That's right– and I'm not talking about some wishy-washy "medical marijuana" program. I'm talking about heroin, crack, LSD, you name it– make it legal if you love your kids. Do you think I'm insane? A crack-head perhaps? Would it surprise you to find out that other than a couple of six-packs per year and an occasional frozen margarita, I don't do drugs, (yes, alcohol is a drug– once prohibited, as are today's drugs)– in fact, I'm a bit of a health and fitness buff.
So why do I want drugs to be legal? Just look at what "The War on Drugs" has done for us: It created a lucrative black-market, whose "entrepreneurs" have no problem selling drugs to your kids. Drug dealers don't settle business disputes in court, they shoot it out on the street, just like the rum-runners did in the days of Prohibition. We get caught in the cross-fire. Didn't we learn from Prohibition that banning substances does not make them go away?
Where did they go? They went to school. I attended "good" safe public schools in a good safe neighborhood. From junior high school through college, illegal drugs were for sale IN ALL OF MY SCHOOLS. Dealers don't ask for ID, just your M-O-N-E-Y. I don't remember anyone selling Jack Daniel's in my junior high school.
If drugs were legal and sold by licensed businesses, like alcohol is, their prices would drop. While the price drop would make them more accessible, it would make drug-dealing much less lucrative and street dealers would have to find other means of support.
The illegality of drugs drives their price up. That makes drug-dealing very tempting. It makes it worth your while to kill your competitors– hence gang warfare. Gangs run on drug money. Disrupt their drug business by legalizing drugs and you can break the gang's grip on inner city youth– and suburban youth, too. That's right, soccer-moms and dads, drug gangs are branching out to the 'burbs.
The adult segment of the drug market could get "brand name" drugs of known strength from licensed dealers. Why would they buy on the street where they could not be sure of purity, and the price would be higher?
Of course, some kids manage to get into their parents liquor cabinets, or they get an older friend to buy them a six-pack of Bud, and some kids would manage to get drugs by similar means. Just as there is not a hugh, lucrative black-market supplying under-age drinkers, the black market would not survive with kids alone as customers.
So, your kids would have less access to drugs if they were legal and sold like alcohol.
And if your kid did happen to get into drugs, the last thing you want is for drugs to be illegal. Having an arrest record will do them no good. Think a night in jail will "straighten them out?" What do you think getting raped by their cell-mates will do to them? Dealing in a black market is dangerous– you can't turn to the cops if someone takes your money.
Speaking of jail, you know what they say about prison, don't you? Don't get caught with drugs, you'll go to prison– drugs are very expensive in prison. That's right. In the most heavily controlled environment the government could devise, you can still get drugs. What makes you think they can win their "The War on Drugs" in our streets?
I don't know people who are waiting around for drugs to be legalized before they'll try them. Making it illegal does not stop people who want to get high. There are various reasons why people want to get high: curiosity, peer-pressure, despair, physical pain, loneliness. Laws have little influence over these reasons; in fact, for the rebels, the fact that it's illegal makes it attractive.
Raise your kids to respect their bodies. Love your kids. Guide them. Monitor their activity. Don't try to be their "friend"– that's not part of your job description, you're a parent. That's your best shot at keeping your kids off drugs– don't expect the government to do it for you.
And the bottom line: "The War on Drugs" has given the government an excuse to seize property from people who have not even been charged with a crime, no less convicted of drug-trafficking. If they try to get their property back, the cops threaten to charge them with crimes that carry stiff sentences. And they use our tax money to fund their piracy.
So that's why I say: Make drugs legal. Do it for the Children.
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