Kathleen McCaffrey, Assistant Editor
Ideology: Libertarian | Writing from: New Jersey

In the 1830s, British forces used a method of trade that brought down an empire and boomed their own. The “triangle route” between tea-rich China, the opium fields of India, and the textile mills of Britain hinged on human addiction and stimulation. Tea in British factories allowed the underclass to stay full and energized, working longer hours. Opium weakened Chinese resistance to the ambitious British, allowing them to infiltrate their ports.

One hundred and forty years after the British Opium Wars, the United States showed great ignorance when it attempted to eradicate narcotics. This “War on Drugs” has proven itself as a futile, money-wasting effort. As Milton Friedman wrote, “So long as large sums of money are involved-and they are bound to be if drugs are illegal-it is literally hopeless to expect to end the traffic or even to reduce seriously its scope.” In fact, drugs represent a commodity to thugs all over the world because of their illegal status. They are most dangerous when they are prohibited. Ergo, it would be in the best interest of the United States to decriminalize drugs. ‘Decriminalizing’ is not legalizing. Under decriminalization, drug possession for personal use, and drug usage itself, are legally prohibited. Violations are categorized as “administrative violations” so infractions are out of the equation. Drug sales and trafficking remain illegal and subject to criminal prosecution.

Portugal decriminalized all drugs in 2001. (This is not to be confused with places like Holland, that legalized marijuana and have had heroin addictions triple since, according to the Department of Justice.) In Portugal,  possession of drugs can last ten days or less, and is usually met with a fine or warning. In the case of an addict with a prior record, sanctions can be issued or immediately suspended – contingent on ongoing treatment. If treatment yields no subsequent offense, the proceeding will be discontinued. Essentially, the government only gives private persons a problem if they are addicts or “out of control.” Possession of drugs to last more than ten days is considered to be trafficking or possession with intent to distribute, thus, illegal. To put it simply, “since decriminalization, lifetime prevalence rates (which measure how many people have consumed a particular drug or drugs over the course of their lifetime) in Portugal have decreased for various age groups.” One of those age groups is teenagers, who are famously vulnerable for first-time drug usage.

As anyone on a college campus can tell you, marijuana is as easy to obtain as Natty Lite beer. The U.S. federal government spent over $19 billion dollars in 2003 on the War on Drugs, at a rate of about $600 per second. The budget has since been increased by over a billion dollars. Despite this, a 2008 survey of drug usage among Americans found that the United States has the highest level of illegal cocaine and cannabis use in the world. This outrageous number does not even include the billions of dollars spent processing criminals and running our prisons for drug-related crimes. Taxpayers are footing a failed policy, much like they did during the “noble experiment,” or prohibition era of the early 20th century.

This issue of decriminalization serves the common taxpayer and the drug consumer. The livelihood of addicts is of relevance to us because, according to the American Bar Association, addicts account for over a third of street crime in the United States. Since they are part of an exclusive, underground market, drug dealers give prospects their first few doses free. After they nurse their clientele to be addicted, they become a monopolized customer. If drugs are available for personal use, the free market dictates that they would find the cheapest source and not necessarily fall privy to a nefarious dealer. In 1933, when prohibition was repealed, organized-crime lost nearly all of its black market alcohol profits because of competition with low-priced alcohol sales. By decriminalizing drugs, black market crime-based drug enterprises will lose their grip on a large faction of our population.

For hundreds of years, opiates of all descriptions have had a presence in societies around the world. To think that drug decriminalization would render our country a drug-addled shell of its former self is only made possible by an entire lack of faith in American citizens. I do not do drugs (regardless of whether or not they are legal) because I find no pleasure in dumbing myself down. Many others would not partake in drugs because of its effects on the mind and how difficult it can be to work under its influence. Those in the minority, though, should not be allowed to propagate crime and be deprived of free-market benefits when seeking their own personal pleasure. If people want to use drugs,  they are welcome to do so – I would prefer that violence towards others and wasted tax dollars be left out of the equation.