OPINION: Failed ‘war on drugs’ a waste of taxpayers’ money – The Daily Progress

In my opinion, Tom McDonalds Letter to the Editor of April 23, 2017 (Drug testing of welfare rolls, longer sentencing key to drug war, The News Virginian, Perspectives page) urges a non-viable return to the failed War on Drugs" for the following reasons:

First, President Obama did not let drug enforcement fall by the wayside during his eight years in office. Instead, he allowed the drug war more or less to continue on the glide path set up by his predecessors. When he gave it his full attention toward the end of his tenure, his policy lined up with most expert opinion in acknowledging that it is more effective to treat drug use as a public health issue than as a criminal justice one.

Second, as Mr. McDonald writes, the drug problem in the U.S. is at an all-time high. Our longest war, the 45-year War on Drugs has been spectacularly unsuccessful. The U.S. government has spent $1 trillion on aggressive policies and enforcement actions, serving to make it the supporter-in-chief of two lucrative industries, drug enforcement and drug trafficking, while achieving limited deterrent impact on drug use and marginal benefits to the public health and safety. What has yet to happen is a reduction in the supply of drugs or in the reasons people seek them out.

The smarter policy would be to shift the budget priorities from law enforcement and paramilitary-style interdiction efforts to treatment and research. We should be looking at drug addiction as a health crisis requiring medical treatment in place of incarceration. Instead of going to war on marijuana, we should legalize it nationally and treat it like alcohol a commodity that is taxed and regulated with minimum legal ages for use. Our own history of Prohibition history has shown us this would have the added benefit of taking money from the cartels and giving it to cash-strapped local and state governments.

And dont get me started on the need for less-liberal judges. Its like saying we need less-liberal Christians. No. We need good judges with a firm grasp of the law; their ways of interpreting the law are going to vary, often in wayswe dont agree with.

Third, poppycock to drug testing all welfare recipients. If your concern is for having to share your tax dollars with anyone who might use drugs, why pick on the poor and needy? Why not advocate that all federal employees, President and Congress included, be subject to periodic drug testing?

Fourth, Donald Trump may be determined in the sense of being determined to get his way, but his way is proving anything but steadfast. As I far as I can tell, he is but one strong voice-in-his-ear away from swerving as radically on this position as he has on any other.

Fifth, Leonard Pitts, whose column you referenced,didsuggest a solution to this epidemic. Having confirmed what most of us know to be true that you cannot arrest people out of wanting what is bad for them he suggested that as weve seen with liquor and tobacco, you might be able to educate, legislate and persuade them into wanting it less. In support of his argument, he cited a Rand Corporation study saying that using healthcare strategies to combat drugs returns seven times the value for every dollar spent on it to the taxpayer.

That you didnt read his suggestion as a solution might just prove his point that this wouldnt allow some of us to brag how ruthless they are.

Lucy Ivey lives in Waynesboro.

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OPINION: Failed 'war on drugs' a waste of taxpayers' money - The Daily Progress