Legalizing drugs can help us get control
05/11/99
By Stanley Marcus
The struggle against drug trafficking and drug addiction never has received wholehearted support from our body politic.
Educators, industrialists, physicians and religious leaders probably are more opposed to the use of life-impairing drugs than are most families, which cherish the illusion that narcotics never will reach them.
The federal government, with its misconceptions about drugs' potential to destroy lives and its lateness in recognizing adolescents' vulnerability, has preferred to conduct its attack on drugs feebly and intermittently.
First, the government's efforts were labeled as a "fight," then a "crusade" and finally, when those titles didn't work, a "war" against drugs.
After others failed to get the respect of drug lords, the administration in Washington appointed a retired general to lead the war against drugs.
At the present rate, it is likely that a team consisting of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the secretary of defense and the secretary of state will deal with drug traffickers who have made billions from the free-enterprise system.
Drug dealers have followed the basic rules of the capitalist system, turning the narcotics trade into the dominant economic force in many nations. It is so obvious that the best way of reducing the drug trade is taking the profit out of it.
The eradication of the drug trade may lie in a completely fresh strategy: Eliminate the profit by legalizing all drug products. Drugs would be sold solely at government-operated shops through prescriptions from physicians.
One thing is certain: The drug business won't evaporate by wishing and hoping. It will dry up when the business no longer is profitable.
If the public wants alternative methods of regulation to those brought forth by the groups that advocate the legalization of drugs, let those ideas be discussed and debated.
And let retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey, our drug czar, continue with his efforts, despite the fact that the volume of drugs is reported to have reached an all-time high.
But the president should establish a panel of distinguished citizens to make a study of all the ideas presented and issue a recommendation to the nation.
We all will feel better if the solution comes from the public. It may take three or four years to accomplish, but we already have wasted more than that amount of time.
After all, we need to leave a bequest to our successors in the 21st century - a legacy by which the 20th century may be fairly judged.
Stanley Marcus is a contributing columnist to Viewpoints. His e-mail address is marcusoff1@aol.com. The drug business won't evaporate by wishing and hoping. It will dry up when the business no longer is profitable.
