Topic: Politics
A study in Scotland has found that heroin users can lead normal lives. Glasgow Caledonian University's study of 126 users found many were holding down normal jobs and relationships and passing exams. On the surface this ought to be considered a good thing, but the discovery seems to have caused more anger than relief. Social workers and politicians have instead rushed out to stress that the report did not state that herion was safe.
It's distressing that this is the level of thinking. I certainly have no interest in drugs and I would strongly counsel anyone against taking them. But if it's possible for a heroin user to go to work and earn their keep, pay tax and maintain a semblance of normality then this has to raise the question of why we leave the drug to the black market where prices are high and impurities are added to the product. Where is the fresh thinking on this matter?
Drug laws are killing people. Most heroin addicts would not inject if the price were cheaper and thus would not catch infections from needle-sharing. They would also have more money in their pockets if the price were lower and if they chose to go into rehab in order to quit once and for all, would be more likely to have the money to pay for it themselves, instead of the state picking up the tab. They wouldn't turn to crime. Your insurance premiums would be lower. And we wouldn't be exporting money to criminal gangs.
This last point is more important than most people realise. Many third world countries are impossible to govern because of the power of drug gangs. The money they earn allows them to buy weapons and bribe law enforcement officials. This is notable in Mexico and Columbia to pick just two examples. The situation in Columbia is particularly tragic, since the US insisted that the country be sprayed with chemicals to prevent the cultivation of coca leaves. In a tragic illustration of the law of unintended consequences, the effect has been to aid the drug growers at the expense of everyone who is honest. The drug cartels have developed spray-resistant strains of the coca plant and the spraying now merely serves to kill weeds and other competing vegetation. The result is a bumper cocaine harvest. Meanwhile honest farmers who grow other crops are suffering when the spray reaches their crops, resulting in ruin.
Those of us on the right who believe that 'you can't beat the market' should insist that an end be put to this madness.
_ DY
at 5:05 AM GMT