HaCKeRz KrOnIcKLeZ 3/HaCKeRz_KrOnIcKLeZ.iso/drugs/natl.review

Internet Message Format | 1996-05-06 | 5KB

From: [e-mail] (Tommy Ranks)
Newsgroups: talk.politics.drugs
Subject: Re: National Review: Legalize Drugs
Date: 13 Jul 1995 08:47:54 GMT
Message-ID: <3u2mjq$[e-mail]>

Gary Smith ([e-mail]) wrote:
: Ron J Theriault ([e-mail]) wrote:
: : The current issue of National Review (July 10) comes about as
: : close to advocating legalization of ALL prohibited drugs, as
: : is possible, without taking an official editorial position.

: : The article is couched in terms of an interview with a prohibition
: : repeal advocate, but the overall effect, on a long-time reader
: : of NR such as myself, is that they have come out squarely for repeal.


: I'm sure we'd all appreciate it if you would post the article, in whole
: or in part, here so that we all could benefit from it.

The article's title is "Legalizing Drugs: Just Say Yes", in the July 10,
1995 issue of National Review.  I'm reluctant to transcribe the whole
thing myself, but here are some relevant points & excerpts:
 The article is an interview with Michael S. Gazzaniga, Director for the
Center of Neuroscience at U-C Davis.  He begins by talking about the state
of drug use in America today, saying that 10 percent of Americans use
illegal drugs, and that most users are not addicted and use drugs
infrequently.
   He then goes on to talk about some of the reasons people use illegal
drugs.  "Human psychology is very complex; obviously, many factors go
into the decision."  He cites an upcoming Rand Corporation study and the
Scandinavian experience with harsh alcohol penalties as proof that
deterrence isn't a really effective way of controlling drug use.
However, perceived health risk, perceptions of morality of the act,
perceptions of morality of the law, social stigmatization, and similar
social forces do seem to affect drug use.
    He then talks about drug use's effects on society.  He questions the
Office of National Drug Control Policy's figures of money spent by users
on drugs ($41 billion in 1990), and then compares it to money spent by
alcohol and tobacco users ($44 billion and $37 billion, respectively).
He also points out that according the ONDCP's figures, less than five
percent of the drug market is among high-school and college students.
  He talks about the costs of the drug war: "...federal grants to state
and local drug-enforcement programs are now nearly a billion dollars a
year.  Federal efforts on international drug control costs more than $800
million annually.  Federal efforts on drug inderdiction are now at least
$2.2 billion a year.  The total federal drug control budget is in excess
of $12.5 billion a year... and these numbers do not take into account the
huge amount of money spent by state and local governments..."; "In 1989,
1,247,000 people were arrested for drug-related offenses.  Two-thirds of
those arrests were for possession only, and most of those were for
marijuana."
  He then starts talking about legalization, and attempts to dispel the
idea that legalization would lead to sudden increases in consumption:
"...current surveys indicate that among non-users, only 1.7 per cent
thought that, if drugs were legal, they would become users."  He talks
about the reasons why people don't use drugs and the varying perceptions
of alcohol use after alcohol prohibition ended, and whether the "War on
Drugs" has had a effect on drug use or not.  The article ends with a
discussion on how much money would be saved through legalization and
taxation: the figure is 37 billion dollars nation-wide minumum, and the
working-out of that number is reproduced on a table in the magazine.

  Also in that issue is an inset article by Dr. Ethan Nadelman,
"Switzerland's Heroin Experiment", about the various Swiss approaches to
resolving drug-use problems over the last couple years.  He talks about
several of their experiments, their (mixed) results, and briefly mentions
similar efforts in Germany, the Netherlands, and Australia.  He ends:
"But no distinguished researcher seems prepared to take on all the forces
blocking a heroin-prescription experiment in the United States.  Through
our reticence, we are shutting our eyes to drug policy options that could
reduce crime, death, and disease and ultimately save this country
billions of dollars."

 Definitely an interesting couple of articles, worth taking a look at
while the issue is still on stands & at libraries.  Their address is:
"Editorial Dept., NATIONAL REVIEW, 150 East 35th Street, New York, N.Y.
10016", should you care to write a comment to them.


---
 Tommy Ranks -- [e-mail] -- http://www.paranoia.com/~foucault