Just Say Now

In November, Californians will vote on Proposition 19 which would decriminalize possession and growing of marijuana.  What makes this measure different from all the other measures that have been put on the ballot in California and other states before is that Prop 19 is actually polling positively at nearly fifty percent and could possibly pass. 

Why is this important to most Americans who neither smoke pot nor have any intention to if it passes?  Because we all pay the price for the misguided prohibition policies in the guise of the War on Drugs.  Prohibition is the wrong way way to approach drugs for at least three reasons.

The first reason is prohibition impinges upon each person's right to be sovereign over their own body.  As long as you are not hurting someone else, you should not be restricted in any way by the government.  Protecting people from themselves is a futile effort and often leads to prohibition on things like trans fats, salt and other "lesser evils".

The second reason is prohibition does not work.  We tried banning alcohol and it was a miserable failure.  By allowing a significant market to become a black market, we empowered and enriched criminals.  This isn't to say that alcohol legalization does not have negative side effects.  In 2008, 13,846 people were killed in drunk driving accidents.  That's 37 percent of all traffic accidents.  In 1982, 26,173 people died in drunk driving accidents.  That's 60 percent of all traffic accidents.  Even with these gruesome statistics, we know better than to try to ban booze.  Alcohol prohibition did little to decrease use while causing other more serious unintended consequences. 

Black markets work the same way other markets do.  A shortage causes prices to spike which causes more product to be pushed to market.  Each big drug bust is a notice to suppliers to send more product to take advantage of artificially inflated prices.  Each big arrest creates a power vacuum for a person to satisfy the constant demand that has existed since the beginning of time and will exist until the end of time.  Disagreements between competitors often favor the party willing to be more violent, leading to a natural selection for more and more violent criminals. 

The third reason is we all pay the financial cost of the Drug War.  The direct cost of the Drug War is somewhere around $40 billion dollars a year.  However, when you factor in the cost to incarcerate nonviolent offenders, subsidies to foreign countries like Mexico to fight their regional drug wars, prosecution costs, police overtime costs, etc. the cost edges up to nearly $50 billion a year.  By comparison, taxing and regulating marijuana would bring a billion dollars annually in California alone.  If replicated throughout the US, several billion could be brought in annually.  Between not funding the War on Drugs and collection of tax revenue, the total swing could approach $60 billion a year in the taxpayers' favor.

We are already living with the negative side effects of marijuana but why should we have to live with the unintended consequences of prohibition?  We don't fear cigarette manufacturers or French wine cartels even if we do live with the realization of lung cancer and drunk driving.  With or without legalization, people will get stoned.  The Sisyphean Drug War only ensures that we have to deal with the worst possible consequences of that fact.