Just Say No (to the war on drugs)
by Salim Muwakkil
In These Times magazine, July 2000
If the House passes the Methamphetamine Anti-Proliferation
Act, our constitutional rights, already wounded, will become yet
another casualty in the long line of victims felled by the war
on drugs. This insane crusade has fueled a bullet-soaked underground
economy that has helped devastate large swaths of urban America,
filled U.S. prisons with more inmates than anywhere on earth and
deeply corrupted law enforcement.
This collateral damage cannot be justified. The war has not
moved us any closer toward a drug-free society. Just the opposite:
Drugs are more available now (to younger children) than before
the war's inception during the Nixon administration; drug deaths
are up; prices for hard drugs are at historic lows; addicts seeking
help still have few places to turn. These are the findings of
"The War on Drugs: Addicted to Failure," a recent report
by the Washington-based Institute for Policy Studies (IPS). This
report, which compiles recommendations of a Citizens Commission
on U.S. Drug Policy put together by the IPS, is just one of many
that reveal the drug war's tragic failure.
But none of this has deterred the dedicated drug warriors
from their mindless offensive. Government officials and pandering
politicians seem oblivious to the growing body of evidence that
the paramilitary law enforcement model is just plain ineffective
in addressing the problems of substance abuse. In fact, researchers
are approaching a consensus that the combative approach only exacerbates
the problem.
The Methamphetamine AntiProliferation Act explicitly sacrifices
civil liberties for the cause of anti-drug warfare. The bill would
make it a federal crime to teach or demonstrate how to make a
controlled substance, or to distribute any information pertaining
to the manufacture or use of a controlled substance. Although
the bill is designed to prevent the transmission of online recipes
for making meth, its provisions are so vague that they could outlaw
virtually all speech about illegal drugs.
Although seven states (Alaska, California, Colorado, Maine,
Nevada, Oregon and Washington) and the District of Columbia have
passed referenda allowing the use of medical marijuana, any discussion
of marijuana cultivation or use for medical purposes also would
be banned by the bill. Under the legislation, advertising drug
paraphernalia, directly or indirectly, would become a federal
crime. For example, e-mailing a friend the phone number or Web
address of a head shop could be punishable by three years in federal
prison.
Just as ominously, the bill would allow federal agents to
search people's homes without informing the owners. Now federal
agents can search a home with a warrant, but they must inform
the owner of their intent and reveal what they confiscated. But
for the sake of the drug war, this Fourth Amendment protection
would be wiped out. The government would never have to reveal
what intangible items were taken (like items photographed or files
copied from a computer hard drive). How can an improper search
be challenged if the target is never informed?
Meanwhile in the Senate, which already has passed its version
of the bill, obtuse drug warriors are readying another assault
on the Constitution. Florida Sen. Bob Graham has introduced legislation
proposing similar measures for the drug ecstasy (MDMA), titled
the Ecstasy AntiProliferation Act. Not only does this legislation
inappropriately equate ecstasy with deadly meth, it reinforces
the combat mentality that makes the war on drugs so disastrous.
This hopeless strategy has filled our jails, corroded our
culture and endangered our future. There are several steps we
could take to craft more effective drug policies. Following European
models, we could make drug treatment programs available to anyone
who wants them, institute drug-maintenance programs, repeal mandatory-minimum
penalties in drug cases and decriminalize marijuana, among other
things. First, though, we must immediately end this destructive
war.
Prison watch