Paul F. Walsh, Jr.

Who Says We Have Lost the War on Drugs?

How many times have we read in the media that “we are losing the war on drugs”? That’s just not true, and the facts prove it. That doesn’t keep the drug “legalizers” from continuing to say it. Legalization is not an alternative. It is a surrender that will further reduce the quality of our lives. Commonwealth’s Attorney Ray Larson has issued the following response to that argument. (Ray Larson is the commonwealth’s attorney of Fayette County (Louisville), Kentucky, and a vice president of NDAA.

Who says we have lost the war on drugs? The drug legalizers and their accomplices in the media, that’s who. Moreover, they’re just wrong.

The drug legalizers and their sympathizers are telling us that we have lost the war on drugs. They say we have failed because some people continue to use drugs. They say that it is a mistake to criminalize the behavior of so many and that our drug laws promote crime and weaken the respect for our laws. They believe that if drugs were legalized at low prices, crime would no longer be a part of the drug culture. Gangs and drug dealers would be out of business, and killings would disappear.

They are wrong. We have no more lost the war on drug usage than we have lost the war to prevent drunk driving, or murders, or robberies. Just because some people continue to deal or possess illegal drugs, or drive drunk, or murder or commit armed robbery, is no reason to throw up our hands and give up the fight to prevent such destructive behavior. That is what the legalizers want us to do.

The analysis of the legalizers is not only wrong, but also wrong for a number of reasons.

First of all, the war on drugs is not being lost, and the statistics prove it. For example, in the late 1970s, at the height of the nation’s drug abuse, over 25 million had tried an illicit drug sometime in the month before. Twenty years later that figure was down to 11 million.

Overall drug use is down more than 50 percent and, in the last 15 years, cocaine usage has dropped by 75 percent. Moreover, less than five percent of the population uses illegal drugs of any kind. In addition, we have recently received even more good news. A recent government study reported that for the third straight year illegal drug use by America’s teenagers has declined. Since 2001, the number of high school students who reported using an illegal drug in the past month has declined by 17 percent. The notable exception to this decline was the underage use of a legal drug, alcohol.

Why this decline? Because of stricter drug laws in our states, stronger societal disapproval, national and local leaders, and increased awareness of the physical and social damage drugs can produce.

The legalizers next claim that if drugs were legal and readily available at lower prices, the number of addicts would not increase, because, they say, anyone who wants an illicit drug can get it now.

That simplistic argument is not only wrong, but conveniently ignores the powerfully addictive nature of drugs. So many of these illicit drugs exert unbelievable control over the lives of users. It only takes one look at the number of methamphetamine-addicted mothers who are more than willing to just give up their children and abandon them for “just one more” dose of meth.

Experts tell us that only 10 percent of those who drink alcohol become problem drinkers, while 75 percent of the users of drugs like crack cocaine or methamphetamine become addicted. Obviously, easier availability of illegal drugs at a cheaper price would lead to greater consumption, more addiction, more social problems, more, higher health costs, and increased economic repercussions, not less.

Furthermore, drugs are far less accessible than the legalizers would have us believe. Studies have shown that less than 50 percent of high school seniors and young adults believe they could obtain cocaine “fairly easily.” That means the majority think obtaining cocaine would “not be easy.” Based on that study, legalization would at least double the number who would have access to drugs, and no doubt, would use them. That is precisely what occurred when Prohibition ended.

Additionally, legalizers would have us believe that under a legal drug plan, young people could be excluded from access to illegal drugs. What an absurd argument; when we have been unable to keep already legal drugs—tobacco and alcohol—out of the hands of youngsters. In fact, studies in both New Jersey and California reported that the “fear of getting in trouble with the authorities” was a major reason young people did not use drugs.

The legalizers say that legalizing drugs would provide the added benefit of reducing crimes related to drugs. Under their plan, the availability of drugs would obviously increase. Once again, they conveniently ignore reality. Study after study has shown the strong correlation between drug use and crime. Drug use does affect the user’s behavior, and the statistics prove it.

Unfortunately, illicit drug users don’t always sit quietly in a corner. In fact, a 1997 study revealed that illegal drug users are 16 times more likely than non-users to be arrested for theft and nine times more likely to be arrested for assault. That same study found that almost 30 percent of prison inmates reported being under the influence of drugs at the time they committed murder, 27 percent were under the influence of drugs when they committed robbery, and nearly 14 percent when then committed assault.

Drug use is a victimless crime, the legalizers claim. No one else gets hurt, they say. The facts prove them wrong again. Illegal drug use does have consequences—many times serious and costly ones.

The victims of drug abuse range from those who are physically harmed by drug-induced crimes to taxpayers who must pay the bill for the drug-user’s addiction. By 1998, the societal cost of drug abuse was $143.4 billion. This cost included:

$969 million in hospital and ambulatory care costs

$503 million due to drug-exposed infants

$127 million for crime victim health care costs

287 million for health insurance costs

The experts who study the affects of illegal drug use and abuse, the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, know first hand the impact of illegal drugs on users and our country. They say:

Drugs are not a threat to American society because they are illegal; they are illegal because they are a threat to American society.

In my opinion, they should remain illegal. The cost to individual lives and families as well as to our society is far too high to do otherwise.