I can’t tell you my perspective about psychoactive drugs without being honest about my own drug use over the years. The first drug I tried was at age seven when my parents served me wine on a Friday night as part of a Jewish Seder. Drinking a little wine as part of a meal was standard practice in our home. In college I tried marijuana. I didn’t like to smoke, since my parents both suffered from smoking cigarettes, so someone made me a marijuana brownie. I got a bit “stoned” and giggled and laughed a lot. I tried LSD a few times after college, which was fun and gave me a mystical experience, but a few times was enough for me. Now, my only psychoactive drug is alcohol in the form of an occasional glass of wine with dinner.
Psychoactive drugs are substances that can change the consciousness, mood, and thoughts of those who take them. They include legal drugs, such as caffeine, tobacco and alcohol; as well as illicit drugs, such as cannabis, amphetamines, ecstasy, cocaine, and heroin. After years of repression most people in the U.S. feel that marijuana should be legalized and regulated. A recent Gallup poll shows that 58% of Americans favor legalization.
Twenty-three states and the District of Columbia currently have laws legalizing marijuana in some form. Four states–Colorado, Washington, Alaska, and Oregon–have legalized marijuana for recreational use. Other states that are expected to pass laws in the near future include California, Nevada, Arizona, Maine, Massachusetts, and Vermont.
I’ve been working in the health field for more than 40 years and have treated thousands of men, women, and children, suffering from the problems associated with the abuse of drugs. I’ve been writing about the benefits of ending drug wars since 1973. A new book by Johann Hari, Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs, is the best resource I’ve read for understanding our drug wars and how and why they must end. I believe that legalization and regulation will have many health benefits including the following:
- End the insanity of our drug wars.
The attempt to eliminate drugs is crazy. Humans have been using psychoactive drugs since ancient times. There is archaeological evidence of the use of psychoactive substances dating back at least 10,000 years. The chewing of coca leaves, for example, dates back over 8,000 years in Peruvian society. “The ubiquity of drug use is so striking,” says Andrew Weil, M.D., “that it must represent a basic human appetite.” Even animals like to alter their consciousness. Dr. Ronald Siegel found that “In every country, in almost every class of animals I found examples of intentional use of drugs.”
- Keep parents out of prison.
According to the CDC, having imprisoning people for using drugs is detrimental to men, women, and children. We imprison more people than any other nation in the world. According the organization Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), “Our high levels of imprisonment are largely due to current drug policies. Nowadays, about 500,000 Americans are behind bars on any given night for a drug law violation, 10 times the amount in 1980.”
- Reduce discrimination.
According to Human Rights Watch, as of 2009, African-Americans were arrested on drug charges at more than three times the rates of whites and sent to state prisons with drug convictions at ten times the rate of whites. All this despite the fact, the Washington Post informs us, that whites and blacks use drugs at about the same rates and white people are more likely to sell drugs.
- Keep law-enforcement from stealing assets.
Several U.S. laws passed in the 1970s and 1980s have enabled the government to seize and forfeit private property even if no one is ever charged with a crime. In seizures, 81% of folks are never indicted. Police departments generally get to keep much of the profit from what they take, creating an incentive for police to support the drug war. In 2012, the Justice Department took in nearly $4.2 billion in forfeitures.
- Decrease use of dangerous drugs.
When we make drugs illegal, we inevitably get more powerful and more dangerous drugs circulating in our communities. It’s more profitable to grow, ship, and sell stronger strains of marijuana (or other drugs) when it is illegal. Before and after prohibition drinks with low alcohol content, such as beer, were popular. During prohibition, stronger spirits were the rule.
- Allows law enforcement to protect and serve rather than search and destroy.
Since the drug war has ramped up in this country over the last forty years, the relationship between police and community has soured. Police officers come into communities – many times, low income communities or communities of color – and meet its members with aggression. Practices such as stop and frisk and the increasing militarization of police officers have deteriorated trust in police forces, which compromises the opportunity for cooperation and justice when violent crimes are committed.
- Reduce violence.
Much of the violence we see in our “wars on drugs” results from turf wars. As soon as we eliminate one gang lord, another one takes his place and has to be even more violent to secure and protect his territory. Police get more violent as they try and enforce outmoded drug policies as do drug lords. The Mexican government has escalated its war with drug cartels and traffickers since late 2006. Since that time, more than 60,000 people have been killed. On top of the human suffering and loss, it is estimated that Mexican drug cartels take in between $19 -$20 billion annually from U.S. drug sales.
- Stop punishing women for trying to control their pain by using drugs.
Women are the fastest-growing population within the prison industrial complex. Between 1990 and 2010, the number of women in prison increased by 646%. Roughly 85% of women in prison now are serving time for nonviolent offenses. The war on drugs is the primary reason behind these statistics. Drugs don’t cause drug problems, the laws do. Drug abuse isn’t caused by drugs, but by pain and isolation. Locking women (and men) up only increases pain and isolation. This leads to more drug use and abuse.
- Let parents, teachers, and healers teach kids about drugs, not drug dealers.
While drugs are illegal, it’s the sellers who tell the kids what is good and what they should buy. Dealers don’t ask for ID or show concern for the well-being of minors. Regulating drugs make it a lot easier to protect our children than leaving it the hands of outlaws.
- Use the money saved from drug wars on prevention and health.
According to Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), legalizing and regulating drugs would create an estimated $88 billion per year in tax dollar savings and new tax revenue for U.S. federal, state, and local governments. Money saved on enforcing laws that don’t work, could be used to help the 10% of drug users who have problems. We could explore many potential health benefits of marijuana and other drugs and better understand how legalization of marijuana can reduce deaths from using more dangerous drugs. States that have legalized marijuana have fewer overdose deaths.
We could also address the underlying causes of pain, isolation, early child-hood abuse, trauma, and ADHD that cause many people to use and abuse drugs.
I look forward to hearing your thoughts. I can be contacted through my website at www.MenAlive.com. Please join me on Twitter @MenAliveNow
I got an interesting response from a reader who took issue with the article and felt legalization would be detrimental. He wanted me to take him off the newsletter list.
Here was my response. Thanks for the thoughtful response to the my article and thanks for writing.
As you point out, historically most people throughout human history have used on mind-altering drug or another. Once the mind-altering drug is accepted into society we often don’t see it as a drug.
Alcohol as you point out is a drug, you use it, as do I and most people in the U.S. Throughout history, we often get down on drugs that people we are down on use. If we don’t like Mexicans or “hippies” or “pot heads” we think marijuana is a dangerous drug.
If people like the drug, it will eventually get accepted into the culture and most people will use it without problems. Most people who drink alcohol do so without problems, though a small percentage abuse it (maybe 10%). Likewise, most people who smoke marijuana do so responsibly, though
a small percentage abuse it (maybe 10%).
Thanks again for your comments. As always you can unsubscribe to my newsletter at any time.
Hi Jed,
Thanks for writing this article! I fully agree with what you have stated and with your response to your reader. I am quite certain that the “War on Drugs” was a finely developed campaign to create chaos in inner cities, etc. I truly hope that marijuana is legalized everywhere. The key is that it is good clean organic plants and not laced with other chemicals. It is up to us as consumers to voice our concerns.
Best,
Grant
Jed,
I wholeheartedly agree with you on all counts. A friend sent me a “Good News” email and this article on Portugal was in it. Decriminalizing drugs does not lead to the end of civilization.
http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/portugal-cuts-addiction-rates-half/?utm_campaign=newsletters&utm_medium=weekly_mailout&utm_source=10-06-2015.
As you point out, there are powerful people and groups that would lose money if drugs were decriminalized. That’s one of the biggest obstacles in the way of saner drug laws, if not the biggest.
Cal, thanks for this. It’s clear that whenever good programs to decriminalize drugs are tried, they do well all over the world. They don’t solve all our problems, but they make things better for those who use drugs for recreation or medical reasons, those who abuse drugs and need treatment, law enforcement, and the general population.
You state: “Allows law enforcement to protect and serve rather than search and destroy.
Since the drug war has ramped up in this country over the last forty years, the relationship between police and community has soured. Police officers come into communities – many times, low income communities or communities of color – and meet its members with aggression. Practices such as stop and frisk and the increasing militarization of police officers have deteriorated trust in police forces, which compromises the opportunity for cooperation and justice when violent crimes are committed.”
Meet its members with aggression?
You have it backwards….clearly.
It is the other way around.
Go be a cop in an inner city area for a month…if you could even survive that….then come back and write about who is the aggressor. Your statement only shows your ignorance of the real world.
Alice, When you put police in an untenable situation of trying to enforce laws that the people don’t want they become more aggressive. When people feel the police are invading their neighborhoods and ignoring the problem in more affluent, white areas, they become more angry and aggressive. This is a formula for violence. The police are not to blame. The community is not to blame. The drug laws that put everyone at risk are the real problem and changing the laws to reflect the needs of the community and those who must enforce the law will be good for all.
I agree. I would also like to point out the fallacy of the “gateway drug” argument. I truly believe that marijuana is only a “gateway drug” because it is illegal. Just speaking for myself, I know that when I first started “experimenting” in the late 1970’s, I thought that if marijuana is so harmless, and it’s illegal, then what else were “they” wrong about? And yes, it became a “gateway drug” for me. Thankfully, I no longer partake in any drug, with the notable exceptions of alcohol, caffeine and acetaminophen; however, I truly believe that if/when marijuana is no longer “illegal”, we will actually see LESS “hard” drug use, instead of more, as those who posit the “gateway drug” argument, apparently believe.
The issue of drug abuse is complex. My own father has battled with alcoholism his entire adult life, and my own use grew to the point where I blacked out once, which scared the holy hell out of me. I tea totaled for a while, and still do mostly due to the nature of my work.
While law enforcement does have a role to play, it shouldn’t be the only tool we use. I think it’s the old adage “When all you have is a hammer, everything starts to look like a nail.” Stricter and stricter laws have not helped, as some states are starting to admit. It will be interesting to see how things play out in states that have allowed for recreational use.
During Prohibition, alcohol consumption did go down, however the cost of enforcement became so prohibitive it could no longer be sustained, both in monetary and in human terms. We seem to be repeating that mistake with other substances now, with untold millions if not billions spent, and who knows how many lives permanently altered. While it is true we can’t make anyone change who doesn’t want to, many of those now incarcerated would accept and even grow under treatment, if given the chance.
Thanks for the comments. These are issues that we need to look at honestly and sharing our own experience helps us recognize where we might have blind spots or bright spots that can help us
come to peace with the mind-active drugs we choose to use (including alcohol, nicotine, caffeine, marijuana, and all the rest.