Over the last 10 years America’s view of drug use has changed signifigantly. While the preconcieved notion that all drug users are criminals and that there is no such thing as a psychoactive substance still exists (especially strongly in conservative mid western states) a general policy shift has been gaining momentum. The idea becomes reform over punishment and acceptance over outrage.

Although penalties for posession of harder drugs such as heroin or cocaine (2-5 years in jail) have remained constant, major progress has been made on the road of decriminalization of Marijuana. Because of a growing understanding that the drug war is unwinnable and a realization that prisons are overcrowded with an overwhelming ratio of drug users who arguably did nothing wrong other than pursue happiness in their own way, big government has taken an interest in quietly softening penalties for drug offenses.

Even though officially the penalties for harder drugs are still the same as they’ve been for years, often judges will throw out charges for posession in liu of agreement by the accused to attend a rehabilitation program of some sort. This is in part because there are more Americans using drugs than ever before and the sad fact of the matter is that we as a country do not have the resources to impose standards of behavior on people who, as has been proved time and again, will do drugs no matter what the consequences. So why not just end the drug war? Why not just go the way of the Netherlands and let people do whatever they want with their own bodies? The answer may shock you.

The fact is that most politicians would end the drug war if they could do so quietly, however because of anti drug propoganda these substances have become so demonized that it would be political suicide for any elected official to propose, let alone follow through on, such an act. The truth is that scare campaigns were instituted by the united states government in a master plan to put pressure on people they considered “bad for America”. Marijuana was originally illegalized tentatively through a system of taxation and tax stamps.

It was neccessary to take this back door approach because until the drug was out and out illegalized in 1937 the view of America at large was that the constitution protected the right to pursue happiness in any form, including that of Drug use. It was simply thought laughable that the government could presume to tell you what to do with your body. The problem was not the drugs however, but undesirable people that otherwise would have been protected by the constitution. The first drug was opium, illegalized to persecute Asian laborers working in the west. It was thought that by illegalizing the substance it would prevent more immigrants from showing up on America’s shores and give law enforcement an excuse to harass the laborers. The pure ridiculousness of this law is evident when we realize that when this law was passed it was still perfectly legal for any person to go into a pharmacy and without perscription buy as much morphine or heroin as they wanted.

The next target was marijuana during the depression. Because it was used by Mexican immigrant laborers it was an excuse to persecute them in a time when there were far too few jobs for regular American citizens. To justify these actions scare stories were circulated about black, asian, and mexican men using these drugs (namely opium and marijuana) to get white women into a pliant state and then have their way with them. Propoganda was planted in the fertile minds of simple Americans and grew into a mighty system of beliefs. This system of beliefs is why the drug war still is going on now.

The government can not admit that it lied about the dangers these drugs present and so the only option left to them is to zealously attack drugs in all forms, detrimental as it may be. The truth is that illegalizing any substance with enough appeal creates what I call the “21 club syndrome” where by the laws of supply and demand create a market with enormous turn around and very little overhead for the prospective salesmen of these substances, just as happened with Alcohol during the prohibition years. Just like prohibition, when the drug war ends the market will disappear and crime will drop signifigantly. So the question becomes, if it is better for everyone to end the drug war doesn’t that outweigh an embarassment from decades past? Apparently not, because we are still fighting and spending countless tax dollars on a quagmire a million times greater than the vietnam war.

The truth is that drug policy was created to opress the enemies of the people in power, it proved invaluable in combating protesters during the 1960s that would have otherwise been protected by the constitution- it is no coincidence that it was Richard Nixon who signed the drug scheduling act into law. So now that we have a start and judges and policy makers are starting to understand the conundrum we are in, how can the average citizen help to reform these fascist laws? The answer is simply to make your voice heard and let the world know that you’re aware of what is going on. We can win this war- just not the way most people think.