Demand for drugs is the problem so let's fight the supply!

Posted By Joshua Keating Thursday, March 26, 2009 - 12:00 PM Share

Good for Hillary Clinton for stating the blatantly obvious fact that Americans' "insatiable demand for illegal drugs fuels the drug trade" and is exacerbating the violence in Mexico. But if the Obama administration is acknowledging that the drug trade is largely a demand-side issue, why is it still pursuing a supply-side solution?

Washington on Tuesday said it plans to ramp up border security with a $184 million program to add 360 security agents to border posts and step up searches for smuggled drugs, guns and cash.
The Obama administration plans to provide more than $80 million to buy Black Hawk helicopters to go after drug traffickers, Clinton said.

What was that about "insatiable demand"?

The new spending shows that the administration is taking the problem seriously, but I'll take the power of supply-and-demand over security agents and helicopters any day. (See Blake's take-down of William Saletan's "high-tech" solution for smuggling in Gaza.) The U.S. has spent over $6 billion on a military solution to Colombia's drug production and all we have to show for it is a 15 percent increase in cocaine cultivation.

Maybe it's time for some more out-of-the-box ideas.

John Moore/Getty Images

EXPLORE:DRUGS & CRIME, MEXICO, OBAMA ADMINISTRATION, U.S. FOREIGN POLICY

(4)

HIDE COMMENTS LOGIN OR REGISTER REPORT ABUSE

YASST8

1:48 PM ET

March 26, 2009

Can raising the product price curb demand?

I guess the thought process could be raise the street price with strong enforcement and demand may fall. Is that not the strategy behind the cigarette tax and even the gas tax...

RIZRAT123

2:50 PM ET

March 26, 2009

Something has to change...

I don't know, we've been fighting the drug war for decades now and not much seems to change. Demand seems to remain constant and the supply seems to always be there yet we throw billions of dollars at enforcement.

It just seems like this money could be better spent.

-Rick, Consultant: Grants

CURIOUS OBSERVER

3:37 PM ET

March 26, 2009

Fat chance

The president went on record today opposing marijuana legalization.

Three presidents in a row we've had now who've engaged in illegal drug use but wish to punish others for doing what they did in their youth.

WM97A

12:48 PM ET

March 28, 2009

Required Reading

Ok, some required reading for anyone who wants to offer an opinion.

First, the short history of the marijuana laws at http://druglibrary.org/schaffer/History/whiteb1.htm This is funny and fascinating.

Licit and Illicit Drugs at http://druglibrary.org/schaffer/Library/studies/cu/cumenu.htm The best overall review of the subject ever written. If you haven’t read this book, then you simply don’t know the subject.

The Drug Hang-Up at http://druglibrary.org/special/king/dhu/dhumenu.htm This is another excellent history of the subject.

Major Studies of Drugs and Drug Policy at http://druglibrary.org/schaffer This is a collection of the full text of every major government commission report on the drug laws from around the world over the last 100 years. They all reached similar conclusions.

The drug laws were the product of ignorance and nonsense. In the US – which has driven worldwide drug prohibition for more than fifty years – the laws were the result of racism and lunacy so stupid that it just makes people laugh today.

Marijuana was originally outlawed for two major reasons. The first was because “All Mexicans are crazy and marijuana is what makes them crazy.” The second was the fear that heroin addiction would lead to the use of marijuana – exactly the opposite of the modern “gateway” idea.

There were only two doctors who testified before Congress for the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937. One was the representative of the American Medical Association. He testified that there was no evidence that marijuana was a dangerous drug and, therefore, no reason for the law. In response, the committee told him that, if he wasn’t going to cooperate then he should shut up and leave. See the full transcripts of the hearings for the MTA at http://druglibrary.org/schaffer/hemp/taxact/taxact.htm

The only other doctor to testify was Dr. James C. Munch. His sole claim to fame was that he had injected some extract of marijuana directly into the brains of 300 dogs, and two of them died. When they asked him what he concluded from this, he said he didn’t know because he wasn’t a dog psychologist. Dr. Munch also testified in court, under oath, that marijuana could make your fangs grow six inches long and drip with blood. He also said that, when he tried it, it turned him into a bat.

Dr. Munch served as US Official Expert on marijuana for 25 years.

That is just one example of the lunacy. There is far more than that in the history of these laws. Anyone who currently supports these laws simply hasn’t read the most basic research on the subject.

Passport, FP’s flagship blog, brings you news and hidden angles on the biggest stories of the day, as well as insights and under-the-radar gems from around the world.