From: emmett@kpc.com (Emmett Kilgariff)
Subject: Re: Drug Legalization.  Was: College Was: Perot
Organization: Kubota Pacific Computer Corporation, Santa Clara, CA
Distribution: usa
Date: Tue, 7 Apr 1992 17:11:24 GMT

In article <rq8f0INN1kn@matt.ksu.ksu.edu> strat@matt.ksu.ksu.edu (Steve Davis) writes:
>sike@athena.mit.edu (Michael G Sheldon) writes:
>
>I write:
>
>>|> ...  Drugs should be legalized.  The illegality of drugs
>>|> creates crime, not the drugs.
>
>And then Mike says:
>
>[By this reasoning, the illegality of murder]
>>creates crime, not the murder.
>
>
>Absolutely NOT.  My reasoning does not say that the illegality of murder
>creates the crime.  Murder, in and of itself, would still be a crime
>even if there wasn't a law against it.
>
>The reason why the illegality of drugs causes drug violences include 1)
	[basically sound arguments, deleted for brevity]
>
>Now, if these drugs were legalized, and a regulated industry was
>established to distribute these drugs, the following things would
>happen.  1) The price would drop, negating problem one in the first
>paragraph.  Because our government can easily undersell the mafia (when
>it wants too), people will buy drugs from the government INSTEAD of the
>mafia.  What's more, these government "clinics" would be full of
>medical personell, pamphlets, instructional videos, and so on... all
>designed to help people break their dependency on these drugs.  If drug
>use is treated as a disease, rather than a crime, there is a better
>chance of reducing it!  2) Because our government would be providing
>the drugs (or at least regulating the industry), there would be quality
>safeguards.  The drug-related deaths in this country could be almost
>eliminated in a few short months.  This eliminates problem number 2
>from the above paragraph.  3)  Because the sale of drugs would be
>institutionalized, there would be no place for mafia-style drug lords.
>They would just dissapear!  Since bad drugs are a big business in this
>country, what would be easier than simply removing the profit
>incentive?  Do you think Al Capone would have been involved in the
>mafia if he knew he couldn't make a dollar at it?  4)  I believe that
>the "war on some drugs" has caused more harm than good.  By eliminating
>it, we eliminate part of the sociatal problem!
>
	This resoning is somewhat utopian. Here is my resoning: 1) Following
the lessons of prohibition, the price would drop, and organized crime would 
find something else to do. When alcohol was legalized, in most states, people
bought alcolol from businesses, not clinics where people who could treat 
alcoholism would hang out. Remember- when prohibition ended, alcoholism
doubled! 2) the quality of drugs would improve, but abuse and addiction 
would increase (look at cigarettes and alcohol) and non-violent deaths
would increase. 3) Mafia bottleggers found something else to do after
prohibition ended, getting into gambling, politics, and other areas, they
won't just dissapear, but they will be less powerful & probably less 
dangerous.

>This is my reasoning.  This is why I feel our country's drug problem
>can be solved through the legalization and institutionalization of
>their sale.

	I'm among those who thing the War On Drugs isn't working. But,
I think our system of "punishment as the only deterrent" isn't working
either. But leagalizing drugs is a much more complex issue than described
in Mr Davis's post. 

>
>Stratocaster
>-- 
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>All men attribute to themselves freedom of will. -- Immanuel Kant
		-Emmett Kilgariff