Source: Journal-Inquirer (Manchester, CT)
Author: Joseph H. Brooks
A DISMALLY FAILING WAR ON DRUGS
So we continue in our nonworking, nonwinnable, dismally failing, insane war on drugs. Until people in this country realize the political and financial hypocrisy of keeping such drugs as marijuana illegal and classified as a Class 1 drug, we will continue to see young lives ruined, millions of Americans incarcerated, and the deaths of tens of thousands of Americans and Mexicans.
The Mexican cartels are killing each other, police officers, military personnel, reporters, children, and politicians because they want control of the approximately $40 billion a year drug flow into the single largest market in the world, the United States. The war is not only limited to Mexico but has expanded to Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and Brazil.
Whether America recognizes it or not, La Familia, the most vicious Mexican cartel, has already established 30 gangs in our country. Approximately 240 gangs have been established by other cartels.
How long will it be before war breaks out between our street gangs, now the lower level distribution arm of the drug trade, and the new gangs being established by South Americans?
In spite of the reality of the demand for mind-altering drugs, the federal government stands by its criminalization of marijuana, even though Americans continue to show their desire to purchase and use it. Attorney General Eric Holder said that "even if the voters in California make the state the first in the nation to legalize marijuana, the federal government will continue to enforce the Controlled Substances Act."
Although California voted Proposition 19 down, it has not changed the fact that marijuana is the single largest agricultural product in that state. Mendocino County, almost as large as Connecticut, is supported in large part by marijuana. To eradicate marijuana in that county would be to shut down the county.
American drug warriors continue to make headlines with the seizures they achieve, with 20 tons of marijuana being recently found in a tunnel. What we are not told is how long the tunnel has been active and how many additional shipments have made it through.
We also do not see seizures of weapons flowing to Mexico from the United States, paid for by drug money. Mexico has seized 90,000 weapons in the last four years, while the United States claims 10,000. The DEA says they are European-made weapons, although that clashes with Mexico's assessment. But, really, what difference does it make where they are made? It is how they are getting there that matters.
We have tried prohibition once before, making perhaps the most violence-producing drug, alcohol, illegal in 1920. When the violence surrounding alcohol became out of control, prohibition was ended in 1933. We knew then that all of the problems surrounding it would not simply go away, but decided to deal with them rather than the violence that surrounded keeping it illegal.
Marijuana, despite the lies and misconceptions surrounding it, is a much more benign substance than alcohol. Alcohol is known to be responsible for 85,000 deaths in this country, and an unknown number of serious illnesses, such as liver disease and wet brain. Cigarettes are the most deadly legal drug in this country. Worldwide, 5 million people die from smoking; 600,000 people die as a result of second-hand smoke
In contrast to these figures, not one death can be attributed to the use of marijuana alone. Yes, mixed with alcohol, it has led to automobile accidents and other causes of death, but not when used alone.
Five state-funded studies have recently been completed in California by the Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research at the University of California, San Diego, headed by Dr. Igor Grant, a psychiatrist. The results show that cannabinoids may be either an adjunct or a first-line treatment for reducing muscle spasms associated with multiple sclerosis and pain caused by certain neurological injuries or illnesses. These studies are the first clinical trials conducted on the medicinal benefits of marijuana in the United States in over two decades. These studies should result in the removal of marijuana from the Class 1 category, as they show that it does have medicinal properties, a fact known by various societies for hundreds of years.
From 2002 to 2008, adults from 55 to 59 increased their usage of marijuana from 1.6 percent to 5.1 percent. I wonder who is sending them the wrong message?
The writer is a retired Manchester police captain and a speaker for Law Enforcement Against Prohibition.
