from using them, I don't want to pay to try and rehabilitate them, I certainly don't want to pay to incarcerate them and I don't care to pay to heal them. You shouldn't either. Perhaps I am a cold-hearted jerk; perhaps I just bombarded you with more pragmatism than you can stand. Either way, I feel I am being fair. All I ask is that people's rights be as uninhibited as possible and that they take responsibility for their decisions, whatever they may be — and that I not have to pay for it.
John Litle is a junior MIS major who is a libertarian, not a Republican. He appreciates any feedback on his work and can be contacted at jlitle@nd.edu or on the NDToday.com message boards. "Frankly Obnoxious" runs every other Tuesday.
The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
All Viewpoint Stories for Tuesday, November 27, 2001
