I never have, and never will, support a drug culture. I’ve argued for a change in the law regarding medical marijuana, but it’s a change in the law that I’ve advocated, for those in chronic pain.
Beyond that, I think it’s well past time to see that existing efforts in the drug war haven’t stopped the spread of addiction. Current efforts have been, this last generation, an expensive failure.
(I dislike the description of anti-addiction efforts as part of a war, as we are not at war with our fellow citizens, and as war is reserved as a last resort of real soldiers fighting the real foreign enemies of this country.)
Americans are right to fight against addiction; they’re equally right to see that the fight isn’t now being won as a ‘war’ on drugs. If there are those who insist on seeing the current struggle as a war, they’d do well to admit it’s a domestic Vietnam.
Americans can, and one day will, do much better against addiction than we’re doing now in a wasteful and destructive domestic effort described as a war.
For some of the many ways that war has been misguided, Reason offers a short interview with Neill Franklin.
Here’s a description of the interview:
Commentators like Bill O’Reilly claim that ending the drug war would lead to more children being abused by drug-addicted parents. But 33-year law enforcement veteran Neill Franklin sees it differently.
“These drugs in an illegal environment are more accessible to our kids,” says Franklin, who serves as Executive Director Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, “because we leave complete control, regulation, and standards up to the criminals.”
Reason.tv’s Ted Balaker sat down with Franklin to discuss how battling drug dealers in Baltimore turned him against the war on drugs and why ending prohibition would improve safety for children, as well as the rest of us.
Approximately 8.2 minutes.
Interview by Ted Balaker. Shot by Alex Manning and Paul Detrick. Edited by Hawk Jensen and Sam Corcos.