DRUG LAWS KILL A Libertarian Outlook by Gerald Schneider, Ph.D. Bad as drug use can be, government laws to prevent drug use are worse! More people die and are maimed because of drug laws than from the drugs themselves. Drug laws can turn what may be a personal tragedy into a criminal catastrophe. Both drug users and drug haters would be better off if drug use were decriminalized. The intellectual establishment already knows that drug laws do not work and are counterproductive. Popular culture figures ranging from William F. Buckley, Jr. to _Bloom County_ cartoonist Berke Breathed have denounced drug laws openly. But the public still misunderstands. Democratic and Republican candidates have exploited public apprehension about drugs to get votes. These politicos promote the fiction that drug laws help and more drug laws would help more. They all stand guilty of fostering public hysteria about drugs. In contrast, Ron Paul, the 1988 Libertarian Party Presiden- tial candidate, opposes drug laws. He is supported by a few brave politicians such as Baltimore Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke. More politicians would join with them if they did not fear public censure. Drug Laws Breed Crime Crime syndicates prosper from illegal drugs today just as bootleggers enriched themselves thanks to prohibition in the 1930s. High illegal drug prices attract and sustain criminals, while addicts murder and rob for money to buy drugs. In contrast, legalized drugs would sell at prices low enough to discourage professional criminal entrepreneurs. Addicts would not have to steal to pay for drugs to support their habits. For example, the legalized price of heroin necessary to maintain an addict would be about $1.50 per day. With the end of drug laws, murder would drop 70%, burglary 60%. Cities would be much safer. Police would be freer to focus on real crimes. Courts and jails would become uncrowded, ensuring swifter justice and less need, if any, to build new prisons. Government officials--foreign and domestic--would no longer be corrupted by large sums of drug money. Legal Drugs Safer History proves that regardless of health risks, drug users will be drug users. Alcoholism is considered a disease, not a crime. Why should this be less true for drug use? Better to depend on education, counseling, and voluntary treatment to curb addiction than to turn addicts into criminals. Coping with living is tough enough for addicts. Why saddle them with the added burden of finding safe and affordable drugs? Illegal drugs sold on the street are of unknown quality and, like "bathtub gin" during prohibition, can harm and kill users. Legal drugs would be sold over the counter in drug stores where safety and cost could be judged. Children especially need to be protected from bad drugs. Drug vending should not be left to strangers in school yards and on playgrounds. Legalized drugs would put most street drug peddlers out of business. Legal drugs obtained by children would at least be safer, even if these drugs are considered undesirable by parents. A Double Standard For what it is worth, legal drugs--alcohol and nicotine (in cigarettes)--kill thousands more people than illegal drugs do. For example, in 1984 (the latest year for which complete data is available), illegal drugs killed 3,500 people. In that same year, there were 150,000 alcohol-related deaths and 350,000 tobacco-related deaths! Beware of the contrived "war on drugs." Self destruction through drug abuse of any kind should be discouraged by responsible people. But keeping drugs illegal does not help, and, as facts show, only makes matters worse. Reprinted from THE WHEATON NEWS of Wheaton, Maryland, May 12, 1988. For a one year subscription to Mr. Schneider's biweekly "Libertarian Outlook" column, send $15 to: Gerald Schneider, 8750 Georgia Ave., Suite 1410-B, Silver Spring, MD 20910. Copyright 1988 Gerald Schneider, Ph.D. (This is the text of one of a series of eight topical Libertarian outreach leaflets produced by the Libertarian Party of Skagit County, WA. The leaflets have a panel with National LP member- ship information, with a space for other LP groups to stamp their own address and phone number. Samples and a bulk price list/ order form are available from: Libertarian Party of Skagit County, P.O. Box 512, Anacortes, WA 98221.)