CTA 2008: Presentation: Why Our Drug Laws Have Failed
Presentation: Why Our Drug Laws Have Failed
Speaker: Judge James Gray
Judge Gray worked in Orange County and has seen first-hand some of the drug cases in America. He is a major anti-drug proponent; however, he is a huge advocate of changing our currently ineffective, and incredibly harmful drug laws.
Clearly what we are currently doing in the US to fight drugs, our "War on Drugs" if you will, is not working. Judge Gray gives us 3 steps to victory on this war front:
1) Don't expect to get anywhere by using our ineffective approach. (IE: CHANGE!)
2) Look back at past techniques
3) Look at other country's methods
The US is leading the WORLD in incarceration of its own people. And most of these incarcerations are for illegal drug use (or are related to illegal drug use). 70% of all illegal drug users use ONLY marijuana. But who are the winners in this "War on Drugs"?
-Clearly the BIG time dealers benefit- they are selling drugs tax free.
-Gang members get huge profits through drug dealing
-the government benefits. Gray is not saying they intend to, but law enforcement makes tons of taxpayer dollars to fight the first two benefiting parties
-politicians are benefiting through using all their "tough talk" to get elected - and WE let them get away with it! (This may go into another speech involving Thoreau's poems on patriotism.)
-The private sector; construction companies who specialize in prisons, burglar alarm and security services, prison workers
-Terrorists; anyone know the main crop in Pakistan? Opium. We fund the terrorist acts against us. Drugs are the primary source of funding for most terrorist groups
And of course, the losers are tax payers and our children.
So let's get some things sorted out:
1) EVERY CIVILIZATION HAS HAD DRUGS.
2) Let's try being MANAGERS instead of MORALISTS.
The facts about the second point is that we as a society are placing moral judgment on drug users instead of acknowledging their problems and need for help. We let them die because they "fail" our morality test. Throughout time and in other countries, its obvious that that treatment, education, and individual responsibility works. We need to acknowledge that use, misuse, abuse, and addiction are DIFFERENT THINGS. And we need to hold people accountable for their actions.
Consider if you will, the differences between:
- addiction vs. driving under the influence
- self-harm vs. inflicting harm on others
Drugs don't have to be illegal for people to be punished for driving.
Judge Gray cited successful programs in other programs, such as the "Needle Exchange Program" in Holland (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Needle_exchange_program)where heroin users can exchange a dirty needle for a clean one, no questions asked. This program did nothing to effect drug usage, but DID cut AIDS infection among heroin users by half, from 8% to 4%. Currently ~35% of US heroin users are HIV positive. This costs taxpayers approximately $100,000 per HIV + person.
Another incredibly successful program was tested in Switzerland. It's a "Heroin Maintenance Program" (http://ndsn.org/AUGUST97/SWISS.html) which has noticeably reduced crime, lowered drug usage and new addiction rates (fewer people selling heroin), made heroin addicts employable and with better health overall, and also helping these addicts get off drugs. The gist of the program is that heroin addicts who have previously attempted to get off the drugs and can remain out of legal trouble are given daily doses of heroin by a trained medical staff to maintain their addictions. They do not get the super-highs, but they do not need the drug. They pay roughly $10/day for this, as that's what it costs the medical community to legally obtain heroin (most of these drugs are only expensive BECAUSE they're illegal). This is well under the normal cost of a user's addiction (thus reducing crime and selling to children) and puts the addict in a continuous environment with health officials, leading to a more stable life, regular health care, and eventually, the strength and support to leave the drug.
Additionally, legalizing marijuana would bring a resurgence in the hemp industry. Hemp is a useful resource used in the manufacturing of textiles AND it can also be used as a source of paper pulp. Judge Gray pointed out that an acre of hemp will produce 4 TIMES more paper than an acre of trees- and the hemp grows in one season, whereas the trees take upwards of 20 years!
Fighting the war as we always have is only putting our kids in greater danger- it is easier for a kid under 21 to get ahold of illegal drugs than it is for them to buy alcohol. Why? Because alcohol is regulated by the government. And think of all the dollars that could be saved and in fact EARNED if we were to legalize these drugs! We would stop spending billions of dollars fighting drug lords (who, by the way, only lose about 10-15% of their shipments through police raids- the same percentage of produce expected to be lost to spoilage by a grocer) and we could TAX the drugs being sold. If we would start treating drugs addicts more like citizens rather than judging them against our morals, then maybe we could HELP them and in turn help ourselves. And not just us- because of our drug money, countries like Columbia have been ruined. We can really do something for positive change here. It's about time for open conversation at a minimum.
Judge Gray closed with this:
How many of you have been burglarized or had something stolen? (At least half the room raised their hands) And what happened? The police were called, wrote a police report, and you filed it with insurance. The cops don't have the resources to pursue those kind of crimes, but they have tons of resources to fight illegal drugs. (My high school had at least one undercover agent make a bust, but I'm sure she wasn't the only one working the area.) What are we doing here and who's really benefiting from this?
Speaker: Judge James Gray
Judge Gray worked in Orange County and has seen first-hand some of the drug cases in America. He is a major anti-drug proponent; however, he is a huge advocate of changing our currently ineffective, and incredibly harmful drug laws.
Clearly what we are currently doing in the US to fight drugs, our "War on Drugs" if you will, is not working. Judge Gray gives us 3 steps to victory on this war front:
1) Don't expect to get anywhere by using our ineffective approach. (IE: CHANGE!)
2) Look back at past techniques
3) Look at other country's methods
The US is leading the WORLD in incarceration of its own people. And most of these incarcerations are for illegal drug use (or are related to illegal drug use). 70% of all illegal drug users use ONLY marijuana. But who are the winners in this "War on Drugs"?
-Clearly the BIG time dealers benefit- they are selling drugs tax free.
-Gang members get huge profits through drug dealing
-the government benefits. Gray is not saying they intend to, but law enforcement makes tons of taxpayer dollars to fight the first two benefiting parties
-politicians are benefiting through using all their "tough talk" to get elected - and WE let them get away with it! (This may go into another speech involving Thoreau's poems on patriotism.)
-The private sector; construction companies who specialize in prisons, burglar alarm and security services, prison workers
-Terrorists; anyone know the main crop in Pakistan? Opium. We fund the terrorist acts against us. Drugs are the primary source of funding for most terrorist groups
And of course, the losers are tax payers and our children.
So let's get some things sorted out:
1) EVERY CIVILIZATION HAS HAD DRUGS.
2) Let's try being MANAGERS instead of MORALISTS.
The facts about the second point is that we as a society are placing moral judgment on drug users instead of acknowledging their problems and need for help. We let them die because they "fail" our morality test. Throughout time and in other countries, its obvious that that treatment, education, and individual responsibility works. We need to acknowledge that use, misuse, abuse, and addiction are DIFFERENT THINGS. And we need to hold people accountable for their actions.
Consider if you will, the differences between:
- addiction vs. driving under the influence
- self-harm vs. inflicting harm on others
Drugs don't have to be illegal for people to be punished for driving.
Judge Gray cited successful programs in other programs, such as the "Needle Exchange Program" in Holland (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Needle_exchange_program)where heroin users can exchange a dirty needle for a clean one, no questions asked. This program did nothing to effect drug usage, but DID cut AIDS infection among heroin users by half, from 8% to 4%. Currently ~35% of US heroin users are HIV positive. This costs taxpayers approximately $100,000 per HIV + person.
Another incredibly successful program was tested in Switzerland. It's a "Heroin Maintenance Program" (http://ndsn.org/AUGUST97/SWISS.html) which has noticeably reduced crime, lowered drug usage and new addiction rates (fewer people selling heroin), made heroin addicts employable and with better health overall, and also helping these addicts get off drugs. The gist of the program is that heroin addicts who have previously attempted to get off the drugs and can remain out of legal trouble are given daily doses of heroin by a trained medical staff to maintain their addictions. They do not get the super-highs, but they do not need the drug. They pay roughly $10/day for this, as that's what it costs the medical community to legally obtain heroin (most of these drugs are only expensive BECAUSE they're illegal). This is well under the normal cost of a user's addiction (thus reducing crime and selling to children) and puts the addict in a continuous environment with health officials, leading to a more stable life, regular health care, and eventually, the strength and support to leave the drug.
Additionally, legalizing marijuana would bring a resurgence in the hemp industry. Hemp is a useful resource used in the manufacturing of textiles AND it can also be used as a source of paper pulp. Judge Gray pointed out that an acre of hemp will produce 4 TIMES more paper than an acre of trees- and the hemp grows in one season, whereas the trees take upwards of 20 years!
Fighting the war as we always have is only putting our kids in greater danger- it is easier for a kid under 21 to get ahold of illegal drugs than it is for them to buy alcohol. Why? Because alcohol is regulated by the government. And think of all the dollars that could be saved and in fact EARNED if we were to legalize these drugs! We would stop spending billions of dollars fighting drug lords (who, by the way, only lose about 10-15% of their shipments through police raids- the same percentage of produce expected to be lost to spoilage by a grocer) and we could TAX the drugs being sold. If we would start treating drugs addicts more like citizens rather than judging them against our morals, then maybe we could HELP them and in turn help ourselves. And not just us- because of our drug money, countries like Columbia have been ruined. We can really do something for positive change here. It's about time for open conversation at a minimum.
Judge Gray closed with this:
How many of you have been burglarized or had something stolen? (At least half the room raised their hands) And what happened? The police were called, wrote a police report, and you filed it with insurance. The cops don't have the resources to pursue those kind of crimes, but they have tons of resources to fight illegal drugs. (My high school had at least one undercover agent make a bust, but I'm sure she wasn't the only one working the area.) What are we doing here and who's really benefiting from this?